The legacy the Celts and their culture have bestowed upon the face of civilization is powerful and enduring. Withtheir rich and intriguing history, and their complex and beautiful beliefs, they have been a great influence in manyaspects of present day life, from their art and innovations, to deeply rooted traditions modern humanity stillcontinues to preserve. It is through the examination of the Celtic culture as a whole, from their origins, tool usageand inventions, social systems, judicial systems, to their intricate spiritual beliefs that one is able to draw a strongsense of unity and connection to these mysterious people from whom most every Indo-European descendant drawstheir ancestry. The Celts were a people unsurpassed in their skill and endurance as a culture, and even now, at thedawning of the new millennia, their influence and inspiration continues to be felt.The Celts are thought to have originated in the area of what is now Central Europe, primarily east of theRhine River, such as southern Germany, Austria, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Hungary, or even so far as theVolga Steppes in western Russia at about 2000 BC (Pennick, 1997). These inhabitants were called the BeakerPeople, named for their tradition of burying pottery and various artifacts with their dead (Blundell, 1996). By the twelve century BC, they had expanded across the continent until they dominated most of central, westernand northwestern Europe. There their culture flourished as they began to settle into an increasing agricultural lifestyle, graduallybecoming less nomadic, and dependent of hunting and gathering as a primary means of survival. This is what iswidely regarded as the Urnfield culture. The Urnfielders, with their name derived from their practice of crematingtheir dead, are now thought to be the immediate ancestors of the Celts as they had similar social and societalstructures. It has even been suggested that the Urnfielders spoke an early ...
