Built upon Lake Texcoco, thousands of people flocked to the Great Pyramid. The inauguration of the latest reconstruction by Ahuitzotl occurred in the year 8 Reed (1487). Warrior after warrior captured in the Flower War climbed to the top to be sacrificied to the gods. Tlaloc and Huitzilopochtli would be pleased with their followers; blood flowed like a river down the endless staircase. But this was not the final bloodshed - the Spaniards were coming.

Scale model of the Great Pyramid at Tenochtitlan previously located at Templo Mayor museum. Currently on display at the Zocalo Metro Station. [Wikipedia/Wolfgang Sauber CC-SA-3.0]

Aztec ritual human sacrifice portrayed in the page 141
(folio 70r) of the Codex Magliabechiano.
[Wikipedia/Public Domain]

Flower Wars :: name given to the the battles fought between the city-states of the Triple Alliance: Tenochtitlan, Texcoco, Tlalcopan, and Huejotzingo. These ritual battles began during the reign of Moctezuma I when a great famine struck the land. Though many interpretations of the Flower Wars exist, the most popular idea is that these wars were a special institutionalized type of warfare used to satisfy the religious needs of the combatants. The warriors captured were honorably sacrificed for the good and welfare of their nation.

Many are familiar with the Aztec empire that flourished from 1325-1519, until the conquest led by Hernan Cortes. Their great capital, Tenochtitlan, was made possible by the cultural unity and political power of their time. But how is a city built on a lake?

Tenochtitlan began as a tiny marsh island in Lake Texcoco and was surrounded by chinampas - an agricultural system created by layering mud and vegetation in shallow parts of lakes. The city was connected to the mainland by three large causeways, which served as dikes - separating the city's freshwater from the surrounding salty waters. Chinampa canals helped convey traffic around the city.

Chinampa model at the Templo Mayor Museum

© Melanie Magdalena

Discovery

It wasn't until the 1900s when the temple was found in ruins. A waterway built tore through the site destroying even more of Mexico's ancient history. Mexico was well aware of the existence of the Great Pyramid; the Catedral Metropolitana (Metropolitan Cathedral) was purposely built on top of the site to enforce Catholicism on the Aztec people. The site visible today was excavated after in 1978.

Waterway constructed under the street Guatemala
in the 1900s © Melanie Magdalena

Understanding the Ruins

Today the Templo Mayor is open to the public. Much of its majesty and mystery remains buried at the heart of the Zocalo.

Taking that first step into the ruins sends you almost a thousand years back in time. Modern elevated paths take you through the site through its many phases of construction. What are these phases?

Templo Mayor cut-out. The ruins today are visible inside.
© Melanie Magdalena

Each ruler of Tenochtitlan was responsible for enlarging or expanding the Great Pyramid. Not only did the expansions reflect the growing population but may have been motivated by the constant floods the city suffered. These stages of construction are visible "thanks to" the conquest when the city was destroyed.

Templo Mayor and Coyolxauhqui monolith :: Stage IVb
Tlatoani, or lord of Tenochtitlan, Axayacatl expanded the main facade of the Great Pyramid at the beginning of his reign (1469-1481). Four serpent head sculptures were added next to the stairway. Today, two serpents can be seen (one included in the photo) with remains of their original coloring.  © Melanie Magdalena

Destruction of the Great Pyramid of Tenochtitlan

Tenochtitlan fell in 1521 and was almost completely destroyed. The Avila brothers, the conquerors, built their homes on top of the ruins. The brothers and Martin Cortes, son of Hernan Cortes, were arrested and sentenced to death in 1566 for conspiring against the Spanish crown.

For Further Viewing

Please visit our Google Plus album to view all of our photos of Templo Mayor taken during the MexiArch Project :: View album>>

MexiArch Project photos by Melanie E Magdalena are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available. Contact editor@bermudaquest.com for commercial permission.

For Further Reading

"Tenochtitlan." Columbia Encyclopedia. The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. Copyright © 2012, Columbia University Press. Licensed from Columbia University Press. All rights reserved. www.cc.columbia.edu/cu/cup/.

This article is part of the MexiArch Project (2012) by BermudaQuest

An Interview by Melanie E Magdalena

Matthew Woodall has been painting since childhood. It all began with a gift from his mother, the 1963 World Book Encyclopedia set.

