<< News >> Romans' brutal crackdown on Celts

Submitted by PaulM on Sunday, 10 July 2005  Page Views: 4740

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back to Gaul, 52 BC submitted by TimPrevett : On Friday, I had the pleasure of going back to Gaul, 52 BC, to the Romans' siege of the enormous hillfort of Alesia and their shenanigans with Vercingetorix. This was for a day's work as a Roman Soldier, filming for Battlefield Detectives. I've had make up applied, and I'm convinced it adds about 10 years and 2 stone to me! The Romans built 10 miles of multiple ditches, ramparts and big nasty p... (Vote or comment on this photo)
Norfolk acted as a hub of resistance against Roman occupation, new analysis of archaeological finds has revealed. But the empire's military might eventually eclipsed native East Anglians in a brutal crackdown described as a "lost holocaust".

A sprawling Celtic 'proto-city', as significant to its Iceni occupants as modern-day London, sprawled across eight square miles of West Norfolk, almost certainly providing a regular home to Boudicca.

David Thorpe, from the Sedgeford Historical and Archaeological Research Project (Sharp), is excavations director for the site - the exact location of which is not being disclosed.

Speaking yesterday, he explained the team have discovered burnt fragments of wattle and daub and stains in the earth. They believe these are the remains of a roundhouse which was razed to the ground by Roman invaders almost two millennia ago.

Much of this evidence has been available over the nine years excavations have taken place. But it is only now that the team feels confident enough outline their analysis in full after the conclusion of excavations.

Mr Thorpe said: "It seems there was a thriving population in the area and then, in about 60 or 70AD, the record completely stops. There is also a lack of Roman finds in the area.

"When you compare this to other areas across the country, it is extremely unusual. Most communities were conquered or peacefully accepted Roman rule so there are Roman finds.

"It seems this was a strong-minded population doing everything it could to resist the Roman empire - probably the last place to remain independent.

"But the Romans did not tolerate insurgency and they would have stamped down on it hard, destroying the settlements and selling the population into slavery."

As the Celts left no written records, much of the story remains informed speculation.

But structures unearthed include signs of palisaded boundaries separating areas and an oval of banks and ditches suggesting a fortress. Finds of exquisitely crafted jewelry suggest this would have been a centre for the Iceni's aristocratic caste, hinting at Boudicca's regular presence.

When the Romans invaded there was initially little conflict in East Anglia. A lack of Roman finds suggests the Iceni not only resisted their rule but also refused to trade with the empire in a form of ancient anti-globalisation.

The Iceni later revolted, joining forces with the Trinovantes of Essex. Their efforts were ultimately doomed.

"The Romans had contempt for the Iceni as barbarians who they believed by definition would always lose," said Mr Thorpe.

Sharp began in 1996 and its work has included the extensive excavation of a Saxon cemetery in the valley of the Heacham. For more information visit www.sharp.org.uk

Source: EDP24 9 July 2005

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Re: Romans' brutal crackdown on Celts by Anonymous on Friday, 15 July 2005
Garbage!!! Another "Anti-Celt"-swaying to the punk rock of the day, Boudicca would have surely claimed your head gleefully- THEY WERE CELTS !!!!
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    Re: Romans' brutal crackdown on Celts by Thorgrim on Friday, 15 July 2005
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    'Fraid not. Celts originated in Austria and went South and East. Romans never called the Ancient Britons "Celts", neither did the ancient people of Britain and Ireland call themselves Celts. No one did until the 18th century AD - and that was a mistake.
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      Re: Romans' brutal crackdown on Celts by Anonymous on Thursday, 21 July 2005
      Actually, the Celts came out of the Asian steepes in the early 7th Century B.C, settling in the area now known as the Balkans for a period of time. Here - they encountered the Greeks who called them Keltoi. They spread throughout the continent very rapidly - probably reaching Britain and Ireland within the same century. The name stuck. In all probability, they had no internal name for themselves as a people. They were a composite of loosely affiliated tribes like the Belgae (from which we get the word Belgium), the Durotriges, Icenii (Boudicea fans take note) and many, many others. The first of the tribes to cross the English Channel, were the Pritanni - from which we get the word Britain.

