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The Britons (*Pritanī, Latin: Britanni, Welsh: Brythoniaid), also known as Celtic Britons [1] or Ancient Britons, were the indigenous Celtic people [2] who inhabited Great Britain from at least the British Iron Age until the High Middle Ages, at which point they diverged into the Welsh, Cornish, and Bretons (among others). [2]
The history of pre-Celtic Europe and Celtic origins is debated. The traditional "Celtic from the East" theory, says the proto-Celtic language arose in the late Bronze Age Urnfield culture of central Europe, named after grave sites in southern Germany, which flourished from around 1200 BC.
Celtic or (Indo-European) Pre-Celtic cultures and populations existed in great numbers and Iberia experienced one of the highest levels of Celtic settlement in all of Europe. They dwelt in northern, central and western regions of the Iberian Peninsula , but also in several southern regions.
After the death of Alexander the Great, Celtic armies began to bear down on the southern regions, threatening the Greek kingdom of Macedonia and the rest of Greece. In 310 BC, the Celtic general Molistomos attacked deep into Illyrian territory, trying to subdue Dardanians, Paeonians and Triballi. However Molistomos was defeated by the Dardanians.
Celtic dagger found in Britain. The Insular Celts were speakers of the Insular Celtic languages in the British Isles and Brittany.The term is mostly used for the Celtic peoples of the isles up until the early Middle Ages, covering the British–Irish Iron Age, Roman Britain and Sub-Roman Britain.
Distribution of fortified oppida, La Tène period. An oppidum (pl.: oppida) is a large fortified Iron Age settlement or town. Oppida are primarily associated with the Celtic late La Tène culture, emerging during the 2nd and 1st centuries BC, spread across Europe, stretching from Britain and Iberia in the west to the edge of the Hungarian Plain in the east.
The reverse side of the Desborough Mirror, with spiral and trumpet motifs typical of La Tène Celtic art in Britain A 4th century BC Celtic gold ring from southern Germany, decorated with human and rams heads. Little is known of family structure among the Celts. Patterns of settlement varied from decentralised to urban.
The Durotriges were one of the Celtic tribes living in Britain prior to the Roman invasion.The tribe lived in modern Dorset, south Wiltshire, south Somerset and Devon east of the River Axe and the discovery of an Iron Age hoard in 2009 at Shalfleet, Isle of Wight gives evidence that they may also have lived in the western half of the island.