Ancient Treasures From Golden Age Of Mystery (Celtic Coins)

Yorkshire Today ^ | 12-20-2003

[blam]

Ancient treasures from golden age of mystery

THEY may have been struck at the time of Jesus Christ, but they are scarcely marked despite the hundreds of years they spent buried in a farmer's field.

The tiny gold Celtic coins are the latest in a series of finds that are becoming more common since metal detectorists and archeologists started working together. And they were used by the same tribe whose chariot burials have fascinated the public in recent months. Weeks ago archeologists revealed that they had unearthed a rare and nationally significant Iron Age burial site at Ferrybridge in West Yorkshire complete with a chariot, a spear and the 2,500-year-old skeleton of a Celtic warrior or king.

The 2,000-year-old coins, which yesterday went on display at the Hull and East Riding Museum, were found last year in a ploughed field near Driffield by a metal detectorist.

After being declared treasure trove, they were sold to the museum with the help of a £9,000 grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund and will now sit beside another recently acquired group of gold Celtic staters – imported coins – from Beverley.

Craig Barclay, Keeper of Archaeology at the museum, said: "Ten years ago there was very little evidence for coin circulation north of the Humber in the pre-Roman period. But, thanks to the development of closer connections between archeologists, museums and metal detectorists, that image has changed.

"They were struck by the Corieltauvi, who were a Lincolnshire/South Humber tribe and imported across. They would have been used by the Parisi, who didn't strike their own coins.''

Where once there may have been a single discovery of a Celtic find recorded every year or so, now there may be dozens a year, although they are still less common than Roman finds.

Some believe the Parisi came to live in Yorkshire from France in the Iron Age (700BC-71AD), while others think local tribes copied French habits they saw on trading visits.

Apart from the West Yorkshire find, all the others, except one near Edinburgh, are centred on Wetwang, in East Yorkshire, which was thought to have been one of the centres of the Parisi.

From about 450BC to 50BC the Parisi buried their dead in cemeteries and important people were buried with a chariot, or cart, a practice which set them apart from the rest of Britain.

Last year there was excitement when five intricate swords, scabbards and spearheads were unearthed from a field near Brough by three men with metal detectors. It followed hot on the heels of the discovery of a warrior queen buried high on a ridge in the Yorkshire Wolds at Wetwang. Incredible finds from the square barrow grave dating from the third or fourth century included richly ornamented pieces of horse harness and parts from the wheels of the chariot.

She was found with the remains of a leather girdle, dozens of tiny blue beads – the remains of a necklace – and a mirror.

Archaeologists believe she was probably a descendant of the Parisi and possibly the royal wife or daughter of an early chieftain.

[skraeling]

It's my understanding the city of Paris was named after the Celtic Parisi tribe, if not directly then indirectly. That's a pretty strong link, and suggests that most of todays Americans, having common Celtic roots, are related to the French. {Sigh}. So are most of the "new Americans" coming over the southern border, via their Spanish Celtic links.

This site has more information: Parisi details.

[LibKill]

It's my understanding the city of Paris was named after the Celtic Parisi tribe, if not directly then indirectly. That's a pretty strong link, and suggests that most of todays Americans, having common Celtic roots, are related to the French. {Sigh}.

I could have lived forever without that information! Now I must die. :)

[skraeling]

I'm still trying to get through Henri Hubert's book, The History Of The Celtic People.

Henri Hubert, while interesting, can be tough slogging at times. His traditional approach, while a good summary of the thinking of the early part of this century, now seems to be dated. This quote from the Introduction to the reprint of his "The Greatness and Decline of the Celts" is enlightening about his perspective:

"In the 60 years since the death of Hubert our knowledge of the Celts, their language, and the civilization has increased considerably and become more discriminating. The picure of wandering hordes of richly caparisoned warriors which Hubert gives us, while it has not been altogether abandoned, is now seen to be only part of the reality of Celtic civilization...".

I would suggest that even this Intro writer (also a Celtic Scholar) expansive perspective on the Celts is out of date in view of the flurry of Celtic finds and their interpretation since the 1934 book was reprinted in 1987.

[skraeling]

I could have lived forever without that information! Now I must die. :)

Sorry about that! Historic facts can sometimes be a real bitch when it comes to destroying fantasies and fairy tales entrenched in tradition. {ggg}.

[LibKill]

Sorry about that! Historic facts can sometimes be a real bitch when it comes to destroying fantasies and fairy tales entrenched in tradition.

You are just trying to distract me while I am trying to kill off my french genes! :)

[skraeling]

I'm still trying to get through Henri Hubert's book, The History Of The Celtic People.

Digging around I found my 1993 reprint of this book.  On a quick skim it reminded me of my earlier impressions.  While he does a nice job of encapsulating traditional Celtic theory to that time (1934), every historical or philosophical construct evolves from some very basic premises.  His very respectable (but now outdated) premise was that the Celts came from somewhere in central Europe.  As a result, his related historical assumptions and conclusions are based around that premise, including his length linguistic analysis.  Also his handling of the so called Proto Celts or Pre Celts or Early Celts.

