How The Celtic People Conquered Dark Age Europe

[Music] the Kelts emerged from Iron Age Europe around 2,700 years ago in a tiny Alpine Village and went on to become one of the wealthiest people in European history all thanks to a discovery deep inside the mountains a highly prized commodity at the time soft from humble beginnings they had developed a rich and utterly unique culture the Kelts had arrived they bursted on to the world stage having made a name for themselves through trade and now they want wanted more much more now they were on a mission from the mid fifth century BC grave Goods changed significantly in the early Celtic Graves we see items that reflect a peaceful Society where wealth was earned perhaps through trade now we see the first signs that weapons of war are taking Center Stage the Kelts exchanged their trading past for a future of violence they harnessed their proven Ingenuity for altogether more bloody and profitable Pursuits War pillage and looting we are about to enter the Golden Age of the counts [Music] [Music] Europe in the 8th Century BC Aton when the highways of the ancient world connected different cultures across a vast trading Network precious Goods such as salt and Amber bronze wine and pottery were bought and sold connecting the Kelts to The Wider world the Kelts were thriving but to read contemporary Greek and Roman accounts you wouldn't think so Celtic knowledge passed down generation to Generation by Word of Mouth they left no written records and that's why for centuries until now they've remained one of the most misunderstood cultures of the ancient world that's when archaeologists came to the rescue piecing the Celtic world together from New Evidence buried right beneath our feet newly uncovered human remains in richly furnished Graves their secrets decoded from their most treasured belongings buried with them to share the journey into the Afterlife belongings that revealed their sophistication power and status as Traders skilled workers and spiritual [Music] leaders this early Celtic culture was named by archaeologists that House St period and it would last for hundreds of years from 800 BC to well into the midth century BC until suddenly it all came to an abrupt end but why the salt mines of halad fade away and many long-standing Celtic settlements are abandoned at the same time archaeologists notice that the objects there unearthing from the ground are starting to look very different around 450 BC the archaeology shows culture materially changing throughout Europe objects on Earth from this period have a unique style of decoration this change coincided with many early Celtic settlements being abandoned the Kelts were changing and there would be winners and losers the hot period is over but why did it end are the Kelts dying out how would such an established culture just disappear archaeologists recently made a spectacular discovery that helped solve the mystery in glauberg Germany in what was once an ancient Celtic stronghold a fortified settlement perched high on a natural Bridge beside a large burial mound here they unearth a remarkable [Music] clue during excavation work in 1996 this 230 kg Sandstone statue was found in the trench around the burial mount it is believed to be one of the best preserved and most carefully crafted statues from the Celtic world this this is an extremely rare and valuable find he's wearing trousers and expertly crafted armor and an intriguing hat or head covering he has arm rings and around his neck a fantastic keltic neck ring called a torque worn only by the richest and most powerful of Kelps their gods wore torqus and any human who wore one was thought to enjoy the God's special protection but perhaps most importantly a sword hangs from his left hand and he carries a shield this was no spiritual leader but a man of action this life-size statue from around 400 BC has been nicknamed the Celtic Prince he symbolizes a new form of Celtic leader the warrior Chief but the most spectacular discovery is yet to come inside the burial mound they discover the body of a true Celtic Prince he's buried with objects so valuable that he must have once been a leader of men and a man of astonishing wealth archaeologists have dated the time this man would have lived to the time the statue was made and there's more this man is not alone there are two more burials just as rich and just as lavish as the first these three Rich tombs demonstrate how prominent these individuals were in their time they are considered to be some of the most exciting and best equipped tombs in all of Europe when tomb one was excavated we discovered that there were striking similarities between the person that was interred and the Sandstone [Music] statue therefore it was not surprising that we found objects that include among other things a sword like this replica a sword exactly like the one found on the statue was found inside our tomb also found in both the tomb of gold and on the Statue were objects including a shield and arm ring and a neck ring now the peculiar looking headgear on the Statue could be explained prince in the Tomb wears a head wreath made of mistletoe leaves a symbol of extremely high status but along with being rich these Kelts are powerful and intimidating and they want everyone to know it these new Kelts are being buried