CHAPTER TWELVE
RESOURCES AND INDUSTRY
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Peter S. Wells
INTRODUCTION
U
nder 'resources' I consider the materials that Celtic peoples extracted from their
natural environment for purposes of manufacturing and building. Under
'industry', I treat the manufacturing processes by which they transformed raw
materials into finished goods.
The resource procurement and industrial activities of the Celtic peoples must be
understood in the context of social and economic changes taking place at the end of
the Iron Age. We can distinguish three main periods of development, though we
must bear in mind that these are constructs that we impose upon continuous cultural
processes. Between 600 and 400 Be, centres of economic activity emerged in tem-
perate Europe that formed foci for these activities. Between 400 and 200 Be, during
a time for which we have historical and archaeological evidence of Celtic peoples
moving to other regions of Europe, centres were few in number. Starting around 200
Be, the great fortified settlements known as oppida served as focal points for large-
scale resource procurement and manufacturing.
Most of the resources that Celtic peoples exploited had been utilized earlier (Clark
1952; J ankuhn 1969). In some cases, traditional patterns of resource procurement and
industrial activity were intensified, in other cases new technologies were developed.
Links to bronze age and neolithic practices are always apparent.
RESOURCES
The peoples of iron age Europe exploited a wide range of resources, including
different kinds of stone, timber, clays and mineral ores, as well as salt and graphite,
jet, lignite and sapropelite.
Stone was quarried for use in fortification walls and, particularly in the period of
the oppida, for pavings for streets and house floors (e.g. Meduna 1970). Different
kinds of stone, including sandstone and limestone, were employed for sculpture,
many examples of which survive (Megaw and Megaw 1989). Some special kinds of
stone were used for decorative and household purposes, for example shale from(^213)