The Celts in Antiquity: Crossing the Divide Between Ancient History and Archaeology

ABSTRACT One historical actor in Antiquity are the populations of Western-Central Europe, commonly called ‘Celts’ by classical authors. Themselves (mostly) illiterate until approximately the 1st century BC/AD, reports about them, written by foreigners like Polybius, Caesar, Diodorus and others have survived. The study of ‘Celtic’ societies thus can hardly rely on classical historiography, but is mainly based on archaeology. Historical sources and archaeology are difficult to reconcile, even if common themes can be identified in both types of sources. This article examines the differences, but also similarities between the various ‘Celtic’ societies of Europe and their neighbours, and the use of the term ‘the Celts’. The case study of the excavations at Meillionydd in North Wales is used to demonstrate how different types of source material and local and global scales can be integrated into a single, coherent explanatory model.

摘要
古典时代的一类历史主体是中西欧地区的人群，古典作家通常将其称为"凯尔特人（Celts）"。这些人群本身（大多）在公元前1世纪/公元1世纪以前并无本民族文字，因此关于他们的记载均由波利比乌斯（Polybius）、恺撒（Caesar）、狄奥多罗斯（Diodorus）等外来作者撰写并留存至今。针对"凯尔特"社会的研究几乎难以借助古典史学文献，其核心依据主要为考古学资料。尽管两类史料存在共通的研究主题，但历史文献与考古资料仍难以相互印证。本文探讨了欧洲各地各类"凯尔特"社会与其邻邦之间的异同，同时剖析了"凯尔特人"这一术语的使用语境。本文以北威尔士地区梅利奥尼德（Meillionydd）遗址的考古发掘作为案例，阐释了如何将不同类型的史料、地方与全球尺度的研究视角整合为一套连贯统一的解释模型。