Beyond Celts, Germans and Scythians: Archaeology and Identity in Iron Age Europe (Duckworth Debates in Archaeology) (Duckworth Debates in Archaeology) [Paperback]

Peter S. Wells (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 20, 2001

Who were the Iron Age peoples of Europe? Celts, Germans, Scythians: these are among the names that come to mind. But such names and the characteristics associated with them, come to us from outside observers - Greek and Roman writers - not from the native peoples themselves. To understand how late prehistoric groups constructed and expressed their identities, we need to examine the rich archaeological evidence left by the Iron Age Europeans themselves. Recent theoretical and methodological advances in anthropology, archaeology and history, together with results of archaeological research all over Europe, provide the basis for a new approach to the problem of the identities of Iron Age peoples. Peter Wells uses patterns of identity revealed in the archaeology to interpret the commentaries of Greek and Roman authors who conveyed their own perceptions of these non-literate groups. Finally, he examines ways in which Iron Age Europeans responded to the Greek and Roman representations of them. The result was an ever-changing mosaic of complex and dynamic identities among the diverse peoples of Late Iron Age Europe.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Peter S. Wells is Professor of Anthropology at the University of Minnesota.

Product Details

• Paperback: 176 pages
• Publisher: Duckworth Publishers (August 20, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0715630369
• ISBN-13: 978-0715630365
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.7 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #876,454 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Excellent material on pre-Roman European culture, May 12, 2005

By 

Miz Storge (Michigan) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Beyond Celts, Germans and Scythians: Archaeology and Identity in Iron Age Europe (Duckworth Debates in Archaeology) (Duckworth Debates in Archaeology) (Paperback)

Wells' book is an introduction to solving the problems of who the Celtic, Germanic and Scythian peoples actually were, since all we really know about them come from their artifacts and what their literate conteporaries said about them. He focuses on the difficulty of identifying ancient migratory cultures, especially in light of Greek and Roman assumptions that these peoples were static and mainly defined them in terms of place rather than as moving groups (identifying them them as 'Germani' because they lived in Germany, for instance). Further, the Romans and Greeks had their own agendas in writing about the peoples of temperate Europe. Archaeology has further muddied the waters by ascribing "Celtic", "Germanic" and "Scythian", "Greek" and "Roman" labels to various artifacts and artistic styles.

Unfortunately, it is a very brief text and more illustrations would have been helpful. Wells raises many questions and we have to wait for the future research will give us some of the answers.

23 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars An incomplete and not so scholarly work, November 5, 2006

By 

Shea John Michael (Zurich, Switzerland) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Beyond Celts, Germans and Scythians: Archaeology and Identity in Iron Age Europe (Duckworth Debates in Archaeology) (Duckworth Debates in Archaeology) (Paperback)

After reading the reviews on this book, I ordered it with great excitement.
It seems obvious that the boundaries of the ancient Iron Age people were most likely to be somewhat fluid, and this book - I was hoping - might shine some more light on some blank spots of current knowledge.

One example I was hoping would be cleared up is the names of "Germanic" tribes - such as the Germani, Cimbri, and Teutones, which are either most probably Celtic tribal names in the case of Germani and Teutones, and a disputed Germanic tribal name in the case of the name Cimbri. Another anomaly is that the leaders of Cimbri and the Teutones apparently had Celtic names and they allied themselves with Celtic tribes.

However this book took an interesting idea and pretty much did nothing with it.
It did more or less stick to "new wave" archaeological paradigms - for example - diffusion of all things up until historical records and then suddenly (because its hard to force history to fit diffusion models) everyone is invading everyone else.
The book pretty much ignored post classical historical and linguistic evidence.

Many disparate pieces of evidence come together to fill in our picture of the Celts (by Celts I mean any group of people who spoke a Celtic language). There is far more evidence to suggest that the Romans and the Greek writers actually got it right most of the time, and it seems very unlikely that they would have consistently misrepresented not only the tribal names of the Celts they met, but also the actual personal names, and somehow do this in a way that the tribal and personal names are most often recognizably linguistically Celtic (cognates with modern Celtic languages etc).
There is pretty much a smooth transition from currently (i.e. that Wells takes issue with) standard accepted Celtic European prehistory to undisputed history. Roman and Greek writings, Celtic toponyms, historical peoples such as the Galatae in Turkey, Galicia, Asturias etc in Spain, the Gallo Romans in France, the insular Celts, the Roman settlement of what is now Switzerland and many, many other sources, all provide a fairly clear picture of prehistoric Celtic Europe. However, Wells, refering most of the time to classical writers, and without any real evidence, says that our picture of prehistoric Celtic Europe is (in important ways) wrong.

An example of where Wells ignores any other evidence is when he throws doubt on the idea that a Celtic group sacked the Delphi (as did many other groups, who were not Celtic). And yet somehow the writers at the time recorded these invaders as having Celtic names (e.g. not Germanic, Scythian, Illyrian or Thracian). Many Celts were also present on the borders of Macedonia in Dacia etc, thus we know they were close enough to do it. And we know historically that some portion of them settled in Turkey. Many pieces of complimentary evidence (such as Turkish history) suggest to us that this is the most likely scenario. Saying the words "Greek writers never defined what Celtic means" and "it is most likely that with that term they meant simply soldiers from western and central Europe" are not worthy pieces of evidence that can change our mind of the above scenario.

In summary I kept looking for the "beef" in this book, but most of the time was met with vague mumblings about how the classical writers "could" have been wrong, and "may" have misrepresented some peoples. There were also some strange theories that reminded me a bit of heisenberg's uncertainty theorem. That the tribes (like the Helvetti and the Sequani, and by extension I guess he means all of the historical tribes the rest of Europe and in Britain like the Iceni etc) did not actually have these tribal identities until Roman interaction forced these identities upon them. That's funny, the Roman's never got to Ireland and yet somehow these Celtic people had tribal identities too (so did the peoples of Sweden, well away from Roman influence). I can imagine a mercenary warrior coming home to the hearth and saying to the chieftain: "By the way - we are actually the Fir Domnann!", and the chief replies with "Good idea! And lets call the people in the next valley the Fir Bolg!". "Too late chief, Fergus just got back from the continent and he has already given them the name the Gaili'in".

Anyway my suggestion, if you are still interested in this book and want to make up your own mind, is to borrow it from a library.

11 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A superbly presented, scholarly work, March 13, 2002

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Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Beyond Celts, Germans and Scythians: Archaeology and Identity in Iron Age Europe (Duckworth Debates in Archaeology) (Duckworth Debates in Archaeology) (Paperback)

In Beyond Celts, Germans, And Scythians: Archaeology And Identity In Iron Age Europe, Peter Wells surveys these Iron Age peoples of Europe and explores the rich archaeological evidence they left behind. Outside of archaeological findings, our knowledge of these people of antiquity is confined to commentaries by Greek and Roman writers, and not from the native peoples themselves. Beyond Celts, Germans, And Scythians draws upon recent theoretical and methodological advances in anthropology, archaeology and history from sources all over Europe and bases a new approach to the problem of the identities of Iron Age peoples. What is revealed is a complex, ever-changing mosaic of dynamic and diverse cultural identities. Beyond Celts, Germans, And Scythians is a superbly presented, scholarly work that is highly recommended for academic and professional reference collections, and is also commended for the non-specialist general reader with an interest in antiquity and prehistoric European cultures.