Introduction
The British Iron Age is seen to have lasted from about the 7th century BC and this was until the Roman conquest and also until the 5th century and this was in non-Romanized parts. Before the so-called British iron age, British is one of the products of the prehistoric sites for many years ago and some of the evidence for these sites is found at the lower, middle and upper Paleolithic periods. Following the prehistoric periods there came the Beaker culture which is thought to have originated from Iberian. The many skills for refining metals and the discovery of copper led to the displacement of stone into bronze.
It was then later that the disruption of the bronze culture collapsed hence indicating the invasion throughout the entire Mediterranean region. This led to the adoption of the Iron Age in Britain. The advent of the Iron Age is that iron is seen to have many repercussions on the people who lived during that particular time. A good example of these repercussions is that this period changed the trade systems of the British and also fostered local independence. You find that trade was very much important during the Bronze Age since it was endowed with many owes whereby they could mainly trade in Bronze and iron. It was during this time and period when there were so many religious beliefs and practices that are seen to have taken place. It was also called the era of Celtic. (Carr-Gomm, 2001).
The concept of Celtic people can be seen as a modern and romantic reinterpretation of history. These Celtics are warring tribes and are seen not to have seen themselves as one people during the Iron Age. Today, as many people can interpret the Celts, existed largely in the magnificence of art and also by the words of Romans who fought them. As these people know, they are a group of people with a common religion culture and language. There were also so many difficulties in attempting to understand the human behaviours of the period. During the bronze age period, many new ideas were seen to have influenced the settlements and land use. Many fields systems which are now called the Celtic fields were set out and more land was now becoming a permanent land for the people. By the end of the eighth century, there was now increasing evidence of Great Britain which is being closely tied to continental Europe especially to the east and south. Many traders are seen to have visited Great Britain in search of minerals and trading partners and also brought those goods and services from the Mediterranean. The many people of the Iron Age gave way to the many kingdoms which are seen to have been ruled by dynasties and the dynasties ran their own government hence giving hub to religious, political and commercial matters during this time. The Iron Age is seen to have led to many developments in towns and centres all over Britain. (Carr-Gomm, 2001).
The Iron Age beliefs and practices
The Iron Age beliefs are seen to have recorded a higher variety of deities that were worshipped by the people of North-Western Europe. A perceived description of a division between one group of gods which was relating to masculinity was perceived by Barry Cunliffe. Many goddesses were also associated with fertility. Great Britain also had so many tribal differences which are seen to have led to so many religious beliefs by these people. Wells and springs were seen to simply female divine links which were exemplified by the goddesses. (Ellwood, 2005).
Archaeological evidence on religious practices and offerings
During the Britain Iron Age, so many religious practices have been involved with this period. A good example, in this case, is the sacrifices and offerings which were found during this time. The offerings and sacrificed were usually involving a ritual slaughter of animals or the deposition of metalwork. In other times, the ritual offerings could also include the human offerings in that human beings could also be offered as a sign of sacrifice to their many gods. Occasionally, these people could offer their offerings to their many deities and failure to offer these offerings could be seen as a curse and many bad things could be experienced in that community. So, it was a religious belief by these people to ensure that they have offered their offerings to their deities. There were many effects that were seen to be associated with failure to offer these offerings. A good example, in this case, is that great poverty could occur as a sign of punishment by their deities. The archaeological evidence to explain this religious belief is that there were many physical remains of animals from the Iron Age sites. These burials could be done at the watery places since these places were seen as holy. As a result, it is clear that all these were offerings by these people. They could offer them to their gods periodically as a way of sacrifice to them. (Ellwood, 2005).
There were so many places of offerings and examples of the places of offerings include watery places. The wet places were seen as the most appropriate places for these people to offer their offerings to their deities, spirits and the dead. Archaeological evidence explains that these wet places were the only places for sacrifice and offerings by these people. They still believed in spirits and the dead were also living among them. As a result, they could offer their offerings to the dead as a way of feeling their presence and also so that they could not receive a course from them. Examples of some of the offerings which could be offered to their gods, spirits and the dead included the following, animals were commonly used for these offerings and sometimes human beings. The archaeological evidence to explain the human offerings which were done by these people can be found at the British Museum and an example of the human offering which was offered to the gods is Lindow Man who was found at Lindow Moss, Cheshire and is now found at the British Museum. Other fine metal objects were also discovered at the rivers and springs and were also used during offerings and these fine objects were found in only dry places and a good example is the neck rings. These objects were buried in the countries side that was so far away from their villages and farms. These burials of the objects were done for safekeeping. (Barclay, 1995).
The cast also sacrificed weapons to their gods and this was done by throwing these weapons into the lakes and rivers as the archaeological evidence of these weapons could be found at the rivers. These places according to their religion were seen as been special and also holy and hence they could use these places during their offerings. (Barclay, 1995).
Archaeological evidence on the Burial of the dead
Physical remains of animals and human beings from the Iron Age can be found in northern England. The priesthood of this particular religion was the druids. Druids, in this case, are a member of the priesthood and were seen to have learned class in the ancient Celtic community. These were part of the cultures of the tribal people and were known as Keltoi. These Druids were religious people and the people used to consider them to have great powers and hence could be used to perform the religious rituals say in the offerings of the sacrifices. As a result, Great Britain is a seat of the Druidic religion. There is no archaeological evidence for the Druidry to explain the survival of the Druids but the burials of the druids can be used to explain the archaeological evidence for the religious believes. The burials made with the trappings of the ritual are the only archaeological evidence that can be used to explain these beliefs by the Great Britain Iron Age. (Stewart, 2004).