with sword and shield unmistakably the tools of [Music] War this statue wasn't the only one on earth here at least three other similar statues would emerge in a condition that intrigued archaeologists these statues were almost completely destroyed and intentionally so as a result we have very few remains of them enough to see that they were linked to the preserved statue and we believe that this might be related to a change in the ruling group here at glauberg these statues weren't venerated as would have been intended instead they were destroyed smashed and broken all at the same time the halot era was ending what we're witnessing here is unmistakable physical evidence of social change over 2,500 years ago violence and aggression fill the archaeological record swords broken Shields smashed statues the cels didn't fade away they reinvented themselves in violence this would be the new age of the Kelts the age of the warlord skip also around 450 BC we uncovered evidence at glauberg indicating a sudden change in Social conditions it was during this period that the ram part surrounding the whole Plateau burned down in a very large devastating fire as temperatures Rose to over 1100° some of the wall Stones melted taking on the appearance of glass this is no Accidental Fire to reach such sustained temperatures would have required planning and careful tending these Flames were fed in a deliberate attempt to burn glauberg to the ground could it have been attacked by a band of these new marauding Warriors or was it an inside job did the young glauberg Warrior Elite seiz their opportunity for a brutal coup whatever the situation the evidence for violent change is irrefutable around the same time or shortly thereafter a large Rampart was built over the burial site of a woman so this is an example of a period where ancestors are deliberately disregarded perhaps they wanted to demonstrate in no uncertain term terms that a new generation had risen to power the warrior Prince of Tomb 1 is part of this new era an era that ruled with an iron fist maybe he ordered that new ramp Parts be built bigger and better than ever before in a clear demonstration of his ownership and control the new fortifications would have taken hundreds of workers to construct all all under the watchful eye of our Warrior Prince we do not know whether the workers were obliged to do this or whether they worked voluntarily it could have been slaves who built the fortifications but in any case the construction of such a fortification created a sense of community which also helped the population develop an identity a new identity for the Kelts of clber one that they're asserting confidently we are the new cloudberg we are ready we are strong we are warriors from humble beginnings as a small but thriving trading Community it's now a major Center of power power for these new Warrior Kels a rich and Powerful stronghold glauberg was the first Celtic city of the new era but this assertion of military might didn't just occur in glabber all over Europe the Kelts were asserting themselves and establishing a new culture one that would see them reach their highest Heights this widespread cultural change from a spiritually organized Society to one where combat was King can be found in Laten Switzerland it was here that archaeologists uncovered a vast cache of Celtic weapons thrown into the lake as offerings to their gods swords Shields Spears scabbards all beautifully crafted and remarkably well preserved and and all invoking the same thing strength at arms and victory in battle and so archaeologists named this new Celtic era of the warrior Chieftain the Latin During the ltin period the men were buried with their whole set of Weaponry this comprised helmets Shields but also and most important the Celtic sword this was the most important symbol of wealth and power of the Celtic Warrior the Celtic sword was forged from a crucial material they had mastered as no one had before iron now that they were a Warrior Race they needed a Warrior's weapons and in true Celtic style they armed themselves with the most fearsome weapons on Earth Patrick Barta is one of the most respected swordsmiths in the world he specializes in the recreation of ancient blades he's working on a replica of a Celtic sword from the 3r century BC the transition between the bronze and iron Ages was not a revolution in terms of metal working but rather an evolution with an emphasis on continuity for example the first Iron swords copied the form of previous bronze swords even though they were made in a completely different way and from different materials the Kelts were among the first people to truly Master iron working and as they did their weapons became deadlier and more Dynamic while displaying a rare Beauty the Kelts understood how these weapons could Empower their culture in the emergence of a new Figure Head the dominant Warrior Iron Age swordsmiths were among the most respected members of Celtic Society their crafting skills as revered as the wisdom of The Druids and the music of the [Music] BS it is probable that a blacksmith would sing while worked the evidence for this comes from the Old Eastern languages where the verb to forge originated from the verb to sing the word for blacksmithing in Old Slovak is Klo which also describes the Spells incanted by