"I remember drawing a man from history in one of those books that had a top hat and handlebar mustache that literally shocked my parents. I drew it with an ink pen (no erasing) and it looked just like him with all his facial features."

Today he paints café and street scenes with a “hippie-day” setting as well as portraits of famous musicians and artists he admires.

How did you become a painter?

Though I took art and art history in college, I didn’t really get into painting as a serious career until after. Up until 2002, I only painted every 5 to 10 years. After that, I painted 43 paintings in 3 years, and in 2005 I went looking for a store gallery. Finding one that was impressed with my work, they advertised me as a regional Southeastern artist on every storefront window in my hometown Auburn, Alabama. Within 4 months I sold 41 of the 43 that I painted. I suffered from a painters’ block for six years. I just recently moved back to Auburn, after living in Denver, CO, Danville, PA, and Lake Mary, FL and have begun to paint again. I never took photos of the paintings I did from 2002 to 2005, except six of them. I wish that I had taken pictures of all my paintings that sold, for they would speak more of my abilities.

Why do people enjoy your work? Do you feel it brings something to them that is rarely seen in other paintings?

Pablo Picasso
Classical, with flair!

Relationships
A cafe scene that captures the lively
atmosphere of everyday relationships.

Well, in my paintings of cafe scenes especially, there is an air of romance in them. People love to see romantic scenes painted and on their walls evidently. They were the first ones of mine to sell, and I love doing them, especially in a setting from the 60's hippie days, guys with ponytails and with couples sitting having some coffee next to a window with the old Volkswagen bus on the street curb... that kind of scene. People from my generation and today's generation love scenes like that I have found.

I also paint portraits of other artists, such as Pablo Picasso. I took an old black and white photo of his and added some color. Today, it has become a favorite to people that loved him.

What makes your portraits so powerful?

Bob Dylan
A timeless moment captured in color.

Other than painting the portrait of Picasso, I did one of Janis Joplin, George Harrison, artist William Merritt Chase, and some others, including Andy Warhol. Warhol’s painting was unique. I try to paint portraits of famous people from a view that no one has seen. I try to look at several photos of the famous person, to get down in my imagination how they would look in a different stance, or countenance, so as to be somewhat more appealing than one original photo taken of them. My portrait of Bob Dylan was done that way, by looking at several photos over his career and putting down what I saw in my mind and painting it into one portrait.

                                               Pain n Anxiety                                                    Megan 

                     Where there is weakness there is strength.                 Beautiful and haunting determination.

Do you think artistic expression is important to culture? If so, how are you bringing cultural awareness to art?

Art awareness is important. For example, there was an article in the news recently about one of Vincent Van Gogh’s famous letters. In one of them he described a work-in-progress depicting two half-nude male wrestlers. No one knew this painting even existed until its discovery underneath the paint of a Van Gogh still life acquired in 1974 by the Kroller-Muller Museum in Otterlo, Holland. Thought to have been "uncharacteristically exuberant," the still life had been deattributed to Van Gogh in 2003 and removed from public view completely. The discovery of the hidden wrestlers, made possible by recent advances in x-ray technology, now confirms its authenticity, while offering unique insight into the great Post-Impressionist's working method. 

I think it is important for people to see how it really was during the 60's and 70’s. I know that photos tell the same types of stories, but there is something about paintings that make people frame them and hang them on their walls. I think it's very important for generations to come to see, being that a person that lived in those days saw it and painted it, even if it is that one person’s experiences of that era.

                                           Nancy & Rastus                                                      Girl with the Straw Hat

Absract
The story of an artist's mind.

About the Artist

Matthew Woodall, Regional Southeastern artist living in Auburn, Alabama, has sold his paintings to people all over the United States. For more information about his work, please contact woodallart@gmail.com and visit him on Google+ to view his latest paintings.

All images and paintings ©Matthew Woodall. All rights reserved.

The Zapotecs are a civilization who flourished in the Valley of Oaxaca located in what is now the Mexican state of Oaxaca. Archaeological evidence left at the ancient city of Monte Albán such as buildings, tombs, and grave goods including worked gold jewelry shows that the Zapotec culture goes back at least 400 BC. The Zapotec’s Monte Albán was one of the first major cities in Mesoamerica and was the center of the Zapotec state that dominated much of Oaxaca.