Many recent archeological finds, including one spoken of here earlier and detailed in the New York Times on Christmas day several years ago powerfully suggest the Celts actually originated in Turkey, or Iraq, or north of the Black Sea, or east of the Caspian sea, or from the Caucasus Mountains, or all of the above.  The "relocation" of the birthplace of the Celts in one stroke outdates several generations of reluctant authors and their books.

[blam]

"I would suggest that even this Intro writer (also a Celtic Scholar) expansive perspective on the Celts is out of date in view of the flurry of Celtic finds and their interpretation since the 1934 book was reprinted in 1987."

It is dated and I'm having trouble reading it. (I may just quit)

[blam]

Celtic Found To Have Ancient Roots

[blam]

Archaeologists Find Celts In Unlikely Spot: Central Turkey

[Bosco]

I was thinking of this exact news item, blam. Excellent reference.

The archaeologic finds of human skeletons with evidence of sacrificial rites is of note.

Looks like the Galatians needed salvation, indeed. Thank God for Paul, thank God for Patrick.

[skraeling]

An interesting thread. The line "Because languages change so fast, historical linguists distrust language trees that go back more than a few thousand years" could be amended to read "...distrust language trees that go back more than a few generations".

IMHO many professional linguists live in a world quite removed from the history they seek to explain and the archeology which supports the history. Reliance on their constructs tends to obscure or even ignore the realities of history when it doesn't support their constructs. Linguistics is a tiny tail trying to wag a big dog.

[skraeling]

Archaeologists Find Celts in Unlikely Spot: Central Turkey

Good find! That's the NYT article I mentioned.

[PJ-Comix]

The 2,000-year-old coins, which yesterday went on display at the Hull and East Riding Museum, were found last year in a ploughed field near Driffield by a metal detectorist.

If I found them, those coins would have been listed on eBay that evening.

[blam]

Italian Archaeologist: Anatola - Home To The First Civilization On Earth

[Polybius]

Archaeologists Find Celts in Unlikely Spot: Central Turkey

Actually, that would be a very likely spot.

The Celts had been driven out of Macedonia back to the Danube by Alexander the Great and Lysimachus. When they invaded Macedonia again in 279 B.C. the Celts were again defeated by Macedonia.

The following year, King Nicomedes of Bithynia invited the defeated Celts,with their wives and children, into what is now Turkey as mercenaries in his war against Antiochos I. That established the Celts in what is now Turkey.

These Celts numbered 20,000 men, women, and children. They were divided into three tribes, the Tolistobogii, the Tectosages, and the Trocmi and were led by the chieftains Leonorius and Lutorius. These Celts and their descendents became the "Galatians" of Anatolia (Turkey).

As the Helenistic Kings waged war upon each other, they employed these Celtic "barbarian" merceneries and the Celts also engaged in pillaging raids of their own against Hellenistic cities in Anatolia.

Attalos I, King of Pergamum, defeated the Anatolian Celts in two battles between 235 and 225 BC and the victory was commemorated by a monument that included the sculpture "Dying Gaul" which depicted a dying Celtic warrior dressed in nothing but his Celtic neck torque.

In 191 B.C., Rome, as an ally of Pergammon, was at war with the Seleucid King Antiochus III and his Galatian Celtic merceneraies. After the defeat of Antiochus III, the Roman general Manlius Vulso further punished the Galatian Celts by invading their territory and defeating them in two battles. Thousands of Galatian Celts were sold into slavery in the aftermath.

The Galatian lived rather peacefully until King Mithridates IV of Pontus revolted against Rome in 88 B.C. Mithridates invited 60 Galatian chiefs to Pergammon and executed all of them except 3 who escaped. This event consolidated Galatian leadership and drove Galatia to become a protectorate of Rome in 85 B.C.

After that, the Galtians were Romanized and the fate of the Galtians was tied to the fate of Rome.

[Polybius]

If I found them, those coins would have been listed on eBay that evening.

In Britain, when a find is historically important, it can be classiffied as "Treasure Trove". That means that the Government has the right to the find but it also means the Government has to pay you full market value.

The process is kept fair for the very reason that, if finders are cheated, they will keep their finds secret to sell secretly at market value instead of notifying the Government.

It's a good deal all around. The public gets to see the finds at a museum and the finder gets his money.

[blam]

Actually, I believe the proto-Celts were there (Turkey) in pre-historic times and became refugees from there when the fresh water Black Sea was flooded with salt water in 5,600BC.
They took refuge up the river valleys leading into Europe (taking their language and farming with them) and some made their way along the steppes and became the mummies in the Chinese desert.

Some believe they were the original Egyptians too.

[blam]

Ancestry Of Europeans Traced To Middle East

[skraeling]

These Celts and their descendents became the "Galatians" of Anatolia (Turkey).

Yes, and it was to these Galatians that Paul wrote his "Letter to the Galatians". Celts. "Gentiles". Israelites from the Northern Tribes I believe, exiled to adjacent Iraq not long before, then "lost".

[farmfriend]

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