Two new groups of people emerge in Central Europe during the late Neolithic (New Stone Age) period, one certainly immigrant. Each group may be distinguished archaeologically by characteristic artifacts found in their respective burial sites. One was a Bell Beaker or drinking vessel. We now refer to this group as the Beaker folk. There is still some doubt as to the origins of the Beaker folk, some say Iberia, and some say Central Europe itself. Never-the-less it is believed that they emerge as an independent cultural group around 3000 B.C.E..
The second group is characterized by a perforated battle-axe of stone. Similarly, we now refer to this group as the Battle-Axe folk. Evidence points towards origins in the steppe-lands of southern Russia, between the Caucasus and the Carpathian mountains. The Battle-Axe folk may be attributed with the initial spread of the Indo-European group of languages. (see diagram) The Indo-European group of languages encompasses most of those current in present-day Europe. In Central Europe the Beaker folk and Battle-Axe folk fused to become one European people. Shortly thereafter began the Bronze Age in Europe. It is unclear whether the arrival of the two groups influenced the arrival of the Bronze Age or not. Many think that contact with the Mediterranean and beyond may have influenced this.
From this period onwards the line of continuity which leads directly to the historic Celts may be traced from the archaeological evidence. This is identified by the successive Únêtice, Tumulus and Urnfield cultures of the Central European Bronze Age. The Únêtice culture appears to have emerged from the fusion of Battle-Axe and Beaker peoples and their immediate descendants. The Únêtice culture became the pre-eminent culture in Central Europe by the middle of the second millennium B.C.E.. Because of rich mineral deposits and control of trade routes between the south-east (early Mediterranean cultures) and the more distant parts of Europe, the Únêtice people prospered.
The Tumulus culture which followed the Únêtice, and from which they descended, dominated Central Europe during much of the second part of the second millenium B.C.E.. As the name implies, the Tumulus culture is distinguished by the practice of burying the dead beneath burial mounds. During this period trade contacts with the south-east remained intact and were probably expanded. The Tumulus culture flourished without any disruption of local peoples by large-scale immigration. This was to end, however, toward the close of the second millennium B.C.E., when there is evidence of wide-spread disruption which affected the "higher civilizations" to the south-east and curbed trade.
With the emergence of the Urnfield culture of Central Europe, there appear a people whom some scholars regard as being 'proto-Celtic', in that they may have spoken an early form of Celtic. As the name suggests, the people of the Urnfield culture cremated their dead and placed the remains in urns which were buried in flat cemeteries without any covering mound. The period of the Urnfield culture, like that of the Tumulus culture, was one of expansion, particularly during the first millennium B.C.E. It is during the period of the Urnfield culture that the Bronze Age was at its peek in Central Europe. They produced weapons, tools, eating and cooking vessels, etc. all out of Bronze. From the Urnfield Culture, the Celts emerge as an agricultural people.
Whereas the Urnfield people may justifiably be considered to have been proto-Celtic, their descendants in Central Europe, the people of the Hallstatt culture, were certainly fully Celtic. The Hallstatt culture and its successor, that of La Tène, together represent the iron-using prehistoric peoples of much of Europe. These are the Keltoi, the Galli and Galatae of classical writers. The two cultures are named after sites at which were found archaeological artifacts now considered to be representative of a particular stage of each culture. Hallstatt is a village in Central Austria at which was found an important cemetery; La Tène is near the north-eastern end of Lake Neuchâtel, in western Switzerland. In rough terms the Hallstatt culture existed from approximately 1200 to 500 B.C.E., with some overlap of the Urnfield culture. The La Tène culture in the parts of Europe which would soon become part of the Roman Empire ended with the arrival of the Romans. Beyond the Empire, such as Ireland and Northern Britain (modern day Scotland) the La Tène culture flourished until about 200 C.E..
Or, perhaps this one will do. Why oh why do the Celts not speak a semitic language? Facts are different than speculation Lost boy...
ON THE ORIGINS AND PREHISTORY OF THE CELTS
Kalevi Wiik
My basic assumption is that the Indo-European (IE) languages spread from the Balkans to Central Europe and the central area of the Mediterranean coast in the wake of agriculture. In the first phase (c. 7000-5500 BC), the spread was based mainly on demic diffusion; the result was the LBK culture in Central Europe and the Impressed Ware cultures in the Mediterranean zone.
Two different dialects of the IE language were spoken by the populations of these cultures: a northern or Central European one in the LBK culture and a southern or Mediterranean one in the Mediterranean zone. In the next phase (c. 5500-4000 BC), agriculture and the IE language spread mainly as cultural diffusion (acculturation and language shifts) to northern and western Europe. In these more peripheral areas, two new branches of the IE language emerged: in the north, the IE language was learned by the native speakers of the Finno-Ugric (FU) languages, and in the west, mainly by those of the Basque (Bs) languages. The results were the Germano-Balto-Slavic (GBS) branch having a FU substratum and the Italo-Celtic (IC) branch having a Bs substratum. Later, the two branches were further split into the Germanic (G), Baltic (B), and Slavic (S) languages in the former case, and into the Italic (I) and Celtic (C) ones in the latter case. The first Celts, therefore, are the Basque-speaking hunters of western Europe who adopted agriculture and the IE language from the LBK culture and the Impressed Ware cultures. The area formed a chain of Celtic dialects: in the north (Rhine area) the dialects were based on the LBK (Central European) dialect of the IE language, while in the south (eastern Iberia and southern France), they were based on the Impressed Ware (Mediterranean) dialect of that language. In addition, the substrata of the non-IE languages were different along the chain of the Celtic dialects: the northern dialect had a Basque substratum, while the more southern dialects had a Basque, Iberian, or Tartessian substratum. The result was the following chain of Celtic dialects/languages: Lusitanian - Celtiberian - Gaul - Lepontic.
During the Bell Beaker period (c. 2800-1800 BC), the Celtic language was used as a lingua franca by the populations of Western Europe. It was the language of the élite of the Copper Age (Bronze Age). The centre of the Celtic world was in the Únìtice culture in 1800-1500 BC, in the Urnfield culture in 1200-800 BC, in the Hallstatt culture in 800-500 BC, and in the La Tène culture in 500-50 BC. The Celtic lingua franca was based on different Celtic dialects during the six different cultural periods mentioned.
The Celtic world collapsed and the Celtic lingua franca lost its significance with the rise of the Roman Empire and the Germanic world. The area of the Celtic language spoken as the first language shrank rapidly. The Celtic languages left substrata in many European languages, for example, in High German and English.
Essential questions to be answered are: When did the Celtic language arrive in the British Isles? What non-IE languages were spoken in the British Isles before the arrival of Celtic? What happened to the Celts in Central Europe and the British Isles?
Check mate, mate!