magicians During the holop period swords were made with very low quality Iron and as such were fragile something that could tip the scales between life and death on the battlefield during the Laten period Celtic blacksmiths began to use hard steel blades for their swords which greatly improved the quality this technique continued to be used for another 2,000 [Music] years and even today Patrick Barta recreates Celtic swords by using the same kind of iron and replicating that very same process [Music] The Genius of the Kelts was to remove the contaminating slag debris and charcoal from the iron ore by hammering out those impurities they created a purer stronger metal one that would cut through the battlefields of the ancient world with terrifying efficiency in time the Kelts became masters of some of the most advanced Weaponry in the ancient world when we compare the current Celtic swords with the production of the swords from the workshops of ancient Greece and Rome we find that the quality is very similar both groups used the technique of tying hard blades to softer cores so when Julius Caesar claimed that the weapons of the Kelts were of poorer quality it was just War propaganda the famous Roman sword the Gladius likely was developed in response to the Celtic sword even the name Gladius is derived from the ancient Celtic word cladis the Greco Roman historian pus claims it was first used and then widely adopted by the great Roman general cpio after he first saw it being used by Kelts both to slash and thrust to great effect on on the battlefield in contrast to Roman swords for example the Celtic sword is quite long and elongated this comes from its use as a weapon for slaying and especially from horseback you need such a long sword to reach your opponent who is fighting on foot tooled up and ready for action the Celtic way of war is unique rather than implementing the organized but rigid tactics of the Greek or Romans Celtic warriors fought in an almost improvised way they relied on sewing chaos and fear amongst their enemies surprising them with an ambush or charging them mounted on horses or War chariots which were particularly effective against ranked infantry as part of their distinctive psychology of War they taunted their opponents proclaiming their fearlessness with piercing screams and noisy battle trumpets called carnic some even painted their bodies and fought completely naked to show their enemies how Invincible they were the whole effect must have been terrifying the Kels new strategy of acquiring wealth and land through violence was a huge success how do we know [Music] this we tend to think of the Kelts as a purely European people but by the 3r century BC bands of Celtic Raiders had taken territory by force as far east as Asia their skill and bravery on the battle field became known far and wide quickly earning them a Savage reputation among Europe's competing tribes this violent expansion coincides with an artistic explosion unlike anything anyone's ever seen before this period of Conquest saw the Kelts influenced by the art of the vanquished gold and silver looted largely took the form of decorative objects highly valued and in turn in ired Celtic Artistry what we see as Celtic art is actually an upper class phenomenon that was essentially expressed through metal objects that were specifically made of iron bronze and [Music] gold status much like the tools of their trades and Armory on the battlefield the Kelts use art to show their status and assert their [Music] individuality most objects of Celtic were not Monumental in size and thus aren't visible from afar they are typically small representations of Highly decorative objects you would only see The Artful brooches and bracelets worn very close to the body at close range Celtic art is specially made special people the VIPs and celebrities of the Ancient [Music] World Treasures like these are still coming out of the ground today all over [Music] Europe one such secret treasure is this bronze statuette depicting a naked kelt with golden eyes he's wearing a typical Celtic neckerchief the finding of this statue is a strong indicator that there are more Treasures to be [Music] found their treasured belongings soon bore all the Hallmarks of what people the world over today recognize as Celtic art enigmatic sculptures of mysterious Gods powerful warriors complex Swirls and natural curving lines but most of all a desire to enhance the beauty of even the humblest everyday objects [Music] this flagin is one of the most valuable objects from the Laten period the famous beaked flagon from dunber is an iconic item of the so-called early Celtic art this art and artistic style is constituting what is termed the Latin culture in large parts of Europe [Music] does this mean that Celtic art is simply a mashup of ideas they borrowed from other civilizations as they expanded no it was influenced by Greek itascan and also cian motives and influences which constitute this very mythical world of demons monsters and human faces which were depicted in this very characteristic [Music] style Kelts had a deep appreciation for Fine Art yes they borrowed ideas from other cultures but in doing so they created a unique artistic style all their own circles that seem to radi create energy Tris scallion that swirl outwards from a spinning Center