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Around 700 BC, another group of people began to arrive. Many of them were tall, and had fair or red hair and blue eyes. These were the Celts, who probably came from central Europe. The Celts were technically advanced. They knew how to work with iron and could make better weapons than the people who used bronze. It is possible that they drove many of the older inhabitants westwards into Wales, Scotland and Ireland. The Celts began to control all the lowland areas of Britain, and were joined by new arrivals from the European mainland.
The Celts are important in British history because they are the ancestors of many of the people in Highland Scotland, Wales, Ireland, and Cornwall today. Celtic languages, which have been continuously used in some areas since that time, are still spoken.
The Celts were organised into different tribes, and tribal chiefs were chosen from each family or tribe. The last Celtic arrivals from Europe were the Belgic tribes. It was natural for them to settle in the southeast of Britain, probably pushing other Celtic tribes northwards as they did so.
The Celtic tribes continued the same kind of agriculture as the Bronze Age people before them. But their use of iron technology and their introduction of more advanced ploughing methods made it possible for them to farm heavier soils.
The Celts traded across tribal borders and trade was probably important for political and social contact between the tribes. The two main trade routes were the settlements along the Thames River in the south and on the Firth of Forth in the north. It is no accident that the present-day capitals of England and Scotland stand on or near these two ancient trade centres. Much trade, both inside and beyond Britain, was conducted by river and sea. For money the Celts used iron bars, until they began to copy the Roman coins they saw in France.
The descendants of the ancient Celts live on British Isles up to this day. They live in Scotland, Wales and Ireland. The Welsh language is one of the Celtic languages, and it is the oldest living language in Europe.
The Celtic tribes were ruled over by a warrior class, of which the priests, or Druids, seem to have been particularly important members. These Druids could not read or write, but they memorised all the religious teachings, the tribal laws, history, medicine and other knowledge necessary in Celtic society. We know little of their kind of worship except that at times it included human sacrifice.
Celtic hill-forts appeared along the whole British landscape. They were not only defensive constructions, but a place where the community could assemble for social and religious functions. These hill-forts were formidable strongholds, containing buildings for the population, spaces for herds and the stores for their grain. Nevertheless, the following invaders, the Romans, had a military technology superior to Celtic defences
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