The Celts, the highlights and the end of a cultural civilization

The Celts are the peoples and tribes who spoke the Celtic language over a millennium before the beginning of our era and the following centuries.

Their ancestors spread from the core area in Central Europe both to the west and east. Around the beginning of our era, Celtic tribes inhabited the British Isles, Gaul, the Iberian Peninsula and parts of Central Europe and the Balkans.

Celtic languages ​​belong to the Indo-European language family.

Due to the large area and the very long time that the Celts lived they have been able to build a very rich past.

Misunderstandings

It is sometimes assumed that the Celts are the founders of tumuli, large Obelisks, megaliths, dolmens, menhirs and Mounds but this is not true. These monuments date back to ancient times, some are 4000 years old. The Celtic civilization begun only 400 years before Christ. The reason why these monuments are linked to the Celts is by the conquests of the Roman empire. Their opinion was that these monuments were used by the Celts as this population lived in these areas that were littered with these monuments. It is true that the Celts used these monuments for several reasons but they din't built them.

Celtic civilization trough the ages

Around 400 BC the Celts where really blossoming. Since then this civilization already knew dominoes and dice.

In 387 BC, the Celtic Gauls destroyed Rome with under leading of Brennus and then retreated to the Po-Valley.

Expansion

Around the year 287 BC was their expansion so big that their people and their civilization permeated large areas of the Balkans and went to settle there as Gala Then in Small-Asia.

Roman conquests

Gaul, where the Celts belonged, was declared as a Roman province of the Roman Empire around the year 51 BC by commander Caious under Julius Caesar. The Rhine is hereby established as a national border. And from then on the area and the people was Gallo-Roman. From then on the whole area was influenced by the Roman superiority. For example, the Romans built their cities, and aqueducts. One of the largest aqueducts that they built is located in Nîmes (Southern France). The Celtic civilization, along with their culture and religion, faded away under the influence and glory of the Roman Empire.

The Celts, once a great and powerful civilization in Central Europe.

Tumulus, Obelisks, megaliths, dolmens, menhirs and Memorials

Tumuli, large Obelisks, megaliths, dolmens, menhirs and Burial mounds were antiquity burial sites monuments. So these people commemorated their gods and their dead. This all happened in 4000 BC, and this throughout the European continent. This is around the time where other civilizations like the Egyptians and the Greeks flourished. People come in large numbers at the monuments in France and Germany, but there are plenty of monuments from antiquity to be found in England, just think of Stonehenge.

Bretagne (France)
Countless megaliths are found in Bretagne, a French province. Carnac is such a place where many megaliths been preserved. A lone Dolmen can be visited in Dol-de-Bretagne. Furthermore, in Bretagne you also find Dolmens back in Camaret-sur-Mer and Locmariaquer. If you visit Le Cairn du Barnenez than you saw the best preserved burial mound. In the past there have been many more such stones present but in Roman times and the Middle Ages they had no eye for these monuments and these stones were mainly used for new buildings.

Research from the air
Numerous monuments were overthrown by numerous conditions. Sometimes can not see that it is an overthrown Dolmen. Only when you look from the air you can see that it is a monument that usually lie in a particular line or circle.

Big and importance
The Dolmens were usually placed from large to small. The largest Dolmen was probably for a deceased leader, then came a slightly smaller Dolmen for a less important person from the community.

Misunderstandings
It is sometimes assumed that the Celts are the founders of Tumulus large Obelisks, megaliths, dolmens, menhirs and Mounds but this isn't. These monuments date back to antiquity, and are sometimes more than 4000 years old. The Celts were only from 400 years before Christ. The reason why these monuments are linked to the Celts is because of the conquests of the Romans in this area. They're opinion was that these monuments were used by the Celts as this population lived in areas that were littered with these monuments. And the strips of Asterix and Obelix where the Gaul's walked around with dolmens during the Roman times gives a false impression of how old these Dolmans really are and to what ancient civilizations these stone monuments belong.