Lecture on "Celts: Art and Identity" to coincide with the international exhibition on Celts in the National Museums Scotland, by Dr Fraser Hunter FSA Scot, Principal Curator, Iron Age and Roman Collections, NMS.
Thank you for sharing this, wonderful & interesting! (I only wish the camera had stayed on the large view of the screen & the artworks much, much more!) The professor's point about an extensive lumping of extensive tribal peoples is probably correct & research will continue I'm sure! We often lump all the ancient Greek city-states together historically, although by far we are usually referring to Athenian culture, writings, etc. The fact they all spoke one of three or so Greek dialects lumps them somewhat together, but they spent probably more time fighting amongst themselves, unless it was Olympics time or heading off to Troy or keeping Persians & Turks at bay ;) Thanks again! beautiful slides!
I recall someone countering a similar point about biographies about napoleon "there are hundreds of different biographies because everyone interprets certain things differently and rationalises that within the evidence in the narrative"
Think maybe next time you guys can spend a bit more camera time on the art and a bit less on the guy's face? He's describing the stuff and the camera is on him so i need to stop and go back and pause it to see what he's talking about.
A good camera person is desperately needed for these lectures...his words can mean so much more if the camera person is clued in. The lecture is brilliant..but not what it could be if the camera held on the art objects.
Of course, what this neglected to mention that Britain within this time was who the Welsh/Cornish/Bretons are today, the Brythonic speakers, this is evident on placenames in modern day Scotland and England, Glasgow (Blue-Hollow) or Dover (Water), what should've been included is the Mabinogion, where King Arthur legend originated from, it specifically mentions 'Yr Hen Ogledd' (The old North) where the 'Romanised' Celts once held before the Anglo-Saxons invaded, so when he brushes aside that image of the Celts rebelling against the Romans, this is just partly true, because they did indeed fight against the new invaders.. to which the Mabinogion kicks in, it tells us of a time where we know very little about.. after the collapse of the Roman empire. And although the Arthurian legend inside is dated between 5th & 6th century through oral tradition, it was documented roughly 500 years later after the Welshman; Geoffrey of Monmouth.. whom travelled across Britain documenting different versions and compiling it to get a clearer image of the tales from the dark ages, but one aspect of Celtic culture that remains is literally on the Welsh flag, the dragon; used by countless Welsh leaders since the dawn of time, each depiction varying from one leader to another, originating from King Cadwaladr and King Arthur. But you'd probably argue that the dragon was introduced by the Romans during their reign, but you'd be wrong, the celts had been using dragons for eons, it was a powerful symbol then and it's a powerful symbol today and the Welsh have a claim to it, it is the Welsh that kept it alive through the National Eisteddfod (which kept the celtic tradition alive since 1176), not the royals currently in power in England.
Totally disagree with the person about the celtic art. it's just his opinion .not truth of course contacts and maybe some influence the celtic art significant Style this guy is talking piss I've heard unsensible ideas.
look at the map at 10:14, and tell me that the kelts are from hallstat or la tène : no way !! , kelts are from the Atlantic costs of western Europe not from the interior where they develloped later !!!!
The culture appears to have developed in that central region as that is where Urnfield is and where Halstatt is centred. The proliferation of names in western Europe is likely the result of name changes in the eastern part of the former Celtic region by Germans whereas names further west were more likely to be retained. Not saying this is fact but it's possible.
@Augusto Helmer , we have to admit that we don't know which element of those cultures traveled. I mean that we have to differenciate between peoples and languages and behaviours and goods ! Sometimes they don't travel all together. So when a culture is spreading it can be difficult to know if it's by migration , trade, or religion, more often a mix of those but not always. example :if we find tomatos and ketchup in many places that doesn't mean that Mexicans or Americans have migrated to or conquered all those places.
Celts are from a lot of places. From spain to the british isles. Celt was a generic term. Not a very descriptive one. So dont get your undies in a bunch.
The migration of Vedic Aryans from North West India to Europe and Eurasia of the Druhyu tribes(Druids), the Alinas, the Anus etc resulted in the settlement of the Celts and Gauls, Germans, Balts, Hittites and the Iranians occurred approximately between 3900 to 1900 BCE The truth about this migration has rarely been told, firstly because Western Indologists hardly believe them in view of their idea that the Aryans migrated to India. Secondly because of the Christian and Islamic civilizations, whatever religious rituals and mythologies remained were destroyed as the work of the devil or as paganism and that did not merit study.
Scotland lost its original Celtic language, Pictish, which was a Brythonic language, most related to Cymraeg, or Cumbric which has also been lost, Gaelic came later from Ireland.
