Celts May Have Lived at Iron Age Settlement in Poland

WARSAW, POLAND—Phys.org reports that fragments of a Celtic bronze helmet have been uncovered at Łysa Góra, a fortified settlement dated to the Early Iron Age in northeastern Poland. The site is strategically situated on the Orzyc River and close to an amber-rich region, which placed it in position to control the flow of amber and other goods to central Europe. The crushed helmet had been thrown into a pit with iron adzes and a scythe. Similar helmets have been recovered from graves belonging to the Celtic warrior elite in France and Austria. “The helmet is a symbol of power and direct evidence of long-distance contacts,” said Bartłomiej Kaczyńsky of the State Archaeological Museum in Warsaw. The helmet’s presence in the pit, in addition to the many Celtic brooches and ring ornaments, indicates that Celtic people may have inhabited Łysa Góra. “Their diversity suggests that a group of Celts lived at the site for approximately two generations,” Kaczyńsky explained. It had been previously thought that the people of Łysa Góra had limited contact with Celts through trade. Read the original scholarly article about this research in Antiquity. To read about a hillfort that collapsed into a Polish lake in the eleventh century, go to “A Familiar Face.”