National Geographic and Celts

Mr Hamhead Mar 10, 2006 09:17:50

Someone told me that the NG were running a feature on the Celts this month so I had a look on the web and hey! what do you know...there all a lot of merry making pride filled Europeans who have a habit of taking thier clothes off and dancing around Edinburgh...

http://www7.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/0603/sights_n_sounds/index.html

...there is more to read in the article if you know someone who you can borrow it off...or you could read it at the dentists in a couple of months time...

One thing that did catch my eye was the modern standing stones in Galicia. They appear as wallpaper and do not have much information..time to google i think...

http://seabed.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/wallpaper2.tmpl?issue_id=20060301&week=3&priority=1

Mr H

PeterH Mar 10, 2006 10:06:33

Replying to Mr Hamhead

National Geographic does have superb photographs, but this article is so twee and yucch!
Its all there to swell the chests and bring a manly tear to the eyes of all those exciled Irish/Welsh/Scottish Americans. Bagpipes, Scotts Porage oats and Braveheart in a fact-free "Masters of Europe" jamboree bag.

fitzcoraldo Mar 10, 2006 10:50:21

Replying to Mr Hamhead

http://www.turgalicia.es/sit/ficha_datos.asp?ctre=1266&crec=31637&cidi=I

gorseddphungus Mar 10, 2006 19:18:22

Replying to Mr Hamhead

I know those standing stones at Coruna, in northern Galicia; it is some sort of modern sculptural place at the Costa da Morte (Death Coast). The ancient real standing stones in Galicia are more modest, and the stone circles have all but disappeared, although a few fringe researchers claim the ancient 'corrals' for cattle to have started as neolithic ritual places.

Galicia struggled for hundreds of years to have their Celtic roots recognised within Iberia (still part and parcel of Galician nationalism) and yet, like everywhere else including the British Isles, Celtic is a word now avoided in archaeological studies at all costs these days. However, it is still pretty common to find it in tourist brochures.

The fact that the thousands of hillforts in NW Iberia had round houses unlike the rest of mainland Europe does not prove anything so far. A better word than Celtic has not been found. The extremely damp acid soil of Galicia has destroyed all corpses. Indoeuropean terms like Brig- etc probably all come from the earliest Bronze Age migrations far before the Celts arrive, some sort of proto-Celtic ancestors must have settled all over the place then lost touch with Europe, I guess the same was true in the British Isles and other parts which quickly became isolated thereby retaining their own genetic stock.

XXX
GP

The Eternal Mar 12, 2006 01:08:36

Replying to Mr Hamhead

Mr. Hamhhead,

With all respect this (and no offence meant):-
http://www7.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/0603/sights_n_sounds/index.html
is amongst the biggest load of f*cking sh*te I have ever had the misfortune to listen to. Typical American bullsh*t. It's a twee American vision of the Irish "ancestors", who some Americans cling to for the reason of claiming a bit of history to their small lives.

Most people in touch with British archaeology know that the so-called Celts are not confined to the traditional boundaries of Ireland, Scotland, and Wales. In fact, most English people have more "Celtic" blood than Scottish or Welsh people.
Mr.H., please do not take my rant as an assualt or your good self - I'm full of red wine, and I've therefore got the courage to speak my mind, and it's against the author of the website linked.
Cheers, and many regards,
TE.