swirling and curving lines that speak to Nature's essential Beauty equally Fantastical and beautiful even by today's standards and true to their Innovative nature they made their own improvements in manufacture and [Music] quality in many ways these Celtic products are more highly crafted than the Mediterranean models which were often mass-produced Celtic artwork such as the famed beaked jugs is quite detailed more qualitatively crafted with an individual style than objects from other places the devil really is in the detail with their swirling lines and exquisite motifs ancient Roman literature describes the Kelts as a crude unsophisticated people you only need look at their artistic expression to realize that nothing could be further from the truth its innate Beauty stands the test of time influencing artists and Craftsmen 2,000 years later the art Nuvo movement of the early 20th century introduced the model modern world to the beauty of Celtic artistic expression what's a bit harder to understand is how all of this beautiful art of the Lattin period was born of warfare their weapons themselves bear the most intricate etchings tools of Destruction but also tools of breathtaking Beauty both Beauty and the Beast in a single deadly blow it is clear that Celtic Artisans took their inspiration from either nature or the human body they would highly decorate their allmetal small swords called scabbards these decorations made them distinct from all other swords of the same period as masters of metal the Kelts combined a gift in art with a taste for War creating some of the most enduring metal sculptures the world has ever known and by 387 BC at the height of their power they began to flex their muscles and ransacked the city of Rome they were a people hungry for power riches and new territory all the way to the rarified walls of Rome [Music] is it solely the desire to expand that motivated the great Celtic migrations or is something else driving them to leave their ancient Homeland experts believe a brutal force is pushing the Celtic expansion south and east the force of nature around 400 b climatologists have discovered a peak of Stormy very wet conditions with unpredictable Seasons archaeologists have discovered built trackways across lowlands avoiding long detours across the flooded lands all of which affects Crop Production hungry people get Restless young ambitious Cults get impatient and soon the sword becomes the easy way to fill hungry bellies through the violent acquisition of food fertile land and so facing famine and continued hardship Kelts began to leave their heartlands tribes joined forces and became Warrior brotherhoods which in turn became armies pillaging not just Rome but any place that lay in their path their Rampages spread East and across the Balkans where ancient records record Celtic incursions including of pillaging of the famous Oracle at Deli in Greece Greek and Roman writers immortalize them as brave but brutal Savages they are exceedingly addicted to the use of wine when they are drunken they fall into a stuper or a state of Madness certain of them despise death to such a degree that they enter The Perils of battle without protective armor and with no more than a girdle about their loins when they are formed for battle they challenge the most Valiant men from among their opponents to single combat brandishing their weapons in front of them to terrify their adversaries when their enemies fall they cut off their heads and fasten them about the necks of their horses and some of them we are told eat human beings we're not so sure that the Kelts practiced ritual cannibalism even though there is some evidence for it what we do think though is that they collected the skulls of their enemy and they saw the skull as the seat of the soul and the source of spiritual potency skulls were embalmed collected impaled and even turned into ritual drinking cups but Greek and Roman authors tended to give us a very exaggerated view of the Cults propaganda even so we should take widespread cannibalism with a pinch of salt what this does tell us is that the Kelts must have been a very scary Prospect to these early Roman writers and they rightfully were wary of this large powerful and culturally unified tribe at their doorstep Rome at this time was an early Republic centuries away from the vast Empire that we now know and at this time the Kelts were prospering sacking Rome and holding the upper hand on the battlefield for over a century so it's perhaps no surpris that the Romans didn't paint a truer picture of them organized successful armed and dangerous war is waged not only against Mediterranean peoples conflict between rival Celtic Clans becomes commonplace and when fighting among themselves eles could be lucrative they were ruthless Celtic intertribal Warfare was also a very decisive and very important economic Factor Celtic slave trade across the Alps with the Romans in the South made played a major role in uh economy at this time this iron slave chain from about 100 BC gives us a very good impression of how this trade in Manpower took place at this time their Superior battle skills are now common knowledge Celtic warriors become highly sought after and as such are sold or sell themselves as mercenaries by 250 BC half of Hannibal's Army in Italy were Kels his shock