Extent of the Zapotec civilization
[wikipedia]

They worshipped a pantheon of gods, but their most emphasized deities were Cosijo, the rain and thunder  god, symbolized by the jaguar and the snake, and Coquihani, the god of light, symbols common in Mesoamerican cultures. The Zapotecs had a predominance of deities associated with fertility and agriculture since they relied on mostly agriculture to survive. To insure a healthy growing season they worshiped Cosijo and Pitao Cozobi, the god of maize. Other deities from other civilizations are included such as the Teotihuacan serpent and the butterfly god.

Funerary Urn
[wikipedia]

Other than their gods, the Zapotecs also emphasized their ancestors and death. They believed their ancestors emerged from the earth, from caves, or that they turned from trees or jaguars into people; while the elite that governed them believed that they descended from supernatural beings that lived among the clouds, and that upon death they would return to such status. Religious rites sometimes included human sacrifice.

Jade Mask
[wikipedia]

There are several legends about Zapotec origin. One of them states that the Zapotecs were the original people of the valley of Oaxaca and were born from rocks, or descended from animals such as pumas and ocelots. There is also another legend which states that they settled in the Oaxaca valley after founding the Toltic empire, and that they descended from Chicomostoc.

Looking over the site... Situated on a mountaintop, the site overlooks much of the Valley of Oaxaca.
[Click on the photo for a larger view: wikipedia]

The city of Monte Albán was the Zapotecs main cultural center. This site is where the civilization flourished for about 2,000 years. Today, Monte Albán is considered one of the most majestic cultural centers in all of Middle America. Monte Albán is a complex array of pyramids, platforms, and ball courts -- built in honor of the Zapotec gods and in celebration of the military victories of the Zapotec people. From 200 to 700 AD, Monte Albán became the capital of the Zapotec and home to some 250,000 people, but mysteriously and gradually it was abandoned after 700 AD. The population of Monte Albán is said to have dispersed to several locations and thus weakening their integration with other groups such as the Maya and Aztec.

Find out more: http://www.aboutoaxaca.com/oaxaca/zapotec.asp

About the Author

I'm Jose Pierre and I like learning about all aspects of culture, both ancient and modern. I enjoy learning how they communicated, expressed themselves, and their technology.

The Inca Empire: Rise and Fall

The Inca Empire
Image courtesy of EuroHistory Teacher, Wikipedia Commons

The Incas began as a hill tribe from Peru. Over a course of 300 years, they dominated the whole area of the Andes mountains.

By the 1500s, their empire became known as Tawantinsuyu, “The Four United Provinces” in Quencha, the language of the people of the central Andes of South America.

Their four provinces (or suyu in Quencha) include ChinchaySuyu, AntiSuyu, KuntiSuyu, QullaSuyu, and the coners of these provinces meet at the center, Cusco, the Inca capital. 

Religion and Culture

The Inca referred to themselves as “children of the Sun,” as they belived they were descendents of the sun god, Inti. Other than Inti, they worshiped many gods that relate to nature:

• Viracocha (also Pachacamac) - Created all living beings
• Apu Illapu - Rain God, prayed to when they need rain
• Ayar Cachi - Hot-tempered God, causes earthquakes
• Illapa - Goddess of lightning and thunder (also Yakumama water goddess)
• Inti - sun god and patron deity of the holy city of Cuzco (home of the sun)
• Kuychi - Rainbow God, connected with fertility
• Mama Kilya - Wife of Inti, called Moon Mother
• Mama Occlo - Wisdom to civilize the people, taught women to weave cloth, and build houses
• Manco Cápac - known for his courage and sent to earth to become first king of the Incas, taught people how to grow plants, make weapons, work together, share resources, and worship the Gods
• Pachamama - The Goddess of earth and wife of Viracocha, people give her offerings of coca leafs and beer and pray to her for major agricultural occasions
• Qochamama - Goddess of the sea
• Sachamama - Means Mother Tree, goddess in the shape of a snake with two heads
• Yakumama - Means mother Water, represented as a snake, when she came to earth she transformed into a great river (also Illapa)

They worshiped their deities daily because they believed without doing so the gods would intervene and cause problems. The Incas also worshiped huacas - sacred places or objects. A huaca could range from being a large building or a tiny toy statue. Every family had a huaca amd would offer it daily prayers. Priests performed daily ceremonies at the temples, offering prayers to the huacas in their care.

