Many Roman writers, from Caesar to Saint Augustine, have written in horror about the Celts and their custom of human sacrifice. The problem today is with proving or disproving them. Some would like to dismiss these writings as propaganda, which it to some extent it was, others readily take their word. The archaeological evidence, unfortunately, divides rather than unifies opinion.
Human Remains in a Celtic Ritual Context from Gaul
In France, numerous sanctuaries from the Celtic period have been excavated and several have been found to contain human remains. The existence of and particularly the mutilation of such human remains – some have been found headless, others have been found bodiless – has often been taken as evidence of human sacrifice.
There are some problems with this approach. It is true that the human remains at these Gallic sanctuaries are probably cultic in nature. They do not resemble the remains found in either graves or dwellings, but that does not necessarily mean that a ritual killing took place. Animals sacrificed at these cult sites generally show signs of violent death and many met their death through decapitation. This is simply not the case with the human remains.
As of yet, no human remains have been found within a Gallic sanctuary that clearly indicate a violent death. In the case of singular skulls or headless bodies, decapitation appears to have taken place after death and one cannot be certain that these humans were alive, or even intact, when they arrived at the sanctuary.
This raises a difficult question concerning the written sources, which suggest a wide variety of violent deaths: hanging, burning, drowning, garrotting, stabbing, and being torn to pieces by brute force.Where are all of these victims of violent sacrifice?
Possible Violently Sacrificed Victims in a Burial Context
A practice mentioned by Julius Caesar, which can also be seen in the archaeological evidence, might shed some light on the issue. From very earliest days of Celtic culture, it sometimes occurred that when a man died his wife or entire family was killed in order to accompany him death. Although it can sometimes be uncertain whether a violent death is a murder or a grief-induced suicide, in many cases the signs point towards murder.
The setting of the act, however, introduces a problem of definition: was a burial-site a sufficiently cultic site that the Celts themselves would have seen this as an act of sacrifice? If so, for whom was the sacrifice made? If, as is commonly theorised, a woman is murdered in order to be by her husband’s side in the underworld, is it truly a sacrifice? The corpses are not yet giving any answers.
Violent Ritual Killings in British Waters and Beyond
The situation in Britain is different. The British Isles share a pattern with Northern Europe of apparent violent ritual killings. Though not found in the context of a cult centre, bodies have been found in places of spiritual importance such as wetlands, which can be viewed as symbolic or even physical entrances into the underworld. One particularly famous victim was found in 1984 in the Lindow Bog.
The Lindow Man, or Lindow II, was in his twenties when he died. Based on his level of health and grooming, it is assumed that he was of noble birth. After ingesting a mistletoe concoction, which might have sedated him, he received a serious blow to the head, was strangled, and had his jugular severed with a blade. Afterwards, he was deposited in water.
Naturally, the ritualistic and quite possibly consensual circumstances of Lindow Man’s death alone are not evidence for organised human sacrifice in Celtic Britain. A commonly recognised ritual significance is likely, however, in light of the fact that similar killings occurred in Ireland and Northern Europe. In this light, additional bodies from Gaul might also be considered as potential human sacrifices: in Switzerland remains have been found from people who had been weighed down with heavy timbers and pushed into a lake.
Unusual Burials or Human Sacrificial Cult
At Danebury and elsewhere in Britain there are numerous burials that follow a pattern similar to that of the bodies deposited into water. With surprising frequency, in some places more than once per decade, men and women were buried with their limbs bound, sometimes weighed down and sometimes smashed to pieces.
One particularly gruesome grave contained a man and a woman buried alive together, staked down through their limbs. A foetus between the woman’s legs suggests that she miscarried as she died. Similar live burials are found in both Ireland and Northern Europe, which could again indicate a commonly understood ritual practice.
Without the context of a sanctuary or a site of obvious religious significance, however, it is difficult to take the step from ritual to something as specific as sacrifice. That said: a deposit into a pit, as these people were, was commonly a part of sacrifice. Such pits, however, are usually found within a sanctuary.
Sources
Aldhouse Green, M., Dying for the Gods : Human Sacrifice in Iron Age & Roman Europe, Stroud 2001.
Brunaux, J-L., Les Religions Gauloises: Nouvelles Approches sur les Rituels Celtiques de la Gaule Indépendante, Paris 2000.
Rives, J., "Sacrifice among Pagans and Christians” in the Journal of Roman Studies, 85 (1995), 65-85.
Emma Oxenby Wohlfart - E P Wohlfart decided at age 14 that she was going to move to Scotland for university. Once there, she often sat in class thinking to ...
