Hallstat and LaTéne Period
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- Hallstat and La Téne Celts
- Ireland, 5th - 10th c. AD
-- Hair, Jewelry, etc. (Classical Celts and pre-medieval Ireland) - Late Medieval Ireland
- Medieval Scotland, 1100-1600
- Scotland, 1600-1800
-- Assembling a Basic 18th c. Woman's Outfit - Dyes
- Fiber Working Techniques
- Celtic Costume Myths and Tips
- Patterns and Resources
- Bibliography
- Recommended Reading
- Other links
A friend brought a paper to my attention that cites this page in support of the Irish wearing a kilt. I vehemently disagree with the premise that the Irish wore a kilt. For further information on the subject of the kilt in reference to Irish costume, go here:
No Irish Kilts (on the Reconstructing History web site) or see H. F. McClintock's Old Irish and Highland Dress, in which he thoroughly refutes the idea that the Irish wore a kilt. I don't know why the argument that the Irish wore a kilt continues to live despite all evidence to the contrary, but a lot of it seems to stem from the Victorian interest in all things Scottish. The Victorians got a lot of Scottish culture wrong, and why the Irish would want to imitate their mistakes too, rather than doing something unique and correct for their own culture, is beyond me.
Hallstat: 1200 - ~500 BC (Early Iron Age)
A number of clothing scraps from the mine at Salzburg, Austria have been found which tell us that textile manufacturing was already quite advanced. Fabric finds include various twill patterns, stripes, checks, and embroidery, using a simple stem-stitch to outline meanders and swastikas. The embroidery was done using silk thread, probably unravelled from a garment imported from the far East [Barber, Ancient Textiles, p. 204].
It is possible that textiles were sometimes stamped with designs, since a number of small stamps have been found in Central Europe from the Neolithic period which are much like those used in the same area today [Barber, Ancient Textiles, p. 175, 226].
La T�ne:
500 BC - 1 AD (Late Iron Age)
Women's Clothing
Celtic women in Continental Europe wore what can be described as a Greek- or Roman-style chiton over a sleeved under-tunic for the colder climate. The Celts had been in contact with the Greeks from early times, as is shown by amphorae found far into northern Europe on the route used to trade amber from the Baltic for goods from the Mediterranean. The Celtic 'bog dress,' as it has been called, might have been an imitation of Greek garments, or it might have been a logical development due to the shape of the finished fabric produced on a loom: it's very simple to make a dress by taking a length of fabric, doubling it on itself, pinning it at the shoulders and belting the waist.
Greek women's clothing: see COSTUME IN ANCIENT GREECE. Follow the directions for making a peplos or chiton for the outer dress. For the inner dress, make a basic narrow-sleeved tunic, or follow the instructions for a Viking tunic on Carolyn Priest-Dorman's Home Page.
Men's Clothing
Celtic men are described as wearing colorful tunics, with or without breeches. Sleeves are narrow to the wrist, with decoration at the wrist and neck; short sleeves were also worn. The breeches could be wide, narrow (as on the Gundestrup cauldron), or in one case, wide at the top, fitted below the knee, and with straps beneath the instep; there were probably various fashions from place to place and time to time. (Dunleavy, p. 17) The Brigantia web page (put up by a group doing Iron Age Celtic reenactment in the U.K.) has fairly comprehensive information about men's clothing in this time period, as well as information about weapons, etc.
Decoration/Personal Ornamentation:
Clothing was highly decorated with fringe and embroidery. The Celts even had 'cloth of gold', made by wrapping thin strips of gold around the threads. Embroidery was usually done with stem stitch in silk or colored wool on linen, since linen does not take dye well, or sometimes with white linen embroidery on a colored wool background. A 'brocaded' cloth (meaning that it was woven with floating decorative threads) was found in Irgenhause, Switzerland, with a very geometrical design of checkers and several large triangles. Beads were also used to embellish clothing. (Barber, Prehistoric Textiles, pp. 139-140)
Hair was worn (in battle, at least) spiked with lime. This had the effect of bleaching the hair, so that one would achieve the effect described in the depiction of CuChullain:
[Findabair describing CuChullain:] The man has long, braided, yellow hair with three colours on it: dark brown at the base, blood red in the middle and golden yellow at the tip. (Gantz, p. 235)
Celtic women were known for wearing their hair in
ornate braided arrangements, sometimes with golden balls
holding the tips of each braid. Celtic men also braided
their hair, as seen above. See my page, Hair, Jewelry, etc.; also see Social
History of Ancient Ireland.
Other interesting links:
Bodies
of the Bogs
Then, there is, of course, the famous Torc; but enough has been written about that elsewhere.
