During the centuries before the Roman conquest, Iron Age Europe was home to the many peoples that we now collectively call the early "Celts." Known to the Greeks and Romans as fearless warriors, prodigious drinkers, and amoral barbarians, the Celts interacted with the classical Mediterranean through trade and in hostile encounters. Feared for their attacks on Rome and Delphi, the Celts were a constant presence in Europe, northern Italy and Spain on the one hand, and in western Turkey on the other. The first century BCE and thereafter saw numerous major military incursions by the Romans into Celtic, or Gallic, and finally Insular territory. At these points of contact, the non-literate Celts entered into Classical literature.

The archaeological study of Celtic material remains reveals a fascinating culture unknown to the Classical authors. Lavish burials of women and men contain well-preserved goods and exquisite works of art in an abstract, non-narrative idiom. Many of the early concepts and forms developed further on the western Isles. Hillforts and enclosures permanently altered the landscape. We can begin to generalize about Celtic Iron Age social structures, economic patterns and belief systems.

We will avail ourselves of both sources of information -- the Greek and Roman authors' writings about the Celts, and, primarily, the archaeology of the Celtic world. This course will cover the late Hallstatt period of the sixth century BCE through the Roman period. 

 Assignments:

• The first paper is an essay requiring the students to describe a work of Celtic art. They must use their powers of observation, and translate into verbal language a work in a visual medium. A rewrite in response to a detailed critique is expected and part of the grade.

• The second paper allows the student to take on any persona as the narrative I, and to present a plausible scenario, taking the reader into a moment in time in Iron Age Europe.

• The third paper requires proper library research on a narrow, relevant topic, to be distilled and presented in cogent form in a persuasive paper. A draft is required.

Grading - provisional
25%	class participation, including quiz grades
15%	description and rewrite(s)
15%	creative essay and rewrite(s)
15%	final exam (or series of tests?)
30%	formal paper draft and final versions

  Books: (see also Amazon.com Listmania list "CC340Celts"
for sometimes cheaper prices than coop or beat the bookstore --
or if not in stock -- half.com, bn.com or alibris.com are sometimes better bets for used books
and occasionally half-price books)

M. Ruth Megaw, J. V. S. Megaw	Celtic Art: From Its Beginnings to the Book of Kells	Thames & Hudson	2001	req.
Barry Cunliffe	The Ancient Celts	Penguin	2000	req.
Barry Cunliffe	The Celts: A Very Short Introduction	Oxford University Press	2003	highly rec.
John Collis	Celts: Origins, Myths & Inventions (oddly titled at bn.com)	Tempus	2004	req.
Peter S. Wells	Beyond Celts, Germans and Scythians	Duckworth	2001	req.
S. Moscati, O.H. Frey, V. Kruta et al., eds.	The Celts (if you get this on-line, make sure it's the 718-pp Rizzoli pb (or if lucky, the Bompiani hardback) and NOT the 240-p picture book by V. Kruta)	Rizzoli/Bompiani	1991-2000 eds.	req.
David Rankin	Celts and the Classical World	Routledge	1996	req.
John T. Koch & John Carey	The Celtic Heroic Age	Celtic Studies Publications	2003 (4th ed)	opt.
Michael A Morse	How the Celts Came to Britain: Ancient Skulls and the Birth of Archaeology	Tempus	2005	highly rec.
Philip Freeman	War, Women, and Druids: Eyewitness Reports and Early Accounts of the Ancient Celts	UT Press	2002	opt.
Miranda Green, ed.	The Celtic World	Routledge	1995	opt.
Simon James	The Atlantic Celts	Firebird	1999	opt.
students who have not had any archaeology should consider any one of the many introductions available at half-price or in PCL - my very favorite is the brilliant Paul Bahn's	Archaeology: A Very Short Introduction	Oxford University Press	1996/2000	highly rec.