The Celts had many of their religious activities and ceremonies in the woodland groves and also near the sacred water. These ceremonies were usually done in wells and springs since these are the only places that were seen to be holy by these people. The human sacrifice was also seen as part of the sacrifice. The Celtic warriors during these ceremonies would cut human heads of their great enemies and battles and these heads could be displayed as trophies. It was after displaying these heads that they could now hang them from their belts at the doorposts. To these people, the seat of spiritual power could be found in these heads.
So the explanation in this particular case is that by taking the head of vanquished foe this could be used to simplify that power was upon themselves. This was seen as a kind of bloody religious observance by the Celtic people during the Britain Iron Age. It was during the Iron Age period that many cemeteries could be found for the ordinary burials of people. The religious believes and rituals by these people caused some dead people to be buried in graves and also the religious belief was that these dead people should be buried with clothes and furnished with other objects. The burial of the dead by these people was not usual by the Iron Age communities in Britain. This is because in Britain during the Iron Age period, graves were extremely rare or even could be extremely absent. (Stewart, 2004).
The deliberate burial or even the discarding of the various objects which were buried with the dead bodies was seen as a practice that is increasingly being seen as a product of Iron Age customs, beliefs and rituals. Certain areas like rivers, lakes and also bogs were the sites which these people could deposit their weapons. There is a religious belief that these objects were accidentally dropped in the battle and this shows that these were part of their religious activities during wars so that they could succeed during the war. (Stewart, 2004).
The religious beliefs, ceremonial practices and rituals during the Iron Age differed from one group to another. This is because, during the British Iron Age, there were so many tribes with so many languages. As a result, you find that these rituals could differ from one tribe to another. A good example to explain this is the evidence that Druid’s ceremonials activities, rituals and beliefs differed greatly from one tribe to another. In this case, you find that there were no two sets of orders that were the same throughout the country. It means that there was no anything like a united Ancient Druid order amongst the Celtic speaking people in Britain. It was not necessarily that the wise men or even the elites could give authority to these communities but even the ordinary people could also give authority to the rest of the people. (Craddock, 2002).
There is so much archaeological evidence to explain the religious belief of the British Iron age people. A good example to explain this is the interesting findings which were found at the ancient log boat which was discovered right beside the causeway. The log boat which was discovered had been perfectly preserved in the peat bed and it is known that it stayed there for more that 2,000 years or more. The evidence with this log boat is that it had been deliberately sunk there and that no doubt it was an offering to the gods who belonged to the Underwood. The religious believe with this ornately carved vessel according to the archeological evidence is believed that it had been offered to the gods and goddess who were living in those waters. The archeological evidence also puts that this boat was never used but it was placed at the rivers and lakes so that they could appease the waters. (Craddock, 2002).
Archeological evidence was the astonishing bronze fields which are thought to have been recovered from the river Waltham in the Lincolnshire and also at the river Thames respectively. This shield as many put it is that it was intended for ceremonial purposes only and thus it could be offered to their gods as a sign of peace during battles. This is because the shield could not provide enough protection for the people during the battles so you find that it was offered to their gods so that they could provide them with enough protection during battles and that they could come out of the battle as winners but not losers. (Craddock, 2002)
People deposited so much valuable items of the day in to the adjacent waters. Archaeological evidence shows that a large amount of tools and also weapons were found and example of these weapons is the swords which were seen as the latter day equivalent to owning a Ferrari. All these highly treasured belongings since these objects were precious objects were offered to their gods and they are seen to have been carefully placed in to the waters rather than just been thrown down in to the waters. They could place these objects on the waters whereby their gods could be pleased with them since they treasured their gods so much especially during battles. (Craddock, 2002).
Conclusion
Archeological evidence is used to explain many historical factors which happened so many years ago. A good example is the religious evidence by the British Iron Age. This was a period many years ago which was composed of so many communities with so many tribes. As a result, there were so many religious activities which are thought to have taken place during this period. So, it is only through the archeological evidence that we are in a position to prove what really happened during that particular time period since it happened many years ago.
Reference
Barclay, A. (1995): An Iron socketed axe head from the River Thames. Buscot. Oxfordshire.
Blaylock, S. (2000): Bell and cauldron founding in Exeter. Historical Metallurgy Soc. 30.
Carr-Gomm, P. (2001): An anthology of Druity. Thornsons. An Impirit of HarperCollins Publishers.
Craddock, P. (2002): Report on the metal working debris from room 1, in excavations at the Romano-British bath-house. Poverest Road. Orpington.
Ellwood, R. (2005): religious and spiritual groups in Great Britain. New Jersey. Prentice-Hall.
Green, M. (2000): World of the Druids. London: Thames & Hudson Ltd.
Kondratiev, A. (2000): Celtic History and religion. San Francisco: Collins.
Stewart, R. (2004): Celtic gods, Celtic goddesses. London: Blandford.