The Celts practised human sacrifice^[1] on a limited scale as part of their religious rituals. Animal sacrifice was more commonplace along with ritual deposition of tools, weapons and jewelery. The evidence for human sacrifices comes from: Celts, normally pronounced // (see article on pronunciation), is widely used to refer to the members of any of the peoples in Europe using the Celtic languages or descended from those who did. ... Human sacrifice is the act of killing a human being for the purposes of making an offering to a deity or other, normally supernatural, power. ... A ritual is a set of actions, performed mainly for their symbolic value, which is prescribed by a religion or by the traditions of a community. ... A sheep is led to the altar, 6th century BC Corinthian fresco. ...

• Writings by Romans and Greeks often at second hand or hearsay
• Irish medieval texts
• Archaeological data

All these sources are, however, open to interpretation and subject to bias.

Greco-Roman texts

Julius Caesar wrote in his Gallic Wars: For other uses, see Julius Caesar (disambiguation). ... Combatants Roman Republic Several Gallic tribes Commanders Julius Caesar Titus Labienus Mark Antony Quintus Cicero Vercingetorix, Ambiorix, Commius, among other The Gallic Wars were a series of military campaigns by several invading Roman legions under the command of Julius Caesar into Gaul, and the subsequent uprisings of the Gallic tribes. ...

[The Gauls] believe that unless a man's life is paid for by another man's, the majesty of the immortal gods cannot be appeased [...]. Some [tribes] have figures of immense size, whose limbs, woven out of twigs, they fill them with living men. After these figures have been set on fire, men perish in a sheet of flame. They believe that the execution of those who have been caught in the act of theft or robbery is more pleasing to the immortal gods; but when the supply of victims fails they resort to the execution even of the innocent

Gallia (in English Gaul) is the Latin name for the region of western Europe occupied by present-day France, Belgium, western Switzerland and the parts of the Netherlands and Germany on the west bank of the Rhine river. ... The Wicker Man was a large wicker statue of a human used by the ancient Druids for human sacrifice by burning it in effigy, according to Julius Caesar in his Commentarii de Bello Gallico (Commentary on the Gallic Wars). ...

Archeological finding

In the British Isles, human remains have been found bearing marks of being sacrificed. They have dated from the Neolithic era to far into the Roman times. This article describes the archipelago in north-western Europe. ...

At Woodhenge, a three-year-old child had its head sliced open with an axe and was buried in the center of the structure.^[2] This appears to be a foundation sacrifice, and similar bodies are found throughout the archeological records. There are also graves that contain several bodies, often one of an aged man, and several younger individuals, who bear marks of having been killed; these appear to be sacrifices to the dead man. Woodhenge Woodhenge is a Neolithic Class I henge and timber circle monument located to the north of Amesbury in Wiltshire, England, within the civil parish of Durrington. ...

In Havránok, Slovakia, seven people were beaten to death and quartered. Parts of their bodies were subsequently thrown into a pit in the middle of a shrine, either to ensure a good harvest or as an offering to the deities of the Underworld (1st century BCE). Havránok is an important archaeological site in northern Slovakia. ... (2nd millennium BC - 1st millennium BC - 1st millennium) The 1st century BC started on January 1, 100 BC and ended on December 31, 1 BC. An alternative name for this century is the last century BC. The AD/BC notation does not use a year zero. ...

Ritualised decapitation survives in the archaeological record such as the example of 12 headless corpses at the French late Iron Age sanctuary of Gournay-sur-Aronde. Iron Age Axe found on Gotland This article is about the archaeological period known as the Iron Age, for the mythological Iron Age see Iron Age (mythology). ...

Lindow man may be an example of a human sacrifice from the 1st or 2nd century, preserved in a peat bog in near perfect condition. The case for his sacrifice hinges on the three separate injuries he suffered. He was throttled, clubbed around the head and had his throat slit. This dovetails with the threefold death detailed in medieval texts. Tollund Man has also been suggested as a bog sacrifice although both men may also have been executed criminals. Lindow Man is the name given to the naturally-preserved bog body of an Iron Age man, discovered in a peat bog at Lindow Moss, Wilmslow, Cheshire, northwest England, on 1 August 1984 by commercial peat-cutters. ... The 1st century was that century that lasted from 1 to 100 according the Gregorian calendar. ... The 2nd century is the period from 101 - 200 in accordance with the Julian calendar in the Christian Era. ... Virgin boreal acid bogs at Browns Lake Bog, Ohio A bog is a wetland type that accumulates peat, a deposit of dead plant material. ... Preserved full length corpse of the Tollund Man, with rope around neck The Tollund Man is the naturally mummified corpse of a man who lived during the 4th century BC, during the time period characterised in Scandinavia as the Pre-Roman Iron Age. ...

Iron Age societies may have developed highly ritualised judicial killings in order to both satisfy their gods and punish wrongdoers at the same time.

See also

• Celtic mythology
• Wicker man
• Druidry
• Bog body

Celtic mythology is the mythology of Celtic polytheism, apparently the religion of the Iron Age Celts. ... The Wicker Man was a large wicker statue of a human used by the ancient Druids for human sacrifice by burning it in effigy, according to Julius Caesar in his Commentarii de Bello Gallico (Commentary on the Gallic Wars). ... In the Celtic religion, the modern words Druidry or Druidism denote the practices of the ancient druids, the priestly class in ancient Celtic societies through much of Western Europe north of the Alps and in the British Isles. ... Grauballe man at Mosegaard-Museum, Denmark Bog bodies, also known as bog people, are preserved human bodies found in sphagnum bogs in Northern Europe, Great Britain and Ireland. ...

References