Who were the ancient Britons and did the people known as Celts ever really exist?

Answer 1

Sorry but most of the previous answerer's are wrong (at least in part).

The earliest evidence of a people in the British Isles points to a people who are known as the "beaker people" by archaeologists. These are the people responsible for most of the megalithic structures found in Britain today (Stonehenge, Silbury Hill, etc). They are called beaker people because the most common finds from their period are clay 'beakers' with an inverted bell shape. These are the earliest known inhabitants of Britain with any organised structure to their society.

Yes, the Celts existed. They originated from central Europe around the middle of the second millennium BC. They arrived in the British Isles roughly around 1000 to 900 BC.

By the time of the Roman invasion of England by Julius Caesar in 55-54BC, the Celts were the main (possibly only) race in Britain.

It is unknown whether the Celts wiped out the beaker people or assimilated them.

Edit:

Just done a bit more research. The earliest known society in Britain was in the Neolithic era; these are the people who built the megalithic structures. It isn't known whether the beaker people were a separate people, or the existing neolithic population adopting new ideas and cultural practises.

Answer 2

The ancient Britons are people who lived first at Great Britain before any other people. The Celts are a race that has existed for a long time, even until (they're ancient Britons too) now but the population is few.

Answer 3

silverbirch (the first answer) is correct. The others are all somewhat wrong. The Celts were the original inhabitants of what is now France, Spain Portugal England, Wales, and Ireland. after the roman age there were a lot of migrations of peoples. the Celts moved into Scotland , displacing a lot of the Picts. Angles,and Saxons came from the area of modern Germany and Denmark to England but they are Germanic tribes not Celts, the original Britons, who are Celts mostly settled into modern Cornwall and wales as they were displaced by the Germanic anglo-saxons, and later viking invasions

Answer 4

The Celts are still around in Parts of Britain, They actually spread from Macedonia and as far as the British Isles, this is where the mix and match of time took over and allot of Celtic nations have claimed to be original settlers, this was never written down because they were a predominantly nomadic people and the majority of nomadic people have a method of 'Word of Mouth' for allot of the dissemination of information. They only changed their nomadic life to farming when they discovered the boundaries of Britain. Their habitat, naturally, ruled their life style. They probably settled in england first but were later pushed out by other invading/settling groups/nationalities to the peripheries of Britain such as Cornwall, Wales, Scotland and in some cases areas of Ireland. The real question though, was who were the ancient Britons before the Celts?.....These were a people called the cruiths/crewiths/Kruiths (I'm not so sure about the 'K' as it didn't arrive in Britain until the Norse brought the 'J 'and 'V 'as well) named after the first spiral type of patterns left by them in remote areas of Britain where they had been pushed too.

Answer 5

There is no doubt of the existance of a pan-European Celtic Culture. However, when it comes to us Brits., the Romans never once described the inhabitants of Britain as 'Celts'. Julius Caesar recruited and trained two legions in Germany before he attempted his invasion of Britain. These legionaries were Celts and their names matched those of the Brits. In all likelihood the Brits who dominated the Island of Britain at that time, had their roots in what we now call Germany.

To add even more mystery to all of this. A few years ago, they found a Celtic burial somewhere up on the Pennines. This burial was unique in that it contained not only the body of a 'Celtic Chieftain' but also his horses and his chariot. He has subsequently been identified as Chief of the Parisii. The Parisii inhabited the area of France which we now call Paris.

Also, "as seen on TV" - a recent dig in Somerset found the stone clad grave of a Celtic Chieftain, buried in c500BC. DNA samples were taken from the remains of this chieftain and some of the local inhabitants of a nearby Somerset Village. It was discovered that six of these villagers were directly descended from their buried Chieftain.

No one has really carried out a full study of who exactly the British are and where they come from. Recent surveys in England and Wales carried out by the University of Wales, taking DNA tests and samples, point directly to Ireland. The Irish are undoubtedly Celts, so too are the Welsh, the Cornish, the Bretons and the Scots.

