Celtic woman found buried inside a TREE 'wearing fancy clothes and jewellery' after 2,200 years

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

For anyone desiring a break from Trump...

It’s believed the woman, who died 2,200 years ago, commanded great respect in her tribe, as she was buried in fine clothes and jewellery.

Scientists say the woman was Celtic. The Iron Age Celts are known to have buried members of their tribe in “tree coffins” buried deep underground.

The woman’s remains were found in the city of Zurich in 2017, according to Live Science.

Bedecked in a fine woolen dress and shawl, sheepskin coat, and a necklace made of glass and amber beads, researchers believe she performed little if any hard labor while she was alive. It’s estimated she was around 40 years old when she died, with an analysis of her teeth indicating a substantial sweet tooth.

Adorned in bronze bracelets and a bronze belt chain with iron clasps and pendants, this woman was not part of low social strata. Analysis of her bones showed she grew up in what is now modern-day Zurich, likely in the Limmat Valley.

Most impressive, besides her garments and accessories, is the hollowed-out tree trunk so ingeniously fixed into a coffin. It still had the exterior bark intact when construction workers stumbled upon it, according to the initial 2017 statement from Zurich’s Office of Urban Development.

While all of the immediate evidence — an Iron Age Celtic woman’s remains, her bewildering accessories, and clothing, the highly creative coffin — is highly interesting on its own, researchers have discovered a lot more to delve into since 2017.

More at https://www.archaeology-world.com/celtic-woman-found-buried-inside-a-tree-wearing-fancy-clothes-and-jewellery-after-2200-years/

[tblue37]

1. Pictures:

[CatWoman]

2. K; R

[dameatball]

3. Fascinating. Thanks for posting.

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

4. The headline gave me a bit of a fright...

[ariadne0614]

15. Beguiling! n/t

[rwsanders]

21. Try this one, a bit more raw...

Like you signature. Never understood how those get conflated. One is an economic system the other is a governing system. We could have a great democracy with socialism. We just need a population who view each other as something more than a commodity.

[klook]

27. Cool, thanks.

There’s so much great Celtic music to hear these days. Another example:

[ariadne0614]

31. Loved it. Thanks! n/t

[ariadne0614]

30. Ain't it the truth?

I enjoyed the video. Thanks for adding it to the thread.

[klook]

25. Funny, all of a sudden I feel like sending a contribution to my local PBS station...

and I have an inexplicable urge to listen to the Four Tops and Steppenwolf.

[Scotch-Irish]

35. Wow! That made my day!!

Thanks so much for posting that!

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

36. I love 'em!

[cwydro]

5. Very cool.

Thanks for posting this.

[Hortensis]

6. With modern technology, this is such an exciting time with

great new capabilities for all lines of research into the past. I'd be thrilled if one of our grandchildren became one of those seekers of new knowledge.

[eppur_se_muova]

7. A dugout log, not a whole 'tree'.

They made boats this way, why not coffins ?

[Tanuki]

8. Fascinating....I am always interested in learning how our ancestors

lived, before they were able to leave a written record. I love seeing the recreation of the little details of her clothing, shoes, jewelry, etc.

[AllaN01Bear]

9. here is where my ohm my is appropriate .

&app=desktop

[SleeplessinSoCal]

10. News to me.

The expansion of the Celts.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Celts?wprov=sfla1

[ariadne0614]

32. This link diverted me from my plan for the day.

My favorite takeaway was:
“The sexual freedom of women in Britain was noted by Cassius Dio:

... a very witty remark is reported to have been made by the wife of Argentocoxus, a Caledonian, to Julia Augusta. When the empress was jesting with her, after the treaty, about the free intercourse of her sex with men in Britain, she replied: "We fulfill the demands of nature in a much better way than do you Roman women; for we consort openly with the best men, whereas you let yourselves be debauched in secret by the vilest." Such was the retort of the British woman.[121]”

[Igel]

37. And yet, the highly scholarly article linked to

quotes https://www.afar.com/magazine/6-ways-to-explore-switzerlands-celtic-heritage as their source for the nature of the La Tene culture and its mores.

A travel guide.

[SleeplessinSoCal]

43. great find! an awful lot of diversion in there.

I wonder if women were drafted to warrior status when their men were being killed off in battle. Surely woman's skepticism about war has been with us for centuries.

[ariadne0614]

46. Fiona Hill came to mind when I read about the women warriors. n/t

[reACTIONary]

44. Then there is this, from the posted article ...

Interestingly enough, from 450 B.C. to 58 B.C. — the exact same timeframe that the Celtic woman and man were buried — a “wine-guzzling, gold-designing, poly/bisexual, naked-warrior-battling culture” called La Tène flourished in Switzerland’s Lac de Neuchâtel region.