      Their language was a collection of many tongues and pronounciations changed from place to place - often with "C" sounds becoming harder "G's" thus the poeple who were called Keltoi by the Greeks are also the Gauls, the Gael, Gallica, Galatians. We have to remember that "language is often defines not by the tongue that speaks it - but by the ear that hears it.

      ~Erwyllian
      Yeah.... they were Celts.
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        Re: Romans' brutal crackdown on Celts by Thorgrim on Thursday, 21 July 2005
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        What archaeological evidence do you have that proves that Celtic people migrated into Britain and Ireland? OK - so we have an art style that was imported and then developed here, but a migration? Don't think so. Language similarities are due to a common root, certainly, but that root diverged long before the Celts became a people. Take a look at the "Atlantic Celts" by Simon James published by British Museum Press. For a summary look at his website or read what Francis Pryor has to say about the non-event that was the Celtic migration.
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      Re: Romans' brutal crackdown on Celts by Thorgrim on Friday, 22 July 2005
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      British and Irish celts - no way!
      "There's been a lot of arguing over the last ten years, but it's now more or less agreed that about 80 percent of Britons' genes come from hunter-gatherers who came in immediately after the Ice Age," Miles said.

      Genetic Continuity

      "It is actually quite common to observe important cultural change, including adoption of wholly new identities, with little or no biological change to a population," Simon James, the Leicester University archaeologist, writes.

      One such change is the emergence of a Celtic identity in Britain. There are no historical references to Celts in ancient Britain.

      Miles explained that "Celts" was a name applied to tribes in Gaul—modern-day France—though their language shared the same root as those spoken by British tribes.

      "In the 18th and 19th centuries, as Ireland, Wales, and Scotland started to assert national identity, they began to talk about themselves as Celts," Miles added.
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        Re: Romans' brutal crackdown on Celts by Thorgrim on Friday, 22 July 2005
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        From BBC History web site:
        "However, there is one thing that the Romans, modern archaeologists and the Iron Age islanders themselves would all agree on: they were not Celts. This was an invention of the 18th century; the name was not used earlier. The idea came from the discovery around 1700 that the non-English island tongues relate to that of the ancient continental Gauls, who really were called Celts. This ancient continental ethnic label was applied to the wider family of languages. But 'Celtic' was soon extended to describe insular monuments, art, culture and peoples, ancient and modern: island 'Celtic' identity was born, like Britishness, in the 18th century.

        However, language does not determine ethnicity (that would make the modern islanders 'Germans', since they mostly speak English, classified as a Germanic tongue). And anyway, no one knows how or when the languages that we choose to call 'Celtic', arrived in the archipelago - they were already long established and had diversified into several tongues, when our evidence begins. Certainly, there is no reason to link the coming of 'Celtic' language with any great 'Celtic invasions' from Europe during the Iron Age, because there is no hard evidence to suggest there were any.

        Archaeologists widely agree on two things about the British Iron Age: its many regional cultures grew out of the preceding local Bronze Age, and did not derive from waves of continental 'Celtic' invaders. And secondly, calling the British Iron Age 'Celtic' is so misleading that it is best abandoned. Of course, there are important cultural similarities and connections between Britain, Ireland and continental Europe, reflecting intimate contacts and undoubtedly the movement of some people, but the same could be said for many other periods of history."
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Re: Romans' brutal crackdown on Celts by Thorgrim on Sunday, 10 July 2005
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AAARGH!! Can we not agree to stop using that inaccurate and misleading word "Celtic" The Iceni were British NOT Celtic and to talk of East Anglia hundreds of years before the Angles arrived is ludicrous.
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