- Chapter Twenty-Nine -
(b)
Despite these distinctive characteristics, Languedoc and Provence have a number
of points in common with the continental Celtic world. The development of craft
industries, commerce and urbanization were characteristic of the second century Be
in both areas. Numerous inscriptions on gravestones attest to the use of a Celtic
language in Provence. The famous sanctuaries, such as those at Roquepertuse
or Entremont, present an iconography, incised in stone, which is analogous with that
of more northerly regions. In terms of more prosaic items, the metal artefacts from
all periods of the Second Iron Age in the Midi are easier to parallel on the Swiss
plateau than within Mediterranean cultures. Some objects may have been imported,
but we know for example that bracelets and f1bulae were produced in the Midi
according to typical La Tene designs. In this respect, the south acted as an active,
innovating province of La Tene culture.
To the west of this region, weapons from the cemetery at Enserune, which are
typical La Tene products, attest the permanent presence of warriors who fought like
Celts. Should one deduce from this a borrowing of f1ghting styles by the local
population, the presence of mercenaries, or the existence of a real colony of Celts?
Recent research has shown that the local population had not fundamentally changed
since the Late Bronze Age. It underwent and absorbed multiple influences, which
were adapted to its distinctive natural environment. As often happens in Europe, as
soon as the earliest written texts appear they describe the inhabitants as Celts. But