The Inca believed in the afterlife and mummified their dead like the ancient Egyptians. Those who obeyed the Incan moral code — ama suwa, ama llulla, ama quella (do not steal, do not lie, do not be lazy) — "went to live in the Sun's warmth while others spent their eternal days in the cold earth." The mummies of dead rulers remained in their palaces and were treated as if they were still alive. They were brought offerings and were paraded through the streets on special occasions.

The Inca practiced cranial deformation. They would wrap tight cloth straps around the heads of newborns in order to alter the shape of their soft skulls into a more conical form; this cranial deformation was made to distinguish the nobility apart from the common people.

Once and every month, the Incas held a major religious festival. Festivals were held outside and included many kinds of games, songs, dancing, food, parades, and sacrifice (of animals usually). If something special was happening, like the crowning of a new emperor or a drought, the Incas would include human sacrifice as part of the festival. The biggest and most important festivity held once a year during the winter solstice of the southern hemisphere was Inti Raymi, the feast of the sun The "Inti Raymi" or "Sun Festivity". It was aimed to worship the "Apu Inti" (Sun God) in the great Cuzco Main Plaza.

Architecture

By far the best example of Inca architecture is the breath taking site of Machu Picchu:  

Machu Picchu, Image courtesy of Martin St-Amant, Wikipedia Commons

Inca buildings were constructed of white granite or limestone. The temples were constructed without any use or mortar because the stone block fit together so perfectly. The stones that were used fit together because they were sculpted by repeatedly lowering a rock onto another rock and carving away any sections on the lower rock. Another technique used was narrowing of the top than at the bottom of walls of temples and palaces. They are not perpendicular but slope slightly inward. The doors of Inca houses were usually high and trapezoidal shape. As in ancient Egypt, the bottom of the door is wider than the top.

Pictures of the exterior wall of the Inca fortress of Sacsayhuaman, showing how the huge pieces of rock fit perfectly.
Image courtesy of Christophe Meneboeuf, Wikipedia Commons 

Stone wall, Image courtesy of Rutahsa Adventures

Doorway, Image courtesy of Lonely Planet Images

Social Order and Politics

The social order of the Inca varied from area to area, but it maintained the same basic structure. On top were the Sapa Inca. Inca translates to emperor, sapa means only - so Sapa Inca means "Only Ruler". Then came the nobles, these were often the priests and relatives of past emperors or the current ones. After, there were craftsmen and architects; they were very high on the social ladder because of their skills valued by the Empire. Then came the working class, often just farmers. After this, were the slaves and peasants of the society.

Inca empire expansion
Image courtesy of Spesh531, Wikipedia Commons

When the Chancas attacked, in the early 15th century, and Cusi Yupanqui took over his father's throne, Viracocha Inca, he managed to put the empire back together under the name of Pachacuti in alliance with his son Tupac Inca. With this, Tawantinsuyu was born.

"Through threat, negotiation, or actual bloody conquest, they subjugated new provinces, determined the number of tax-paying peasants, installed a local Inca governor, and then left an administration in place that was empowered to supervise and collect taxes before armies moved on. If cooperative, the local elites were allowed to retain their privileged positions and were rewarded handsomely for their collaboration. If uncooperative, the Incas exterminated them and wiped out their supporters. Peasants were a crop, a crop that could be harvested through periodic taxation. Docile, obedient workers who created surpluses, in fact, were more valuable than any of the ...potatoes...llamas...and alpacas..." - Kim MacQuarrie, "The Last Days of the Incas," pg. 45

Gold figurines, Image courtesy of Geyman.com

Art
The Inca sculpted pottery and ceramics which featured geometric designs painted in black, red, brown, yellow, and white. Metalworkers excelled making ornaments, tools, and weapons out silver, copper, gold, and bronze. Female statues are found with Inca offerings to the gods. Because llamas were very important in the Andean region, lots of stylized llama figures were made by metalworkers. 

