Originally Published December 2009 The month leans more toward an opinion piece than most articles. One of my first articles since taking over the Celtic History Newsletter was about the Isle of Lewis Chessmen (Original article) These have long been considered one of the more important early Chess sets found in Europe. There are about […]
Category: Blast from the Past
Newsletter Blast from the past: Ancient Copper in Ireland
Originally published November 2009 The many copper and bronze objects found in Ireland, indicate its importance during the period between 2500 and 500 B.C. As a resource, copper ore is not that common in Ireland and the Cork-Kerry districts are where it is most concentrated. Of course, the ore first used by the early Bronze […]
Newletter Blast from the Past: Tartan Coats?
Originally published August 2009 Anyone familiar with the history of the kilt should be aware of the 1631 illustration of Scots arriving in Stettin to fight in the 30 Years War. This is well known as one of the earliest surviving illustrations of Scots in what is pretty clearly a great kilt / belted plaid […]
Newsletter Blast from the Past: Celtic Women
Originally Published June 2009 There is a certain amount of evidence that women in Celtic societies enjoyed more freedom and power in comparison to their Greek, or Roman sisters. While they were far from being treated as the equals of their men, marriages seem to have been a bit closer to a partnership than in […]
Newsletter Blast from the Past: Head Hunting
Although scholars debate the exact meaning and depth of the so-called “Head cult” of the Celtic peoples, it is said that the desecration of bodies by the taking of heads was a practice that outraged Classical writers. According the the first century historian Diodorus Siculus: “They (The Celts) cut off the heads of enemies slain […]
Newsletter Blast from the Past: Lindow Man
Originally Published May 2009 In 1984 a preserved body found at Lindow Moss (15 km south of Manchester) re-awoke an interest in early Celtic religion and possible sacrifices. The top half of a male body was preserved so well that police feared it was a murder murder victim, but radio carbon dating indicated that the […]
Newsletter Blast from the Past: The Scots Musical Museum
Originally published April 2009 The Scots Musical Museum is probably the most significant early collections of Scottish tradition song. The first volume was published in 1787 and included three songs by Robert Burns. Burns eventually contributed about one third of the 600 songs contained in the final six volume collection, and in many ways is […]
Newsletter Blast from the Past: The Scottish Royal Company of Archers
Originally published February 2009 I was recently looking up something in the book A Short History of the Scottish Dress by R.M.D. Grange (1966) and rediscovered a tidbit that I thought it would be fun to share. Most people assume that the Black Watch was the first official military unit to be assigned a tartan, […]
Newsletter Blast from the Past: Beltane in Scotland
Originally published May 2008 Beltane was a traditional festival celebrating the return of summer. Some scholars believe the name may originate in ancient Phoenicia where Baal was a name sometimes used as a god of the rain, thunder, fertility and agriculture. In Babylon the term was “Bel” and in Celtic belief, Belenos. Although other scholars […]
Newsletter Blast from the Past: The Darien scheme
Originally published March 2009 The Darien Scheme was an unsuccessful attempt by the Scotland to establish a colony on the Isthmus of Panama in the 1690s. William Paterson was born in Tinwald in Dumfriesshire in 1658. He made his first fortune through international trade, traveling extensively throughout the America’s and West Indies and helped to […]