Celtic Camping

[Seosamh]

hey I reinact as a celt and was wondering how did celts camp?

did they have tents? if so what did they look like?

thanks in advance.

[caldrail]

I've trawled through the stuff I have on celts but nowehere do I find any information about camps. I'm starting to think that they only camped when they had to, and relied more on travelling from settlement to settlement. As for camping out, I think you'd better wrap up warm and hope it doesn't rain!

 

I suspect they made do with crude shelters of on sort or another, or purchased tents from traders?

[edgewaters]

Sorry but I think this is just going to be one of those things that will never be known. If no Roman author made mention of it, we'll never know. Whatever they may have used would have been made of lightweight and perishable materials, there wouldn't even be any post-holes to find.

 

It's possible they may not have even used any such thing at all. Celts were an agrarian and divided peoples with very tiny political units, and the only long-distance travel that would have happened would be for trade purposes. Most of this would have been along waterways, and they could simply have overturned their watercraft and slept beneath it, or drawn a canvas or skin across larger craft. As well, along trade routes, communities would have sprung up at stopping places, eliminating the need for temporary shelters.

[Pertinax]

Forgive me, but I liked this...

 

The supposition is not unreasonable..low walls from retrieved stone, "hurdles" from wood and dung and turf as a covering.

[edgewaters]

Forgive me, but I liked this...

 

The supposition is not unreasonable..low walls from retrieved stone, "hurdles" from wood and dung and turf as a covering.

 

It's unreasonable as a camp. That's a dwelling of some settled group, and couldn't be constructed before nightfall at the end of a day's journey.

 

We know what Celtic dwellings (and even fortifications) looked like, I'm sure that's not what the o.p. was asking about.

[DecimusCaesar]

Although, as Edgewaters says we will never no for sure, how probable would it be if the Celts simply slept in open fields with their blankets and cloaks for protection? afterall, we hear of some armies still camping this way into the early modern period. All though this might not be desirable, It probably would have happened on some occassion.

[Pantagathus]

Although, as Edgewaters says we will never no for sure, how probable would it be if the Celts simply slept in open fields with their blankets and cloaks for protection?

 

I can recall Strabo saing exactly that about a few Celtiberian tribes. Seosamh, I would suggest looking into Caesars commentaries or Strabo's section on Gaul for an answer.

[edgewaters]

Although, as Edgewaters says we will never no for sure, how probable would it be if the Celts simply slept in open fields with their blankets and cloaks for protection? afterall, we hear of some armies still camping this way into the early modern period. All though this might not be desirable, It probably would have happened on some occassion.

 

I've done it, and it's not that bad. I was caught without a tent one night in Vermont while camping (don't ask) and there was a light rain. I slept under a tree on some leaves. It wasn't very comfortable but I managed to sleep alright. Of course, I was about 22 at the time, I'm not sure I could handle it now.

 

Probably also depends on time period. If you're talking about Celts of the 5th century BC this is entirely possible. A wealthy Gallic chieftain living in a house built in the Roman style in southern France in the 2nd century BC ... I can't see him doing such a thing on any extended trip.

[docoflove1974]

I've done it, and it's not that bad. I was caught without a tent one night in Vermont while camping (don't ask) and there was a light rain. I slept under a tree on some leaves. It wasn't very comfortable but I managed to sleep alright. Of course, I was about 22 at the time, I'm not sure I could handle it now.

 

Probably also depends on time period. If you're talking about Celts of the 5th century BC this is entirely possible. A wealthy Gallic chieftain living in a house built in the Roman style in southern France in the 2nd century BC ... I can't see him doing such a thing on any extended trip.

 

I would disagree, only in as much as if we're talking about anyone used to life on the road (soldier, trader, etc.), they would be used to such an arrangement, I would think. Now, a druid or member of the elite, perhaps not so much.

[edgewaters]

I would disagree, only in as much as if we're talking about anyone used to life on the road (soldier, trader, etc.), they would be used to such an arrangement, I would think. Now, a druid or member of the elite, perhaps not so much.

 

The elite was precisely what I was referring to - well, the elite in some places and at some times. A Celtic chieftain of Brennus' time likely wouldn't have a problem with it. A Celtic chieftain of Caesar's time, in some places (say the south coast of France) ... I just can't picture it. He'd probably travel in the same way wealthy Romans did.