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A review by halfmanhalfbook
The Ancient Paths: Discovering the Lost Map of Celtic Europe by Graham Robb
2.0
This book is Robb's theory of how the ancient celts organised themselves.
Whilst following the legendary Via Heraklea he concludes that this pre Roman peoples layout of settlements and ritual sites follow a series of solstice lines across Gaul (France). These lines follow a particular angle, from east to west and another angle from west to east. Some of these lines go directly through the centre of these sites, and others pass through at a distance of 1km or so away.
It does have lots of fascinating facts in the book, and some of the details that he brings out as supporting evidence, show that this culture and people were far more sophisticated than was previously though. There is also evidence to suggest that the Romans overlaid their roads and towns on some of the features that the celts had developed.
I am not an expert of the ancient celts of Europe, but it doesn't seem really convincing as an argument, and reminds me rather of ley lines, those mysterious links between features and ancient sites that amateur archaeologist Alfred Watkins proposed. As has been demonstrated elsewhere any series of points on a map can be shown to have a link purely down to chance. It is a shame really as I hoped that this would be more than a speculative book, and was going to be more about this fascinating culture.
Whilst following the legendary Via Heraklea he concludes that this pre Roman peoples layout of settlements and ritual sites follow a series of solstice lines across Gaul (France). These lines follow a particular angle, from east to west and another angle from west to east. Some of these lines go directly through the centre of these sites, and others pass through at a distance of 1km or so away.
It does have lots of fascinating facts in the book, and some of the details that he brings out as supporting evidence, show that this culture and people were far more sophisticated than was previously though. There is also evidence to suggest that the Romans overlaid their roads and towns on some of the features that the celts had developed.
I am not an expert of the ancient celts of Europe, but it doesn't seem really convincing as an argument, and reminds me rather of ley lines, those mysterious links between features and ancient sites that amateur archaeologist Alfred Watkins proposed. As has been demonstrated elsewhere any series of points on a map can be shown to have a link purely down to chance. It is a shame really as I hoped that this would be more than a speculative book, and was going to be more about this fascinating culture.