If you have seen my other hillforts.co.uk pages, the world of hillforts did not just have hillforts. This Tolkienesque world was a time of many other great aspects. Some the ordinary aspects of life and society that have strong equivalents to now, and some that would make it seem almost like another dimension. There were different religions, different landscapes, different wildlife, and so much more difference.

There were partly aligned with the druidic religion, fantastic myths, some of which survive in folklore and textbooks, to today. Such as those akin to the Irish myths, written down at the end of the first millennium AD, that seem to have come from what was effectively still a Iron Age culture. Plus the stories of the Mabinogion, which surely had windows on previous Dark Ages and Iron Age myths of Wales. In addition practices written down by Rome's Classical sources have stories and aspects that mentioned what was occurring in the Celtic North West European Iron Age.

Other great sources include, interpreting of images, in the form, of statues, and shapes, and figurines found by archaeologists. Indeed there is famous Celtic statue from Germany, where a similar form of fashion has been uncovered by experts archaeologically, so intriguing there.

Plus inferring from what has been found out about neighbouring cultures helps. Also in cases, interpretations from lasting anthropological evidence today. Indeed there are tantalising cases of evidence where 18th and 19th century writers recorded practices, that were of a Pre-Christian nature in some of the Celtic parts of Britain. So many have attempted to weave aspects of those pieces into the story of Iron Age, and Dark Ages Britain. There is a modern view that the period between Norman and Roman Britain should be called Early Medieval, but I use Dark Ages, as it sounds more individual. With all the Roman, Celtic and other sources I think it is fair to write a attempt of what life was like in a dramatic, every day and glorifying way, which is what I have done in my story "The land of hillforts". In the story, I thus try to envisage a lost pre- Roman century, estimating a political and cultural existence, that I believe is a good attempt at pre-historical fiction. It is from the view of a number of people or adventurers, travelling the great Celtic nations of Britain, Ireland, and Gaul, with mentions of other lands of Europe in that time as well. It brings in everyday life, hopes, tribulations, and experiences, the vast majority of life, for most people then. Though it also factors in that terrifying reality of hillfort related warfare, which is a exciting part of the time, if terrible for the people involved. Though it needs to be stated, but not overstated, though the other aspects of hillfort, and non-hillfort Iron Age life are envisioned as well, so not just those exciting battles and escapes.  

Again below are pictures of this era, for what is of course the background for my hillfort story. They detail some of the fascinating aspects of what was talked of and believed in, and such. I infer from these sources a background and a setup of the life and world of the land of the hillforts, which you can buy if you go to the link on pages such as this site's homepage. Here we dip into that amazing world. I believe the pictures of the artistic aspects tell more than I could in the paragraphs here. So the wonderful art of the era, is presented by me in that way, with descriptions below. From the art of the weapons, to art of a more status and beauty orientation.

It is important to stress that life for most of the people, like nearly all societies of the world before the industrial revolution, after the Mesolithic hunter gatherer era, was devoted to farming, and some gathering. That is why I have a picture of someone farming, and some livestock, as a tiny taste of the visual aspect that. Also I have some pics I have manipulated, so nobody can use them without my permission, of roundhouses, which in many cases would be the homes of many a hillfort dweller.

Actually most people at the time did not live in the hillforts themselves, most lived in various other settlements, but they were likely places for all to flee to in times of trouble. For instance most lived in, homesteads, and more open hamlets and villages below the forts and afar, but often among roundhouses like these. Some of those would have been on the valley floor. In cases some of the settlements would be protected by a river boundary, or a enclosure, but the hillfort, the war bands, and ability of Celtic farmers, to fight, flee, or seek protection, was another defensive aspect.

Another beautiful aspect of life, was how Britain for example was so much more a land of nature than the concrete jungles of today. The population was something like 20 times less than in 2020, so, the average person would have been far closer to nature. Even the largest hillfort in most areas would barely be the size of many villages today, and people would have lived their lives closer to nature, and thus the trees, the birds, the wildlife, and their own livestock, and crops would be far more their lives, than the shops and such of today. In a sense this would have been true for people in those Celtic lands, and the world all the way to each land's Industrial and agricultural  Revolutions. Lets face it, even those in farming communities today, with their tractors, and the like have pulled away with some of that link with nature, though them less so. What you can envision though, is a Britain for instance of no cities, no towns, less roads, and just more fields, far more forest, and more countryside. There were even some animals, we do not have now, it seems the auroch had disappeared centuries before, but there were likely lynx in Scotland, possibly bears, and pelicans and storks aplenty in southern Britain, and even at times Ireland, which is not the case now. Though I did see there have been sightings of rare examples of these birds cropping up every so often.

