Ancient Cultures

[Hemel]

Ah yes, Gaffer, with the 'Celts' one of the problems was that they didn't record things in writing much themselves, in terms of their philosophies and teachings, preferring to keep it all in memory instead. But there are some written remains (I think about five hundred fragments or more) in Celtic languages with borrowed alphabets, and perhaps the most well-known is the Coligny Calendar, which is Gaulish in a Roman alphabet. This calendar has been suggested as maybe being evidence of druidic activity, as it notes festivals and divides the months up into various phases, and some people suggest that maybe it was used to determine the most auspicious times for various activities. There's a fair amount around in the archaeological record too, from fabulous artwork down to a few bones and discolourations in the soil, and now that the focus of archaeological practice has changed, and with the scientific methods, and also such things as the Butser experimental project and ethnoarchaeology, my hope is that in some way we can get close to some appreciation of what might once have been the ordinary everyday. Though of course we can never ever be certain, because there is just so much in human culture that cannot be recorded in material remains, and our own contemporary culture and priorities are so different, and I think you're right, that a lot of images depend what people wrote/write about them, rather than their own representations (and the question of 'Celticness' is another issue again )

For Tolkien - ah yes, I wondered too if there were possibly some Celtic influences in his work ... though I feel that there are resonances from the Celtic and before still in our own culture today, and therefore Tolkien would have been hard pressed to escape them, even if they were only in his unconscious . But I didn't know that he didn't like the Celtic mythos. Did he ever mention why he had this dislike?

And I'm with you on this part of England - there is so much to see. Within walking distance from Uffington (horse and Iron Age hillfort) is Wayland's Smithy , which is a great neolithic barrow, and I find it interesting to see how later people interpreted remains, because it's now named after a Saxon god, and I assume that the barrow was supposed to have been his anvil. (For some reason, whenever I'm at Waylands Smithy I seem to be there always when it's just getting dark or it's pouring with rain ) I spend as much time as possible visiting the prehistoric remains, and last summer went to a number of Iron Age hillforts. That was quite an experience, because after a while I began to feel I was getting, just momentarily, an insight into an ancient mindset - the same thing happened when I visited and went inside this barrow , which is very atmospheric and not a little frightening! (Especially as the batteries in my torch were running very low and eventually gave out )

oops - time to shut up ... like I said, it's a passion with me ...