- Chapter Twenty -
in which fierce and exotic beasts may well have protected the owner; subsequently
it may have become a symbol of rank and proven prowess in battle. Descendants of
such creatures appear on items of the Ultimate La Tene style in Ireland such as the
Petrie Crown, as well as the dragonesque brooches of Roman Yorkshire.
Finally, triplism is ubiquitous in early Celtic art (Green 1989). The writhing
three-armed triskel, sometimes with bird-headed finials, is another motif which
begins in fifth-century Be La Tene art and continues into the imagery of the early
Christian gospel books (Figures 20.1(4), 20.3(3, 4), 20.1 la, 20.14, 20.17). The
Waldalgesheim or Vegetal Style is essentially based on linked triskels (Verger 1986,
1987). Three human heads or simply a triple roundel like a pawn-broker's sign
are particularly common as the chief feature of a class of neck-ring peculiar to the
southern Champagne region, as appendages to the spring on a subgroup of early
mask brooches and on continental coinage, while triple-headed deities abound in the
only partly romanized culture of later Celtic Britain and beyond.
It is hardly surprising that the makers of such magical material should have
distinctive status in early Celtic society. An early La Tene skeleton grave in the
Marne has, in addition to the arms typical for male graves of the period, a set of
woodworking tools (Legendre and Piechaud 1985). Metalworkers' implements have
been found in a number of other central European graves while the status of another
key figure amongst basically peasant societies, the healer, is confirmed by the dis-
covery at Obermenzing near Munich of a middle La Tene surgeon's burial marked
by his ownership of a fine iron sword, manufactured in western Switzerland and dec-
orated with a bird-headed triskel (Figure 20.17).
The chief elements of Celtic society seem to be those of a disparate collection of
regional communities, often embracing many traits of the territories in which they
found themselves but nevertheless largely sharing aspects of a similar economy and
technology. Amongst all this variety, the binding element appears to be the art which,
as material evidence for their belief systems, in many ways is the one common factor
which best defines the Celts as a real identity in the making of Europe.
REFERENCESNote: The references contain, in addition to works specifically referred to in the text, additional
sources for the history of early Celtic art.Bataille-Melkon, Aline and Charpy, Jean-Jacques (eds) (1985) Les Celtes en Italie et en
Champagne (exh. cat.), Musee Municipal, Epernay 19 October-8 December 1985; Ancien
College des Jesuites, Reims 3 MaY-29 June 1986.
Brunaux, Jean-Louis (1988) The Celtic Gauls: gods, rites and sanctuaries trans. Daphne Nash,
London: Seaby.
Brunaux, Jean-Louis, Meniel, Patrice and Poplin, Franc;ois (1985) Gournay I: Les fouilles sur
Ie sanctuaire et l'oppidum (1975-1984), Revue Archeologique de Picardie, special no.
Castriota, D.R. (1981) 'Continuity and innovation in Celtic and Mediterranean ornament: a
grammatical-syntactic analysis of the processes of the reception and transformation in the dec-
orative arts of antiquity', Ph.D. thesis, Columbia University [University Microfilms 1982].
Challet, Virginie (1992) Les Celtes et !'email, Documents Prehistoriques 3, Paris: Editions du
Comite des Travaux Historiques et Scientifiques.