Show here your Celtic warrior impression

[Patrick M]

Great Pics Folkert! I like the "little story" about the captured celtic noble.
Like Dain i don`t favour to much checkered fabrics if you look on the archeological finds.
One question: Who made this wonderfull bronze Berru? Looks great!

[Ingvar Sigurdson]

Hi Patrick,

You mention the disparity (Ithink!) of checkered fabrics if you look on the archeological finds. I'm not casting doubt on your statement and this question is just out of interest, but do you know of any resouces concerning textile finds from 'Celtic' areas (other then the tablet weave decorations). I know of later textile finds from the Migration Period/Late Roman Iron Age in Scandinavia that do have what we would call Plaid but not the later far more complex patterns we call Tartan.

Having said all of that I also like the impressions in Folkert's photos.

cheers
Dave Huggins
Ingvar Sigurdson

[Robert Vermaat]

Hi Ingvar (and others),

You mention the disparity (Ithink!) of checkered fabrics if you look on the archeological finds. I'm not casting doubt on your statement and this question is just out of interest, but do you know of any resouces concerning textile finds from 'Celtic' areas (other then the tablet weave decorations). I know of later textile finds from the Migration Period/Late Roman Iron Age in Scandinavia that do have what we would call Plaid but not the later far more complex patterns we call Tartan.

How about the Tocharian mummies and their plaid fabric? I think I recall those finds from China, whose use of such fabrics was thought of as one more connection to the Iron Age peoples of Europe.

[Folkert van Wijk]

Thanks for the comments and for the critics people.
I am indeed allready trying to gut back on the checkered fabrics, but mind you, not all checkered fabric is schottish or is a tartan.
I do value the knowlegde Patrick and Stephan have and also as Dave, would also like to know where you guys find your information about the fabrics.

[Caballo]

I seem to recall a line drawing of a Roman North African monument depicting Celts in checked trousers? Can someone help my fading memory....

[Patrick M]

To reconstruct clothes or fabrics bases on the findings we have.
In the last twenty years the textile-research became more and more important in german, austrian an also danish archology.
The most important finds of "celtic" or iron age textiles are the ancient salt mines hallstatt and hallein in austria. Until today archologists find hundreds of fabric-fragments in the mines dating from the bronze age to the eraly laténe age. (it is quite difficult sometimes to make exact datings because if you just find some small fabric pieces and no fibulae or something like that, the fragments often dated to the general use of the salt mines [in hallstatt from 800-400 before christ]).
The fabric fragments in hallstatt, up to 400 (!) (maybey even more unpublished or unknown finds) are partly well researched with modern methods. Just 50% of this fragments have patterns. And of this 50% percent most of the fabrics have stripes or checked just with to colours. The same thing with the hundreds of fragments from hallein (thios saltmine was used from the end of the hallstatt period to the end oft the 3. century before christ).
The fragments in the graves, often obtained on metalfinds, like sword, fibules etc., are also in one colour. Ok most of these grave fragments were used to cover the single garve funitures in the grave (for example the tombs from glauberg, hessen germany). Everything was packed in fabrics.
A more well known example is the late hallstatt grave from Hochdorf. Here the same: monochromatic textiles but with a big variation of colours: blue, bright red, purple.
Ok most of the finds i enumerate are from the hallstatt and early laténe period, but the few finds from the late laténe graves are also monochromatic.

Finally some works (all in german, sorry) about the findings i mentioned:

Die Textilfunde aus dem späthallstattzeitlichen Fürstengrab von Eberdingen-Hochdorf (Kreis Ludwigsburg) und weitere Grabtextilien aus hallstatt- und latènezeitlichen Kulturgruppen / Johanna Banck-Burgess. Mit Beitr. von Lise Ræder Knudsen ...
Stuttgart : Theiss , 1999. - 292 S. : Ill. + 2 Beil.
(Hochdorf / Landesdenkmalamt Baden-Württemberg. [Hrsg.: Landesdenkmalamt Baden-Württemberg, Archäolog. Denkmalpflege. Red.: Christoph Unz] ; 4)

Rast-Eicher, Antoinette : Textilien, Wolle, Schafe der Eisenzeit in der Schweiz / Antoinette Rast-Eicher
Basel : Archäologie Schweiz , 2008. - 212 S. : Ill., graph. Darst., Kt.
(Antiqua ; 44)


Katharina von Kurzynski. ".....und ihre Hosen nennen sie bracas". Textilfunde und Textiltechnologie der Hallstatt- und Latènezeit und ihr Kontext. Magisterarbeit Universität Marburg/Lahn, 1993. Internationale Archäologie Band 22. Leidorf Verlag.

[Folkert van Wijk]

Thanks patrick,

The Berru helmet is allready for a long time in my "collection" I bought it from the american sword producer Albion a couple of years ago. besides there impressive collection of swords they used to sell a line of helmets and armor among these there where a couple of celtic ones. The helmets where made in India (I belief) but didn't life up to the standards of their swords, so I quess thats's why they quit selling helmets and armour and only focuse on swords now.

People here might know they also do make 3 types of gladii and are having also 3 types of very exiting spata in the development, it only takes them ages to develop and start selling them. They even showed a long time ago planes for some Celtic swords but I never saw more then scetches of them...

[Gaius Julius Caesar]

Still waiting on their spathas...... :roll:

[Caballo]

Still waiting on my Hod Hill Celtic scabbard too.....

[Patrick M]

Not much but maybe a got overview about examples of fabrics from the salt mines in Hallstatt:

http://dressid.nhm-wien.ac.at/textile_e.html

[Folkert van Wijk]

Thanks Patrick!

[Agraes]

One of our members in Letavia does a 5th-6th century Pictish impression.

Here is "Drust map Talorgan".

[ArthuroftheBritons]

:lol: What's he doing in Armorcia? More importantly does he know that that is the name of the king of the Picts from AD468-AD498 ? And that he was the inspiration for the Arthurian Sir Tristan? Unless you guys also portray Britannia I'd like to know what he's doing there.

[Medicus matt]

And that he was the inspiration for the Arthurian Sir Tristan?

AN inspiration possibly, I think it's a bit bold to claim he was THE inspiration. Drust/Drest was a common noble Pictish name (was it 9 or 10 kings who used it, and the odd saint or two) and was also found further afield....Cornwall for example.

Oh, and Drust map Talorgan was king in the 8th century, not the 5th. Drust Gurthinmoch was (allegedly) king between 468 and 498.
I suppose Gurthinmoch might have been the son of the Talorc/Talorgan who's listed as king between the first Drust and his brother Nechtan but I don't think that there's any evidence to support the idea is there?

[Agraes]

What's he doing in Armorcia? More importantly does he know that that is the name of the king of the Picts from AD468-AD498 ? And that he was the inspiration for the Arthurian Sir Tristan? Unless you guys also portray Britannia I'd like to know what he's doing there.

He is portraying a deditice or a gentiles. He could have been a captured warrior on a raid and then found employement in Gaul. At least in the 4th and beginning of the 5th century, warriors of irish stock are quite well documented as serving in Roman units, they are the Attecotti. It is possible that a Pict would have done so, even if there is no full proof of it.
We portray essentially Britons in Northern Gaul, but also insular Britons and neighboring people, be they Picts, Irish, Germanics... So his project is also the occasion to show people how an inhabitant of what is nowadays Scotland would have look.

And he really doesn't care about Tristan or king-who-shall-not-be-named. As long we let him wander on the field with nothing under his tunic saying naughty things he is fine