Greatest Iron Age fortifications ?

[Dan Howard]

In addition to defining "Celtic" you'd also have to define "greatest".

[Ghostmojo]

does everyone on this thread agree what "Celtic" refers to

Nope, not one bit.

Exactly.

I liken 'Celtic' art and culture to the following notion (if you will indulge me):

Imagine an alien who has been studying Earth culture from a great distance (perhaps via TV signals) and has specialised in American junkfood culture. His mind(s) is full of images of McDonalds/Burger King/KFC etc.

He lands in downtown Shanghai and sees all of these outlets and assumes he must be in America ...

[Theodosius the Great]

In addition to defining "Celtic" you'd also have to define "greatest".

True. Originally what I had in mind was fortifications the Romans would have found challenging to overcome by storm. Although I suspect a typical Roman siege relied on starvation.

~Theo

[Conal]

does everyone on this thread agree what "Celtic" refers to

Nope, not one bit.

Exactly.

I liken 'Celtic' art and culture to the following notion (if you will indulge me):

Imagine an alien who has been studying Earth culture from a great distance (perhaps via TV signals) and has specialised in American junkfood culture. His mind(s) is full of images of McDonalds/Burger King/KFC etc.

He lands in downtown Shanghai and sees all of these outlets and assumes he must be in America ...

This is similar to what Collis et al state but what you have here is an English speaking largely Christian Western society exporting goods to a Cantonese/Madarin speaking Eastern state under a Communist regime so it would be easy to argue that any alien arriving would suss this pretty quickly.

The area of what is now northern Europe were more akin to the USA. A collection of tribal confederations all speaking dialects of what we now call Celtic languages, having very similar if not the same religion (Druids in Gaul and in north Wales).

Transfer of La Tene culture is akin to New York fashion working it's way to Texas, both are American but by the time New York stuff gets to Texas those Texicans will have put their own spin on it.

[Conal]

In addition to defining "Celtic" you'd also have to define "greatest".

True. Originally what I had in mind was fortifications the Romans would have found challenging to overcome by storm. Although I suspect a typical Roman siege relied on starvation.

~Theo

In that case try Gergovia in Gaul technically a defeat (tacical withdrawal :roll: )for Ceasar.

[Nathan Ross]

A list of larger 'celtic' fortifications would probably include Stanwick in north Yorkshire: an outer enclosure of 650 acres (c.263 hectares) with an inner fort of 27 acres (11 hectares). This was a large-scale earthworks, but the banks seem to have been topped by six foot stone walls. It was possibly a capital of the Brigantes, and may have featured in Cerialis' campaign against that nation in the 70s AD. Mortimer Wheeler estimates it could have held 85,000 inhabitants, although that's probably a rough maximum!

Stanwick Iron Age Hillfort

[Ghostmojo]

does everyone on this thread agree what "Celtic" refers to

Nope, not one bit.

Exactly.

I liken 'Celtic' art and culture to the following notion (if you will indulge me):

Imagine an alien who has been studying Earth culture from a great distance (perhaps via TV signals) and has specialised in American junkfood culture. His mind(s) is full of images of McDonalds/Burger King/KFC etc.

He lands in downtown Shanghai and sees all of these outlets and assumes he must be in America ...

This is similar to what Collis et al state but what you have here is an English speaking largely Christian Western society exporting goods to a Cantonese/Madarin speaking Eastern state under a Communist regime so it would be easy to argue that any alien arriving would suss this pretty quickly.

The area of what is now northern Europe were more akin to the USA. A collection of tribal confederations all speaking dialects of what we now call Celtic languages, having very similar if not the same religion (Druids in Gaul and in north Wales).

Transfer of La Tene culture is akin to New York fashion working it's way to Texas, both are American but by the time New York stuff gets to Texas those Texicans will have put their own spin on it.

Or Milton Keynes, Dublin, Toronto, Sydney, Christchurch, Capetown, Gibraltar ...

[authun]

A list of larger 'celtic' fortifications would probably include Stanwick in north Yorkshire: an outer enclosure of 650 acres (c.263 hectares) with an inner fort of 27 acres (11 hectares).

Stanwick Castle is a bit of a puzzle because of its size. There isn't the archaeology to support the 85,000 figure. People lose things or throw things away all the time and that many would have left a lot of detritus. We don't find it. On the other hand, why go to the effort of building those, still impressive, ramparts? If a smaller number of people lived there, the perimeter would be too big to defend. Plus, why is it located in this rather wide flat bottomed valley? There are plenty of hillier locations nearby. It's not an obvious defensive location. On the other hand, the wide valley would have made it visible for miles so it would have been an impressive statement. You knew you were approaching an important seat of some kind. It's a fascinating place.

[Conal]

Or Milton Keynes, Dublin, Toronto, Sydney, Christchurch, Capetown, Gibraltar ...

Milton Keynes is just a made up town ,,, it doesn't really exist :neutral:

[Ghostmojo]

Or Milton Keynes, Dublin, Toronto, Sydney, Christchurch, Capetown, Gibraltar ...

Milton Keynes is just a made up town ,,, it doesn't really exist :neutral:

Really?!!! :o Perhaps that explains why I always get lost when I drive around its endless succession of bypasses and roundabouts! :lol: