A History of Celtic Britain BBC2 9:00 PM THURS

[filcon]

Neil Oliver presnts new programme starting tonight.
A History of Celtic Britain BBC2 9:00 PM THURS
phil

 

[Silverhill]

I heard Neil on BBC Derby earlier today. Insightful, if short, interview about what promises to be pretty interesting stuff.

 

[Barn Owl]

That was good.

 

[TeeDee]

Didn't fancy being the poor sod stuck down a tiny winding tunnel bashing away with a rock and rib bone in the absolute pitch black.

 

[morch]

I enjoyed that too.

Dave

 

[Barn Owl]

Didn't fancy being the poor sod stuck down a tiny winding tunnel bashing away with a rock and rib bone in the absolute pitch black.

Wonderif it would be a case of mining it all and the goods being sorted up top?

 

[Prawnster]

I enjoyed it too, fascinating stuff.

The mine did indeed look terrifying.

How cool was the bronze sword recovered from the wreck?

And that file blew me away, I had no idea early iron age craftsmen could make stuff like that.

 

[stinger]

hope it will be on the iplayer, i'm going to miss this with work.

 

[Angus Og]

I'm sure you can find it somewhere

 

[gregorach]

Didn't fancy being the poor sod stuck down a tiny winding tunnel bashing away with a rock and rib bone in the absolute pitch black.

Something that occurred to me about that, looking at the size of the tunnels... You know how youngish lads tend to compete in showing off at risky activities? Makes 'em perfect candidates for this sort of thing: "Get down there, you big Jesse - Bob dug out half a ton yesterday."

I do wonder how many died down there though...

 

[Stringmaker]

I enjoyed it too, fascinating stuff.

And that file blew me away, I had no idea early iron age craftsmen could make stuff like that.

Me too.

As Neil said, you could put a handle on it and you'd have no idea it was getting on for 2500 years old. A brilliant example of a tool which was designed to perfection right from the off.

I wonder who the first Iron Age guy was who thought "You can cut that file up and make firesteels out of it!"

 

[durulz]

I missed it, though I suppose I could watch it on BBC play again (or whatever they call it).
The only thing I have with the whole 'Celtic' thing is the name. The Celts wouldn't have recognised themselves as that (though that's fair enough - it's a modern term we use to describe a historical group of people - just a label), but all this talk of Celtic Europe, or even just Celtic Britain, insinuates an homogenised culture. And that just wasn't so. In fact the different 'Celtic' nations were so diverse that the term 'Celtic' is about as meaningful as 'druid'. But I suppose that gets too complicated for the man-on-the-street and so such programmes simply perpetuate aboriginal myths and fallacies. It'll be interesting to see if they address this.

 

[gregorach]

It'll be interesting to see if they address this.

Given the relative sophistication of the first episode, I would be extremely surprised if they don't. Don't pan it 'til you've seen it.

 

[Stringmaker]

I missed it, though I suppose I could watch it on BBC play again (or whatever they call it).
The only thing I have with the whole 'Celtic' thing is the name. The Celts wouldn't have recognised themselves as that (though that's fair enough - it's a modern term we use to describe a historical group of people - just a label), but all this talk of Celtic Europe, or even just Celtic Britain, insinuates an homogenised culture. And that just wasn't so. In fact the different 'Celtic' nations were so diverse that the term 'Celtic' is about as meaningful as 'druid'. But I suppose that gets too complicated for the man-on-the-street and so such programmes simply perpetuate aboriginal myths and fallacies. It'll be interesting to see if they address this.

Don't get us started on the "Celtosceptic" debate............

You're absolutely right though; as a catch all label it is too simplistic but I doubt if the series will go into that. There is a school of thought (with good empirical evidence) that suggests the "Celts" occupying Britain before the Romans originally moved up from Southwestern Portugal.

 

[Qwerty]

I missed it, though I suppose I could watch it on BBC play again (or whatever they call it).
The only thing I have with the whole 'Celtic' thing is the name. The Celts wouldn't have recognised themselves as that (though that's fair enough - it's a modern term we use to describe a historical group of people - just a label), but all this talk of Celtic Europe, or even just Celtic Britain, insinuates an homogenised culture. And that just wasn't so. In fact the different 'Celtic' nations were so diverse that the term 'Celtic' is about as meaningful as 'druid'. But I suppose that gets too complicated for the man-on-the-street and so such programmes simply perpetuate aboriginal myths and fallacies. It'll be interesting to see if they address this.

shhh man, you're ruining the ambiance

You're spot on correct for course, but that's probably a program for BBC4...