But just how Celtic is Ireland? Do we know whether the Celts arrived at all? If so, when? What was their real impact on this western island at the edge of the known world? Helen Litton explores "Celtic Ireland." Illustrations (some published here for the first time) and quotations are used to clarify the differing strands of evidence-literary, historical and archaeological. From Julius Caesar writing on the Celts to evidence of beautiful Celtic art, ringforts, bog bodies, bronze sword hilts, strange wooden idols and the cult of the human head, the author deals with the known facts about the Celts and comes to grips with the arguments about the true extent of Celtic impact on Ireland.
The period covered is from the 8th century BC (Later Bronze Age) to the coming of Christianity to Ireland, in the 5th century AD-a period of more than one thousand years.
