Preview September 27th 2005

[Ranika]

So..they arrived in Hibernia during the Hallstatt period and just stayed Hallstatt? I didn't realise that Hallstatt migrations stretched out that far.

No, they arrived in Galaecia in Iberia during the Hallstatt migration, where they more or less stagnated in terms of Celtic advancement, and rather, advanced like other Iberians. They arrived in Ireland in the middle La Tene period, where they mixed with La Tene Celts (giving rise to certain parts of their clothing and such, like the commonality of plaid, which wasn't so common among Hallstatters). You seem to be misunderstanding me. They were not Hallstatt Celts perse, but culturally descended from Hallstatt Celts largely, rather than La Tene Celts, though they did have many of the La Tene advances; however, things like clothing and certain types of weapons that were not used/fell out of use in the La Tene period, were still employed by Gaels. Gaels were, in terms of technological development, on equal footing with La Tene Celts by about 100 AD at the latest, but had branched into a seperate, isolated Celtic culture of heavily mixed Hallstatt and La Tene origin, with heavy overtones of the Hallstatt culture, introduced by ancient Galaecians, who were still Hallstatt in terms of their development as Celts.