It is this farming element to life, that it is easy  to imagine was the major focal point. It is even possible to say, that compared with the urbanised life of 20th Century Britain, that life from Bronze and Iron Age farming, and metal using Britain had in some ways more in common for most people in 2000BC and 1700AD, than 2020AD, or even 1930AD. Yes there were big changes in farming across the era, to do with new types of equipment, tenure practices, mass movements of peoples and the like. Plus of course major events and such, and more that changed over time, surely even affecting livestock types and such, but there would have been a common general pattern and patter to life, and of lifestyle that is not here as of so much more technological and social change, that has occurred for us now.

Possibly herding livestock, planting seeds, and harvesting, fears over the weather, plus how that would affect the food sources and all these things, would dominate life far more than for most of us for most of the time than now. Which could explain how certain elements of the rituals, even in mythology could have survived so long to the 19th Century literary recordings. Indeed some Bronze Age and Iron Age tools, look very similar to recent types, like for even everyday roles, such as plyers, or hoes, or such like.

A major aspect should be mentioned, the Celtic festivals, their greatest claim to fame of course, being how many claim they may even have inspired such things as Halloween. The Gaulish and Gaelic Celts had something like a few festivals a year, which were based in terms of timing of course on how changes in the seasons affect the farming aspect of society, and entwined with ritual, the Gods, and at times the Druidic religions. 

There was the Gaelic New year festival of Samhain, which with it's bonfires would mark the end of the harvest season and the beginning of Winter. Some feeling it was a time of a closer link with the underworld, where the Gods were more in existence. The Cornish, Welsh and Bretons, had a similar one, the Calan Gaeaf in Wales, and in these the Gods were honoured, and the passing of time memorised. There were undoubtedly pre-Christian acts that showed up until the 19th Century, like in the Isle of Man, rents were often started at this time. In the Outer Hebrides in the 19th century, a man would wade into the sea, on behalf of the community and pour out a cup of ale for the sake of Shoney, a Godlike figure.  

It seems elements of the Celtic faiths lasted will into the second millennium BC, even within Christianity if some writers are to be believed, and I feel they have a point. In all, I think it is fair to say some aspects of Celtic culture survived well into the 19th Century in many Celtic lands, just as even older beliefs did for other cultures in Europe, such as parts of Eastern Europe, or even certain communities in the Andes today.

There were many other aspects of what must have been Celtic religious practices recorded from Perthshire, to upland parts of Northern England, to Wales, and more. Though many of these fell away for many reasons, such as urbanisation, and standardised modern education, and so many factors that for much good or some ill changed society.

Certainly there were others festivals as well, such as in Ireland. Like the Lughnasadh, which honoured the Gods and harvest time. Or Beltane the equivalent to modern May Day, and Imbolc which honoured Gods during this very livestock orientated society's lambing season, and what was for many the wonderful ending of Winter. Irish myths and other evidence indicate that bonfires, and rituals were a major part of all these festivals.

Beltane or May Day seems to have been something that occurred in many cultures across Europe, but the specific of the types of Gods, and such were particular to certain cultures.

The Druids in Gaul actually created a famous calendar, the Coligny Calendar closer to the right number of days in a year than many other cultures of the time, and this marked festivals, that honoured what the Celts did. It was similar to what many druids would have. Though it must be said the Druids of Gaul had adopted writing, which British druids were still resisting up to the Romans, though some inscriptions on British made coins indicate some Britons may have started to acquire a knowledge of Latin very close to their invasion, though they were a tiny minority even of the elite.

In Ireland and Scotland Beltane had specific markings. In Perthshire in the 19th Century again it was recorded that a caudle or small cauldron had a meal of eggs, butter, milk and oatmeal, poured on the ground to some deity. In another part of Scotland it was recorded a number of folk would eat a piece of oatmeal cake, whoever by luck picked the smallest piece would have to make a play sacrificial jump through a fire.

There were many other unusual things recorded such as driving cattle through certain direction round bonfires, and such, or a shrine to that Goddess I mention on this page in Perthshire, that has to be rebuilt every year.

Most amazingly some Neolithic tombs in Ireland have times when the sunlight shines through certain passages during times when these festivals occurred each year, indicating a link with a long ago past in these faiths, possibly.
   
All in all it is fair to say there is a continuous strain of Celtic history, likely going all the way back to the eras before the Iron Age. Very little is similar to what it was like from then, and what remains from the most recent Pre-Christian era is highly diluted by other influences and such, but there are some genuine unbroken lines of cultural continuance, which is something I think is lovely. So aspects of stories from the Mabinogion to the Irish Myths, have heirs today. Indeed many of the oldest Christian traditions of Celtic lands have survived a long time as well. So this all part of just what happens, in fact of course certain Christian rituals, have passed into modern more secular even modern agnostic and atheist society, indicating that continuance carries on, adopting and changing.

The clothes they wore, changed over time, but it does seem there were similarities in Celtic fashions to those of Highland Clans, in the 18th Century. One feature I love is how they have found that the warmer parts of the Bronze Age, had lighter amounts of clothing found, than the colder parts of the Iron Age. As some centuries were markedly cooler, than others.