[James48]

11. Sweet tooth?

I’m sure she was the original inventor of Swiss Chocolate.

No wonder she was well off. Her tribe loved her!

[SergeStorms]

13. A Celtic Melania.

All adorned in her designer clothes and bedecked in her finest jewelry. She couldn't have possibly done any less work than Melanie, that's for sure.

[smirkymonkey]

14. Fascinating.

Thank you!

[Hekate]

16. That is fascinating. The Celts, aka Gauls, had quite an extensive range over time.

Off to see if the whole article will open for me.

[Fla Dem]

17. Awesome discovery! However was curious how a Celtic woman was in Zurich in 180 BC.

Last edited Sat Nov 23, 2019, 04:16 PM - Edit history (1)

So did a little research and found, as I'm sure some of you smart folks already knew, the Celtic tribes migrated from central Europe to the British Isles in the late BC era. Don't know why, but I always "assumed" the Celts had British Isle origins. Probably because the Boston Celtics had shamrocks and a Leprechaun in their logos.



I guess that explains how with my predominantly British and Irish ancestry on my Mom's side, I also have some French and German ancestry in the mix.

Love DU always learning something.

[Beartracks]

20. Cool, I did not know that re. their migration. But...

... who had to make way for them in Britannia - the Druids?

============

[stopdiggin]

22. druids are (mostly) associated with the Celti

Not a ethnic group so much as a "class" within the Celtic society. Generally regarded as a religious and judicial authority. Another really fascinating topic (with a lot of "general knowledge" folklore now being challenged by new scholarship).

[ariadne0614]

33. For anyone interested in the subject--

Here’s a harmless escape from politics, with storytelling, poetry and music:
https://www.druidry.org/druid-way/what-druidry

[Fla Dem]

40. Thanks, will bookmark for later.

[Codeine]

24. The main culture preceding the Celts

in England is usually referred to as the Beaker or Bell Beaker culture (named after a pottery style.) The coming of the Celtic culture seems to be as much an absorption of languages and technologies as anything else — not an invasion or making way but a change and adaptation. “The Celts” are a language group rather than an ethnicity.

At least that’s my layman’s understanding.

[ansible]

23. Celts pretty much got genocided out of mainland Europe sadly

[whathehell]

48. Me too..

I'm of mainly Irish descrnt, but a curious "4% French" turned up on my recent Ancestry DNA test.

[PatrickforO]

18. Interesting they are making a connection to the Celtic man found just a few

yards away, but in 1903. Now, here's this woman.

Whenever I see something like this, I always end up daydreaming a bit, imagining what life might have been like for those people way back when.

[bucolic_frolic]

19. What a great way to spend eternity

Celts were fascinating. Watched a Youyouyouyoutube video on it a few years back. Central European as I recall. So many civilizations come and go.

[Bayard]

26. Totally awesome!

Will read more later.

Thanks!

[DFW]

28. The Celts were almost everywhere here in Europe

All the way down to the "Donaukelten (Danube Celts)" and the Celtic tribes of modern day Galicia in northwestern Spain, the Bretons of (duh) Brittany in France, and, of course, the ones that crossed the channel to dominate much of the British Isles. Their coins are still discovered all over with metal detectors. Their coin designs are used to pinpoint which area thy were made, and to trace migrations (the die styles followed their engravers, and thus their people). They were making coins with primitive imitations of Macedonian coins dating back to Philip II and Alexander the Great, so some 2400 years ago.

[ariadne0614]

29. Glad to see I'm not alone.

An inexcusable chunk of my afternoon has been spent poring over the wiki link. It verified my understanding that certain areas of Ireland and Scotland never fell to Roman rule. I like to think that’s how they maintained their magical qualities over the millennia.

[mopinko]

38. a very interesting book- 'how the irish saved civilization', about this very thing.

really interesting. because they loved books, their monasteries were full of copies of any book they could get their hands on.
since the romans never took them down, those ancient tomes were preserved. the other copies of most of them were lost in the dark ages.

[ariadne0614]

41. Thanks for the tip! n/t

[whathehell]

49. "How the Irish Saved Civilization"

Yes, I read it and loved it -- A very interesting and fun read.

Ireland's not called "The Land of Saints and Scholars" for nothing.

[shanti]

34. Thanks for the link!

I love anything archeological, and got lost in the articles on the site.

[Karadeniz]

42. Love the archeology posts...thank you!

[whathehell]

47. Me too..

Thanks.

[NurseJackie]

45. "wine-guzzling, gold-designing, poly/bisexual, naked-warrior-battling culture"

Interestingly enough, from 450 B.C. to 58 B.C. — the exact same timeframe that the Celtic woman and man were buried — a “wine-guzzling, gold-designing, poly/bisexual, naked-warrior-battling culture” called La Tène flourished in Switzerland’s Lac de Neuchâtel region.