- The Celts in France -
THE ENVIRONMENTAL SETTINGDuring the eighth century BC, the gradual change from the dry climate of the
sub-Boreal to the more humid sub-Atlantic regime led to the abandonment of lake-
margin villages around the Alps and of some high-and medium-altitude valleys. This
trend does not appear to have been reversed until after the Roman conquest.
Amongst forest trees, beech and hornbeam, sometimes accompanied by alder,
spread westward. In the south-west, the vegetation still characteristic of this area
became established: maritime pines and heathland with bracken. Pine, box and
Mediterranean species covered the south-east. Pine, beech and alder spread into the
Pyrenees. Fir became established in the Massif Central and were to be found along
with beech in the northern Alps and in the Jura mountains.
MAJOR GEOGRAPHICAL ZONES IN THE
FRENCH IRON AGEThe contrast which was already apparent during the Bronze Age in terms of material
culture between Atlantic and continental groups persisted into the Iron Age.
Stimulated by the establishment of the Greek colonies in Provence and by exchanges
with the upper Danube valley, a culture with diagnostically Hallstatt traits developed
on the Rhone-Saone-Rhine axis. In the north and the west of the Paris Basin, in the
Massif Central and the south-west, recent research is helping to define a distinctive
first iron age culture which was still in existence when La Tene culture became firmly
established in the Marne area. The Armorican Iron Age has numerous characteristics
which serve to distinguish it from the remainder of northern France: it remained
untouched by second iron age La Tene influences until the last few centuries BC. The
Languedoc region and Provence, their Mediterranean environment setting them
apart from more northerly areas, equally developed indigenous cultures which were
original not only in respect of their native origins but also in their reactions to Greek
colonization.
With the exception of the spread of its characteristic iron and bronze items, La Tene
culture was not archaeologically visible over much of Gaul for considerable periods.
Celticization may thus be considered to have been a phenomenon of the second
century Be in many areas. The early ancient geographers offer us little help: according
to them the coasts of Gaul, from Biarritz to Dunkirk, were generally oriented east-
west, and the great rivers flowed from south to north. Nevertheless, the Carcassonne
Gap and the route to the Atlantic was well known at an early date, as was the link from
Rhone to Danube. The modern reader needs to keep in mind the picture the ancient
writers had of these northern territories when interpreting their writings on Gaul.
THE AISNE-MARNE CULTURE, A SOCIETY REVEALED
BY ITS BURIAL RITEOur knowledge of many iron age societies in France is based essentially on material
recovered from cemeteries. Leaving aside a few intermediate cases, burials can often555