- Chapter Four -
illustrations of weapons at consistent sizes, has shown the development of swords,
spears and shields from the fifth to the first century Be (1983a). Weaponry and
warfare in Gaul has been most recently discussed and illustrated by Brunaux and
Lambot (1987). Several recent exhibitions and museum displays have evoked the
Celtic warrior through full-scale reconstructions and drawings (e.g. Zeller 1980; and
the Museum of the Iron Age at Andover in Hampshire); the magnificent volume
accompanying an exhibition in Venice in 1991 explores many aspects of warrior
activity throughout the Celtic world (Moscati et al. 1991).
The two strands of evidence, the archaeological and the literary, that must be
interwoven in any discussion of Celtic warriors can be evoked so vividly that the
popular notion of the Celtic barbarian is second only to that of his Hunnic or Viking
successor as the scourge of classical or later Christian civilization. Barbarity is
conjured up through noise and an absence of discipline; physical stature is enhanced
by shagginess of hair or by helmets apparently designed to instil terror into the
person to whom the story is being told - horns in the case of the Celts, wings in that
of the Vikings. Unusually, our picture of the warrior Celt is also affected by two
groups of monumental sculpture: the first, nearly contemporary, includes Roman
arches such as the Arc de Triomphe at Orange and is designed to commemorate
Roman military victory and the defeat of dejected barbarians (Amy et al. 1962); the
second and more disparate group is of nineteenth-century date and belongs to a
period when Europe was discovering its Celtic rather than its classical past (see
Figure 4.1) - statues of Ambiorix at Tongres, Vercingetorix at Alesia, and Boudica in
her scythed chariot on the Embankment in London are among the most famous, and
are perhaps the most important, in perpetuating past images of warrior leaders.
Today, of course, the cartoon creation of Asterix has provided new generations with
expectations of Gallic invincibility and bombast, as well as a sense of humour, an
essential part in relating the past to the present to contemporary audiences. When
myth becomes an inevitable part of popular culture, archaeology has an unusually
important part to play in presenting a rounded picture of the material evidence. In
broad terms this chapter will take a site or a group of sites to form the focus of the
exploration of a theme, incorporating material from sculptural or classical sources
where this adds clarity to the picture. Illustrations and reconstruction drawings have
thus been chosen to reflect general themes.
LA GORGE MEILLET AND CHARIOT BURIALS
One of the most extraordinary snapshots of princely Celtic weaponry is that offered
by the excavation report of the chariot burial of La Gorge Meillet, in the French
department of Marne, discovered in 1876 (see Figure 4.2); it is partly the economical
presentation of the illustrations, laying out, as they do, the results of a nineteenth-
century excavation with a beguiling simplicity that readily allows the reader to
reconstruct the panoply of the buried warrior (Fourdringier 1878). The grave pit,
measuring 3.2 m by 2.4 m, had been dug into the chalk subsoil to a depth of some
1.7 m; the floor of the pit was stepped, with a lower portion with two deeper slots
to receive the wheels of a chariot, and a rather higher ledge at one end, on which the