Wooden llama, Image courtesy of lrb.com

Metal artwork is scarce. Spanish conquistadores took it upon themselves to melt down as much gold and silver as possible to send back to Spain. 

The Mystery of Machu Picchu
On July 24, 1911, Hiram Bingham (with the help of local Indians) stumbled upon what he believed was Vilcabamba, the lost city of the Inca where the last of the independent Inca rulers waged a years-long battle against the Spanish -- but what he found was not the lost city, but a forgotten city.

Since the Inca did not develop a writing system (they used a knotting system known as the quipu), they did not leave behind any documented clues on what the purpose of the location was. Bingham had to rely on excavating to determine what Machu Picchu was. At first he had belived it was some kind of a training ground for women since most skeletal remains found was mostly female (later analysis proved it was fifty-fifty male and female). The latest accepted idea (2007) is that this marvelous city, in fact, was a royal estate of Pachacuti.

"To commemorate his conquest of the Vilcabamba Valley, Pachacuti ordered that his third royal estate be built, this one very near the Chuquichaca bridge, on a high ridge overlooking what is now called the Urubamba River. The Inacas apparently called the new site Picchu, meaning 'peak.' Since the proposed citadel and nearby satellite communities were planned from the start to form a part of a luxurious private estate, the entire complex would display some of the finest examples of Inca engineering and art. [...] The citadel of Machu Picchu was thus the third and perhaps the most important jewel in the crown of architectural monuments that Pachacuti had created, after Pisac and Ollantaytambo." - Kim MacQuarrie, "The Last Days of the Incas," pg. 441, 443

Excavation at Machu Picchu is still continuing but any further evidence regarding the purpose of the location is highly unlikely. The best clues scientist and archaeologist have is only the remains that can reveal the reasons for its construction, the activities that took place long ago on the peak along the Urubamba River.

Learn more about the Incas!

Here are our recommendations:

  

References:

Jones, David M. The Myths & Religion of the Incas. UK: Southwater, 2008.

MacQuarrie, Kim. The Last Days of the Incas. UK: Piatkus, 2007.

"National Geographic Photo Gallery--Inca Culture." National Geographic. Web. 08 Jan. 2012. 

Williams, Bill. "The Incredible Incas for Kids." The Incredible Incas for Kids. Web. 08 Jan. 2012. 

About the Author

I'm Jose Pierre and I like learning about all aspects of culture, both ancient and modern. I enjoy learning how they communicated, expressed themselves, and their technology.

Coke Bottle!

3D chalk art are a form of art with anamorphic perspective – anamorphism is a form of illusion or distortion, here the distortion is in the drawings that make the pictures pop out or appear in 3D if viewed at a set angle. Sidewalk artist usually tend to use chalk or pastels to draw their drawings. Chalk art is also known as: 3D Street Painting, 3D Pavement Art, 3D Chalk Art, or 3D Sidewalk Art. At first the drawing is seen as an elongated picture, but once you stand on the sweet spot looking at the picture, it pops out in amaizing 3D:

Wrong View

Right View

Two of the chalk art’well known artist are Kurt Wenner and Julian Beever. Beever is an English artist for over twenty years who’s famous for his chalk art all over the world including pavements of England, France, Germany, and U.S. he tends to draw cartoony or realistic drawings in his chalk art.

Batman and Robin Rescue

Boat in Puddle

Wenner is a master artist and architect and is said to be the inventor of chalk art. His work has been seen in over 30 countries and he sets the bar for 3D chalk art. He tends to draw classical drawings in his chalk art.

I personally am a fan of chalk art in would love to see one in person. I sometimes amaze myself with 3D pencil and paper drawings I draw, so seeing one of these in person I might just want to jump right in the world of the chalk.

About the Author

I'm Jose Pierre and I like learning about all aspects of culture, both ancient and modern. I enjoy learning how they communicated, expressed themselves, and their technology.

“Celtic Culture – An Overview”

Although the Celtic peoples were a large and influential society during the classical period of ancient European history, their lack of a written language makes their culture somewhat difficult to define and describe. The Celtic tribes never had a common leader and may never have spoken a unified language. Ancient place-names considered to be in the Celtic language were also used by non-Celtic tribes, making it seem likely that the language was never linked to one distinct ethnic or national group.