Where all of these people originated is difficult to say.

The argument against the British being Celts, is used mainly by the anti-European lobby. The last thing they want is proof of a pan-European culture, be it Celtic or anything else.

There is no escapting the Celtic nature of the British people - argumentative, warlike, boozed up and just plain stubborn. We continue to drive our 'chariots' madly, as did our ancestors.

I am Welsh and the Welsh have a hobby. The hobby is called 'war'. How very Celtic.

Here's a little Welsh phrase to add to any you may already have. "Celtii bew". Which means in English, "The living Celts." BELIEVE.....

EDIT. The Central Asia theory for the roots of the Celts may have more than a distant ring of truth about it. I read about a Pakistani woman who recently settled in Welsh Wales and when they started learning Welsh, she discovered many shared words between Welsh and her own native language from back home in Pakistan. Welsh is not a Germanic language, it is an Indo-European language. The Welsh themselves are however a Germanic people, as are the English.

Answer 6

I'm not sure about Britons; I think they were pre-Roman; related to the Bretons of Brittany (France). Bretons are a subgroup of the people typically called Celts, so Britons may be too. I doubt there is 100% agreement on this anyway.
What I do know is that Celtic peoples existed, and there are some references in the literature to their having a certain physical aspect (tall, blond) but that could just be one group, as I believe that's mainly based on writings from Julius Caesar's campaign in Gaul (modern France). Celtic peoples once lived all over Europe; they are thought to have originated as a distinct cultural group at least as far east as Halstatt, Austria, but my memory is weak and I'd guess their supposed place of origin is further east.

Anyway, there were many different groups of people that shared a common language or group of languages, deities, myths, and material culture (clothing, jewelry, swords, etc), that lived all over continental Europe, including Spain, Germany, and France beginning around the year 2000 BC (this is a rough approximation based on my weak memory). They were by no means one political entity, but references to them show up in Greek and Roman literature - the name Celts derives for the Greek word for them, Keltoi.
Celtic peoples arrived in the British Isles later on, around (I think) 500 BC.
The best evidence we have, in my opinion, of the past existence of a common and widespread Celtic culture is not the archaeological material, because it's easy to misclassify an artifact (because it was easy to borrow or steal artifacts, or their designs, from your neighbors), but rather modern linguistic and cultural evidence. Six Celtic languages have been documented in the present day, all with a common origin - Manx, Breton, Cornish, Welsh, Irish, and Scottish. Also, some traditions and folklore are still the same today in parts of Spain (Galicia), France (which was called Gaul), the British Isles, and elsewhere.

Also, just one sidenote; this is not a rant, just an explanation, because I understand it's a common misconception: races don't exist in nature; I mean they aren't biological realities. There is only a continuum of people from north to south and east to west, no distinct groups. The only existence race has is in the social realities people construct for them (which is its own very real existence).

Answer 7

Basically mate Ancient Britons were the English before the Romans, Vikings and Saxons Conquered England. And the Celts are of course the Scots, Irish and Welsh and certainly did exist, as we still exist today.

Answer 8

the ancient Britons when the Romans arrived were the Celts, however there were people living here before the Celts arrived.

the Celts did not originate in Ireland, they originated in central Europe (Austria). in fact Ireland was probably the last place they settled.

the Angles and the Saxons (Anglo-Saxons) were not 'Britons', they only conquered what is modern day England and arrived after the Romans.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Celts

Answer 9

Don't know about ancient Britons, but Celts certainly existed, from west Wales, through Cornwall, Brittany and into Galicia (Spain). As to if they really existed, at least one still exists - me!

Answer 10

The Celts were a very powerful group or tribe that once occupied much of Europe and even occupied Rome for a while. By the time the Romans had become powerful empire the Celts occupied northern France. and the British Isles. Julius Caesar had to defeat them to take over France. One of his reasons for invading Britain was to deal with the Celtic tribes who were supplying fresh fighters to their fellow tribesmen in France when they needed reinforcements