'Celtic' Clothing

‘Celtic’ Clothing (with Greek and Roman Influence) from the Iron Age-a Realistic View Based on What We Know What, When, Where and Why? Documentation and reproduction of period „Celtic‟ clothing for reenactment purposes is a subject which not only should be approached with caution, but also a difficult and sometimes seemingly impossible task if one aims for historically correct imitation. Based on limited textile finds through out the Celtic empire and coupled with historical commentary and art representations we can generate an educated generalized guess on what the Celtic people may have worn, but then this is only a guess. This representation is further clouded by regional differences both in necessity of certain dress and textile fiber availability. What we do know however is that the Celtic peoples as a whole delighted in color and costume documented not only by textile finds, but other costume finds and backed by historical commentary. In order to begin such a feat we first must understand who were the „Celts‟. The term „Celt‟ is derived from the Greek word „Keltoi‟ and is a general broad term applied to most of the European barbarians from the Middle Danube to the Atlantic. (Cunliffe 9) Julius Caesar, writing from the First Century BC states concerning the Gauls of France, „we call (them) Gauls though in their own language they are called Celts‟. While the terms Keltoi/Celtae and Gali/Galatae were used interchangeably by early writers the term „Celt‟ became the prominent label for these people during the Victorian period, a name which today not only is misleading but brings on romantic notions most of which are not even „Celtic‟ by any historical sense. What these tribes might have shared was possibly similar linguistics, beliefs systems, art and the shared relation of being „other‟ by Greek and Roman understanding, but in no way were they ever a federation or unit. Indeed, as history is often written by the victorious so to, most of our knowledge of these tribes comes to us from the biased views of Greek and Roman writers who placed these European peoples into an uncivilized and primal group of „barbarians‟. Other records such as oral traditions recorded hundreds of years after the decline of Celtic society by Christian scribes deemed it necessary to censor and Christianize ancient stories. While we do refer back to such commentary and mythology we must be careful in relying on such observations and placing them broadly on the group as a whole. The „Celtic‟ tribes can be viewed much like the Native Americans in our own country and as such undoubtedly had many differences between them which certainly included fashion. The „Celts‟ covered a broad area of Europe and spanned from the eight and seventh centuries (Halstatt C period during the Iron Age) into the Roman expansion into Celtic territories the last half of the first century BC into the first century AD. While the death of „Celtic‟ culture is sometimes seen during the invasion and rise of the Anglo- Saxon period in the Isles and sometimes even later for those tribes that with stood Roman invasion north of Hadrian‟s Wall in Scotland, the decline of Celtic culture in the pure sense fell during the Roman occupation of their territories. It is safe to say what developed after was a blend of other cultures and the Celtic peoples with the exception of possibly Scotland and Ireland which failed to ever see any major change until the Angle and Saxon, if not the Viking, invasions. For our purposes I play with the dates between 1000 BC and 400 AD amassing 1400 years of limited finds to better define possible dress options. I think that if we were to believe that the present knowledge of 1 garments and textiles from this period was a sound indication of dress for this culture it would be much like believing that bell bottoms and tie die clothing were the standard form of dress for the twentieth century. In addition, we do have to acknowledge Greek and Roman influence especially under new light which revels vast trade routes into the Celtic regions from Greece and Asia. Celtic Cloth and Technique- Weaving, Spinning and Dyeing Regardless of what early writers had to say about their barbarian enemies to the North, in regards to Celtic clothing and cloth, they were some of the most sought textiles in trade- an industry that was not only embraced in the British Isles before Roman invasion, but latter would also be exploited by the Romans. By the late 3rd century AD British rugs were known as the best in the world and in the 301 AD Diocletion edict of maximum prices British capes commands high prices. (Wild 133) Such fabrics were marked not only by the beautiful colors and unique weaves but also from the fineness of these textiles. The Hochdorf Chieftain‟s burial from Germany dating to the Late Hallstatt period around 530 BC contained some very fine woven fabric of extremely high thread count, possibly 25 to 18 treads of wool per centimeter according to Lise Bender Jorgensen in North European textiles until AD 1000 (Jorgensen 55) which disrupts not only the Roman view that these tribes were primitive but also our modern belief that they wore archaic course and large knit clothing, though archaeological evidence as a whole does not discredit such larger weaves as such examples also exist, but they had the capability of manufacturing fine cloth. Few examples of textiles survive to the modern era and this is in part due to the decaying properties of organic material. The few instances of fabric that have been found in archaeological context have been preserved in conditions that disrupt the decomposition process such as bogs, arid or dry conditions, next to metal or sealed in voids lacking air. In many of these conditions while some textile remains are preserved they rarely survive in their entirety so while we might know a little on the weaving process or manufacture of the fabric we do not have enough evidence the majority of the time to reproduce the garments. Documented types of weaving include warp weight and tubular loom weaving (Figure 1), sprang and finger weaving, and tablet weaving for this period. One of the best know finds of Celtic textiles comes to us from the small commercial center of Hallstatt in upper modern day Austria, (Figures 3, 5-7) a successful salt mining village which lasted during its hey day from about the sixth century BC until the fifth century BC even though a few textile finds do date back to around 1000 BC and a few survive from the La Tene period. Over a hundred pieces of fabric have been found with in the salt mines and related cemetery at Hallstatt but not a single complete garment remains. These textile remnants provide us a good picture of the highly developed ability of weaving from the period which included basic basket weave, cross twills and textiles of different colored interwoven threads which included plaids. (Barth 194) In addition several tablet woven border finds were also discovered at this location. (Figure 16-17 ) The neighboring salt mine of Durrnberg in Hallein dating close to the same period provides us with 19 textile finds. (Jorgensen 107) A lovely number of garments and textile remnants have been preserved in bogs through out Europe from the Bronze and Iron Age (Figure 4) which provide us probably the best and more often complete 2 examples of dress from these periods, but it must be noted that only certain types of fabrics are preserved in the peat, many of these are noted in P.V. Glob‟s The Bog People Iron-Age Man Preserved. Wool and leather survive in this context but other types of organic plant based textiles do not though with the help of modern testing we can sometimes determine through trace evidence that such items as linen might have been entered into the bogs. Of the evidence we do have we can safely say that the Celts were weaving wool, hemp, linen, possibly ramie, and other types of animal hair which included goat, horse and badger throughout areas of the Celtic lands, but probably these fabrics differed to region and tribe. An interesting example of the use of woven horse hair was discovered in Armoy, country Antrim, England in a peat bog with a cache of objects which date some where between 750 and 600BC. This black horse hair sash is long and narrow being woven from displaced herringbone twill with an elaborate fringe at both ends that terminates in „pellets‟. (Barber 195) There have been several confirmed silk finds dating as far back as the Hallstatt period and which include the Hochdorf chieftain‟s burial which contained „a complicated textile of silk woven by „combining tabby and twill elements‟ (Jorgensen 56) and the Hohmichele burial mounds dating roughly to the same period located close to Heuneburg, Germany. Recent research of the silk woven fabric and embroidery from Hohmichele has has been under scrunity by Johanna Banck- Burgess but according to Dr. Bettina Arnold of the University of Milwaukee, these fibers were in fact silk, but of Mediterranean origin. These fibers differed from Asian silk to the extent that they were shorter due to the Mediterranean process of harvesting the threads early as not to kill the silk worm. The Hochdorf silk was indeed a luxury import traced to Asia, a clear indication to the intricate trade system of the period that defined prestige. (Arnold 2011) Another noted burial find of the princely grave from Altrier located in Luxembourg from the early La Tene period composed of 2/2 twill of wool or possibly „silk‟.

Load more