 Image courtesy of the Newgrange Vistor Centre
at the monoliths in Boyne Valley, eastern Ireland

In the 8^th-7^th centuries BCE, approximately the time of the founding of the city of Rome, the Celts are believed to have moved into the British Isles. Their territory expanded far beyond England and Ireland, though. It included parts of modern Turkey at the easternmost, much of Central Europe north of the Alps and Balkans, the Rhine Valley, much of modern France and Spain, and the whole of England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales.

 Image courtesy of the Newgrange Vistor Centre
at the monoliths in Boyne Valley, eastern Ireland

The earliest historical mentions of the Celts come from the ancient Greeks, in about 500 BCE. The Greeks described them as the westernmost people of Europe. Around 390 BCE, the Celts sacked Rome. The Greeks and Romans considered them barbarians, and they bedeviled a number of civilizations until about 279 BCE. The end of the classical period of Celtic culture came in the first century BCE, when the Romans under Julius Caesar conquered the British Isles and Germanic-speaking tribes attacked Celtic territory from the north. After that time, Celtic cultural traditions become heavily influenced by the Roman and Germanic cultures.

Although Celts from different regions appear to have worshipped different gods and goddesses, there is some commonality in their religion. Their goddesses seem to have been associated with the running water of rivers and streams. They worshipped a horned god, sometimes known as Cernunnos, associated with deer and bulls. Other gods were represented with a wheel and with a cauldron.

The writers who lived as contemporaries of the ancient Celts all agreed their most sacred places were groves of trees, particularly oak trees where mistletoe grew. A class of priests called the Druids, or “knowers of the oak tree,” performed their rituals and sacrifices, among other secular functions. The Druids also memorized the Celts’ oral histories in the form of genealogies and epic poetry. By the time of the Roman invasion, the common Celtic people were still largely illiterate, but the Druids were able to read and write both their own language and Latin.

Archaeologists who study the early Celtic cultures of central Europe come to these conclusions about their culture:

*The men wore woolen kilts.

*They lived in square and round huts with thatched roofs.

*Most were cremated when they died and were placed in urns, which were then buried in neat rows. A few people, perhaps tribal chieftains or priests/priestesses, were buried in chariots, too flimsy for everyday use, suggesting the chariot was a religious symbol.

*They tended to be war-like, but apparently never attempted to build a large empire.

*They were an egalitarian society, without extremes of class or wealth.

Their later descendants, the ones known to the great Mediterranean civilizations of classical Europe, had the following characteristics:

*Less egalitarian than their ancestors, later Celtic peoples had a distinct class of nobles.

*Men wore gold, silver or bronze torque-style necklaces. Although these ornaments have not been found in the graves of women, Celtic goddesses are depicted wearing them.

*They kept bees, sheep, goats, cattle and pigs. Wild boar seems to have been a favorite food.

*The common people drank milk, beer and mead. Nobles might import wine.

*Although at one time they were noted for going into battle naked, the Celts invented chain-mail armor.

*They wore blue body paint for ceremonial occasions and sometimes in battle. The roots of this custom may lie in the belief among many Indo-European peoples that the gods’ veins were filled with a blue ethereal substance, called ichor by the Greeks. Painting one’s self with blue was a way of asking to be taken in by the gods in the event of death.

 Image courtesy of the Newgrange Vistor Centre
at the monoliths in Boyne Valley, eastern Ireland

The Romans typically left alone the religious practices of conquered tribes, yet they were uncharacteristically hard on the Celtic cultural practices of the British Isles. In their historical writings, the Romans claimed they were repulsed by the practices of human sacrifice and beheading of enemies killed in battle. (The Celts believed a kind of magic resided in the head, even after death.) In fact, this suppression may have stemmed from Roman fear of the temporal power held by the Druids, whose secular power within Celtic society had steadily increased by the time of Caesar.

Today, the remaining outposts of Celtic language and culture lie primarily in western Ireland, the Scottish Highlands, Wales, the Brittany region of France and the Cornwall region of England. These far corners of the Roman Empire were less tightly controlled than the empire’s more easily accessible lands.