troops and advanced Cavalry and it's here in the unic Wars that cpio first witnessed the Fearsome power of the Celtic sword later adapting it for his own Roman army they W weren't even afraid of being killed in battle this is why they were used pre- battle as to assault the enemy in a very very hard first punch but even Warriors need to eat rest play so who looks after them who provides the food blankets Comforts these were organized armies of significant size the warriors were on the move of course but they also needed young people to carry weapons or to take auxiliary roles on the battlefield wives and daughters to manage the camp blacksmiths to repair weapons that had been damaged in battle Hunters to gather food a whole tribe on the move but were these roles as traditional as we think and is the enduring image of the female Celtic Warrior more than just a myth could it be that some of these women would also fight alongside their men we know Celtic Society was relatively equal and women held positions of authority and power would they actually have taken to the battlefield a clue emerges from the grave this burial found recently in Bohemia Czech Republic contains the remains of a very wealthy woman who died at the age of 45 she was buried with all the paraphernalia of an upper class member of the ltin society her jewelry is a matched set except for the torque around her neck when scientists sample these objects they discover that the jewels all were made in the region where she was buried her torque however was made more than 600 km away we know from anthropological studies when people have moved large distances in a lifetime advances in the study of human remains can show when people have moved different regions and consumed different foods and changes in lifestyle and work can be seen as new repetitive tasks take their toll on the [Music] body and her bones and teeth indicate that her diet changes in late childhood she eats more protein and Millet a grain which was previously absent from her diet it seems that she traveled a long way from home at a very young age long-distance alliances were sealed by marriages or by the fostering of children who were placed in similarly ranked families from distant tribes by doing this they bonded The Wider Celtic world through familial exchange as the children grew to adulthood they would act as a bridge helping the Celtic World construct itself and transmitting a common culture and there's more inside the woman's grave is an extraordinarily rare find one that intrigues researchers an iron sword the Kelts buried their dead with objects that identified their role in society so could this woman have been a Female warrior or was the sword her husband's or maybe a son's one intriguing clue a broken wrist which one expert thought likely was caused by a riding accident her hips also showed signs that she was an active Rider Jewelry found with this woman proves that she is wealthy and very important perhaps even a Female warrior she was born far from the place where she moved in her early teens perhaps fostered as a child into another their wealthy household or even having traveled with a moving Army of mercenaries returning home from their service in distant lands eventually they have to move back and some of them have moved to Asia some of them established um kind of local settlement in this area and some of them moved back to the middle Dan PRS the Kelts are a formidable Force led by wealthy Warlords and carrying The Spoils of War is becoming easier any heavy or cumbersome loot is now exchanged for coins easy to transport easy to trade with money was definitely a GameChanger for the Kels before they looted objects Goods animals things that could quickly become a burden with coins they could simply sell the things they didn't want and then return home to buy the things they did want the first money that appears here in Central Europe is blood Money brought home by Celtic mercenaries coins from Greece coins from Rome and coins from Carthage in North Africa Hannibal Country this Rich mix of coins tells historians that something important happened here more than 2,000 years ago something which connects the Kelts to a pivotal moment in ancient [Music] history it is significant that this very large group of coins is chronologically related to the Second Punic War furthermore it is very likely that these coins were payment to Celtic mercenaries who fought in the conflicts between the Greek world and the Roman Republic this gives the Kelts an idea they will imitate their Mediterranean neighbors and create their own currency but typically the coins they make stand out from all the others the embossing and inscriptions on the coins produced in Central Europe is rather crude and basic this is in contrast to the Greek coins on which we can clearly read the name of Alexander the Great Celtic imitations of that coin are changed and reformed in various ways the jumbled letters are an unmistakable indication that the stamp makers were illiterate and unable to decipher what they meant merely copied the illustrations as pictures a fascinating reminder that those Kelts still gave us a vital key to understanding their history from the late 2 Century BC major Celtic centers minted their own coins and thanks to their commitment to trade people's movements can easily be retraced by modern archaeologists by tracking the circulation of coins which provide key physical evidence to compensate for the lack of written records s and it's also thanks to coins that researchers discovered a curious phenomenon in Central Europe in Nitza Czech Republic we have a unique opportunity to retrace the movements of these mercenaries who had fought far and wide in very few places have we found so many coins hundreds and thousands have been excavated here so many have been found that we think this could have been a trans shipment point where thousands of mercenaries gathered to work out their next move one thing's for sure this was no ordinary town this was a power center nit is actually a crucial site for the Celtic [Music] Community it is the main home for the Kelts in the second and third Century NM chitza was right at the center of a new new type of network involving three similar settlements alongside Rosal dorf and Nova Chia established between the danu and the so-called Moravian gate a pass in this mountainous region perfect territory for a new Celtic Society what is very interesting the distance between the three most prominent side is almost the same and it's about 150 km which using horse and vagon one can do within one day archaeologists also found key similarities between these settlements the streets and squares all built to a similar plan based on a common idea to create a connected trading center between the danu and the only Valley in this mountainous area for the late ironate standards settlement of rosalo covered a enormous huge area the the settlement covered at least 4 hectar but one can calculate even more up to 70 hectar so this side similarly like side of N Central Moravia were almost as like a big cities which was something very unique for that time outside of the Mediterranean region so the Kels had rich turned settled good land and they were making the most of their Newfound wealth and it's here that we begin to see other common features shared by these three communities and what establishes an undeniable link between them is coins a very modern form of common currency there is a special kind of economical Zone when on the SES like rosor were minted local coins we have two or three other places like that with the same kind of mint denomination so we have to do with one monetary system establishing this economical interest on this Zone thanks to these coins modern researchers are now unveiling one of the most surprising discoveries of the ancient world silver coins in particular were minted in he huge numbers that clearly indicates that this territory had to be controlled by some unified Authority who maintained control it further indicates that during this period there was a very Advanced social organization within the Celtic Society increasingly at peace with itself a society that was settling down while the majority of Celtic tribes and clans for the most part worked independent L these three settlements formed a strong Network and it was organized around not just a common structure but also a common currency we could even call it a Proto state but why the need to form it looking carefully at these three locations on a map a possible answer emerges these three settlements were placed right in the middle of the former Amber road that Lifeline for trade across Central Europe these warh hardened and enriched counts were returning to what they knew [Music] best this same Corridor which enabled early Celtic Merchants to trade their salt iron and Amber and spread their culture now over 200 years later the warrior Elites that took over during the collapse of this trade route returned revamping it after their service as mercenaries abroad and reestablishing Celtic ownership the Celtic settlers were controlling the part of this zone or Road um between Moravian gate up to the danu the Kelts had come home stake their claim to some of the most fertile land in all of Europe and beun to form a peaceful prosperous State a network of settlements in the middle of that same Amber road that had carried them to far-flung battlefields battlefields from which they returned with new money and new ideas about how to thrive in an increasingly competitive world the Kelts had spread their wings and learned from other civilizations how to organize and Empower their own Society resilience and resourcefulness saw them expand their territory hundreds of kilometers beyond their hallat Homeland by Reinventing themselves as a mighty warrior Le Society [Music] they became marauding pillagers then ramped it up to serve as highly prised mercenaries to the ancient world's most advanced civilizations and by studying their use of coins and their skill in minting new ones we now know the extent of their migrations and that they would return to structure themselves into a more advanced societ all in less than two centuries they're at the peak of their military and artistic Powers fearless and filthy Bridge what they don't know is that this golden age is about to come to an abrupt end [Music] [Music]

Channel: Chronicle - Medieval History Documentaries

Views: 61,696

Keywords: history documentary, medieval history documentary, middle ages, medieval history, the middle ages, the dark ages

Id: NkGEySA56o8

Length: 50min 6sec (3006 seconds)

Published: Sat Jun 22 2024