The food they had mattered of course, with oats, barley and wheat good staples, no potatoes, rice, or maize, but they could cope. Livestock including cows and pigs were kept, and the dairy foods supplied as well as meat were vital to many communities, in what were often very livestock orientated societies. If famine struck, it seems there was a tradition in Ireland of digging up buried caskets of food, kept in bogs called Bog Butter, that were at times, meat, or dairy, kept edible by their burial. I mean there is more to the Iron Age than this, but these details do indicate some fantastic everyday elements to life, as a background.

As I say elsewhere the various Gods they worshipped were likely an attempt to bring order and understanding to such a seemingly bigger and less able to be understood world. Seeing they lived much closer to nature and unknown risks than urban societies today. Gods of thunder, or storms, or the Scottish Goddess Caillech who was believed to be the Queen of Winter, and it's troubles. With some stories of Gods that fought warrior heroes mentioned in the Irish myths, in a pantheon as rich as the stories of the Greeks, or even the Romans. The druids would have drawn on these stories, but likely there were folk beliefs that occur in offshoots of modern religions, to do with things such as folk medicines, and medicine men and women, who would have likely have used not just remedies they found from herbs, but tried to use the power of these "Gods" as well. That would have been a major part of the background of the story, the religions, and the myths, associated to them, and local historical mythical kings and warriors and other such figures. Likely believed in by, Druid, king, the mass of the people, and even the minority of slave alike.

So this was certainly a land rich with life and culture, and so much. So a world of the magnificent hillforts I mention on this website, hillforts.co.uk, and a even richer background.
One other major feature of the Iron Age I should mention is the political aspect.
It seems each community was to a greater or lesser extent within a very loose confederation of other hillfort, village and hamlet environs. For instance in South East England there were a number of tribes about the same size as modern English counties, and these had likely changing borders and names depending on changing political rivalries if what the Romans indicate is anything to go by. The fact is their sources indicate different names for tribal confederations in the area, for when Caesar arrived, to what they saw a century later when Claudius sent his forces in. Surely this fluid situation, is what was occurring across Britain. The Romans recorded the names of tribes they came up against across Britain from the Silures of South Wales, to various groups in Scotland, which they could often give a unified term as the Caledonians or the Picts, who did have similarities, but this was their term for groups which were uniting in reaction to their moves.
On top of this then the Romans recorded regional groupings across Britain, which each hillfort or group of hillforts would have been part of. So like in North Wales there were the Decangli, and possibly sub units like Gangani. So this situation had occurrences across the Iron Age world, of numerous tribal groups, often changing overtime. Some in France though seems to have had much larger groups, as of it having such a wider area, but still fitted together within them by smaller confederations.

On a local level, the druids, the warrior aristocracy and possibly land owners, would have shared power, with their trusty warbands, and likely bards, helping them. Just as Medieval societies saw a similar situation, of nobles, knights and religious leaders and the odd scribe or cultural figure above the mass of the population. The mass of the population were farming crosses between serfs or peasants, who would have had obligations, but also would have demanded obligations back from their rulers in the fairer areas. Indeed it is noted by Roman writers, how rival chiefs would win their warbands and the people's support with offerings of wine, or mead, though to what extent the rulers were partly oppressors and partly ruling for the benefit of their people, and needing to take their hopes and aims into account is unknown.

The political aspect is important as it is how people interact with each other. The way people interact shows up in hillforts, in the fact groups felt they needed to have them. Plus in how large groups of people could form or be formed to make a unified effort and could have the manpower to build these structures. Plus in how they must have had political rivalries which needed these structures for protection, and for giving a image of power, and prestige.

Whether the average Celt would felt more tied to his local hillfort, a tribal confederation or the undefinable pan-Celtic society as a whole, is open to question. I say this as there were strands in religion and culture that tied the different Celtic confederations of tribes, but really my hunch would be it was their family, local community, or who was leading them in this quite proto feudal society, who they felt tied to and they just worked it out from there.
As I say though, the lives of the people then, were as rich and fulfilled at times for many, yes there was misery, but also joy, and pleasure.
A last thing to say, the people were likely mostly descended from the Beaker people who came to Britain in the Bronze Age. They seemed to displace most of the Neolithic population and absorb them. There were more migrations from Europe in the Iron Age, but likely in dribs and drabs, which over time made changes, but not as much as the changes brought about by the separation of these new groups by geographical boundary and such. As of this it is felt by many the Gaelic and Brythonic languages stem mostly from Bronze Age times, but changed slowly and thus in the end massively overtime, as of natural mutations, and new words brought in by other communities.

And as likely occurred across history new people have been coming into these groups all the time since the Bronze Age. So likely the British and Irish Celts were mostly Beaker people, a little but Neolithic, and Hunter Gatherer, and also some amounts of people, from other migrations from places such as Gaul and Belgae, and such overtime. With the Romans, Normans, Anglo-Saxons, Vikings, French and later other new migrations from around the world, also adding to the mix over time.