Common characteristics of Celtic visual arts include:

*An emphasis on geometry, particularly the circle and the number three. Many Celtic myths and folk beliefs make reference to the number three.

*Natural forms, such as those of animals and leaves.

*The theme of metamorphosis, evidenced by images that can be interpreted in different ways when viewed from alternative angles.

Erin Schmidt is a Freelance writer and editor who normally writes about books, but also loves history.

References:

“Celtic Britain (The Iron Age) c. 500 BC -60 AD” http://www.britainexpress.com/History/Celtic_Britain.htm

“Celtic Design.” http://www.unc.edu/celtic/designindex.html

“Celtic Europe.” http://www.watson.org/~leigh/celts.html

Discovery of Lost Worlds, edited by Joseph J. Thorndike, Jr. Simon and Schuster: New York.

Quest for the Past, edited by Ann Kramer and Lindy Newton. Reader’s Digest.

The Timetables of History: The New Third Revised Edition, by Bernard Grun. Simon and Schuster: New York.

The Woman’s Encyclopedia of Myths and Secrets, by Barbara G. Walker. Harper & Row, San Francisco. 

History of Celtic Jewelry
. 

The distinctive and beautiful style of Celtic jewelry was created by artisans from as long ago as 2000 BC. Ancient Celts are known to have settled in Ireland during this period and the craftsmen of the time created surprisingly sophisticated styles based on designs that they observed in nature itself. The clans of the time included the Huns and the Druids as well as the Celts and they revered nature, paying tribute to it by placing symbols on their clothing, shields, swords, and also their bodies. One of the popular patterns was Celtic knot work and into this they incorporated spirals, animal motifs, triskeles and crosses and wove these designs into bracelets, rings, earrings, torcs, pendants and brooches. 

This early Celtic jewelry was highly prized and was exported around the Mediterranean area because of its quality and beauty. Examples of these remarkable items of early jewelry can be seen on display in the National Museum of Ireland and includes torques, bangles, fibulae, brooches, lunulae and collars, made from gold and silver which were the precious metal used for around fifteen hundred years until 500 BC. Among the symbols used in addition to the knot work were pentacles and a variety of animals and birds.

Claddaugh

Synonymous with Celtic jewelry is the Claddagh, traditionally this is a symbol of love and friendship and has lost its origins with the passage of time. However it is believed to have originated from the Irish fishing village near Galway, named Claddaugh. There is a delightful story about an Irish jeweler called Richard Joyce who was captured by pirates in the sixteenth century and sold as a slave to a Moorish goldsmith who taught him the art of jewelry making. He missed his girlfriend so badly that he designed a ring for her to express his feelings. The design consisted of hands to depict their friendship, a crown to show his loyalty and a heart to express his love. When he finally returned after five years, he was thrilled to discover she had not married anyone else and he gave her the ring. Since then the Claddagh has become a popular wedding ring. Other stories attribute the design to a young man who was taken prisoner by the Saracens, wherever it came from the design is considered symbolic of friendship, love and fidelity. 

Celtic Cross

Irish monks have also played their part in the Celtic jewelry style as the Celtic cross became widely used in designs, but this style of cross is much older than Christianity, symbolizing the four quarters of the earth. When it was adopted by the Christians the shape became more elongated into the style we know today. The ring in the center is a symbol of love, but can also represent the halo of Christ. As an identifiable ethnic group, the Celts no longer exist, but their heritage lives on today in exquisite jewelry designs often copied from the treasured ancient manuscripts of Kells, Lindisfarne and Durrow and created by skilled craftsmen using the same techniques of those long dead Celtic artisans. 

About the Author: Steven Forsyth has studied Celtic Mythology and Irish Folklore, he has worked in the Jewelry industry for over 7 years with Celtic Rings Ltd in Dublin, Ireland.

Experimental Archaeology... a means to test and interpret how past lives acted. In this case, we tested out hunting techniques with: a bow and arrow, atlatl, and sling shot. We also tried out a pump drill, learned how to twine wild grass, and flintknap. [We forgot to record flintknapping!] Watch the following video to see just what we were up to the past two weekends!

Our favorite photos: