Celtic Europe

Three iron battle-axes with cherry-wood handles, found together with a boat in Corrib lake, Co. Galway, Ireland.

The axes date to the late 11th or early 12th century and are of Norse typology. It is thought that they would have been wielded by native Irish soldiers rather than by Norse raiders. The axes date to a time when Viking raids no longer plagued Europe and most Scandinavians had already adopted Christianity as their religion.

Viking-style weapons, and axes in particular, had been widely adopted by the natives as a way to be more effective against armored opponents. It is nevertheless possible that the axes were wielded by men of Norse stock from Limerick, who were often active in the region as proxies of the Irish kings of Thomond (originally a Viking settlement, Limerick had been taken over by the native Irish and was by then functioning as the capital of the kingdom of Thomond). Displayed at National Museum of Ireland, Dublin.

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Perhaps the best preserved example of an ancient textile found in in the British Isles. The “Orkney Hood” was discovered in a peat bog near Tankerness, on the Mainland island of Orkney, Scotland, and was radiocarbon dated to between 250 and 615 AD. The garment was made with un-dyed wool woven in a herringbone pattern and was probably worn by a child. National Museums, Edinburgh Scotland.

Further reading:

Sigurd Towrie. “The Orkney Hood”, from Orkneyjar: the Heritage of the Orkney Islands, 2018. Link: http://orkneyjar.com/history/orkneyhood.htm

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The Heunischenburg hillfort, near Kronach, in Bavaria, Germany; late Urnfield culture, 10th to 9th centuries B.C.

Heunischenburg is believed to have controlled an important copper and tin trade route. It displays late Mycenaean influences and is the oldest known & archaeologically investigated stone fortification north of the Alps. The fort/settlement is believed to have been built by a Celtic speaking culture that dominated Central and Western Europe at the time and would have been a precursor of the people later known as the “Gauls”.

Source (in German): https://barbaras-spielwiese.blogspot.com/2012/04/ausflug-heunischenburg.html?m=1

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Dùn da Lamh hillfort, Strathspey, Scotland; digital reconstruction by Bob Marshall. Dates unknown; probably iron age to early medieval.

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WELCOME ALL TO CELTIC EUROPE! - BIEVENIDOS TODOS A LA EUROPA CÉLTICA! - BIENVENUE À TOUS EN L’EUROPE CELTIQUE! - FÀILTE GU H-UILE DHAN EÒRPA CHEILTEACH!

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