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The House of Israel 65

The House of Israel

Archaeologists Find Celts in Unlikely Above ruins of ordinary mud-brick houses, they
Spot: Central Turkey erected a monumental public building of cut stone
blocks that was surrounded by a massive stone wall.
I n storybook histories, the ancient city of Gordion is re- Inside a workshop were clay loom weights used in
weaving, a possible clue to Celtic influence. Not far
membered only as the seat of King Midas, he of the
golden touch, and the place where Alexander the Great away, excavators found a stone sculpture of a human
with faces in two directions, which replicates dou-
struck a famous blow in legend and metaphor. Challenged
ble-faced or “Janus” figures from Celtic sites in central
to separate the strands of an impossible knot, the Gordian
Europe.
knot, the conqueror cut through the problem, in the man-
ner of conquerors, with one authoritative swing of his
But the most decisive discovery was a grisly one: clus-
sword.
ters of broken-necked skeletons and decapitated heads
of children and adults, some of them mixed with ani-
After Midas and Alexander, Gordion languished on the
mal bones. Ancient Celts had a reputation for ritual hu-
fringes of history, and until recently archaeologists had
man sacrifice, but not the contemporary Greeks and
taken little notice of its Celtic past. Yes, European Celts --
Romans or any of the indigenous people of Anatolia,
the Gauls of Roman times and the forerunners of Bretons,
the central plateau region of Turkey.
Welsh, Irish and Highland Scots -- once migrated as far
east as what is now central Turkey and settled in and
In the current issue of Archaeology, a magazine of the
around post-Alexander Gordion, beginning in the early
Archaeological Institute of America, Dr. Mary M.
third century BC.
Voigt of the College of William and Mary, a leader of
the excavations, and her colleagues wrote, “Such prac-
Archaeologists say they have now excavated artifacts and
tices are well known from Celtic sites in Europe and
architectural remains dispelling any lingering doubt that
are now documented for Anatolian Celts as well.”
the Celts were indeed there, as a few classical texts had re-
corded in passing. These people called themselves Galatai,
Dr. Ronald Hicks, an archaeologist and specialist in
a Celtic name for tribal warriors, and became known to the
Celtic prehistory at Ball State University in Muncie,
Romans as Galatians. Their Christianized descendants
Indiana, agreed that this appeared to be the strongest
were advised by the apostle Paul, in the New Testament,
evidence yet for a permanent Celtic presence in
that “whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.”
Gordion.
The remains of Galatian Gordion, archaeologists con-
“That certainly has the Celtic look,” said Dr. Hicks,
clude, reveal that the Celts, although they came as merce-
who is not involved in the project. “One of the Roman
nary soldiers, bringing along their wives and children,
complaints about the Celts was that they still practiced
were looking beyond warfare and pillage. They put down
human sacrifice. They said the Gauls were known for
deep roots, revived Gordion and created an ambitious,
lopping off heads of men in battle, tying them to their
thriving society.

The Berean Voice March-April 2003