The Celts were very good at working with iron and therefore they managed to make better weapons and better tools than the earlier farmers who worked with bronze. According to the book An illustrated History of Britain the knowledge of the Celts is slight (McDowall, 7). It is not certain whether the Celts invaded Britain or came peacefully because of the trading between Europe and Britain, but they continued almost the same agriculture as the Bronze Age people before them. The only difference was their introduction of the iron which made it easier to use more advanced ploughing methods and to farm heavier soils.
The Celts building of hill-forts is a sign of good farming skills since this was a way of making a steady life for the residents of the village. (Stora civilisationer, n.p.)
The hill-forts made a secure environment which encouraged settling and farming.
The Celtic men and women were as good as equal and some women were even participating both in war and in kingship although the men were in the majority in these areas. According to An Illustrated History of Britain one of the powerful Celts who stood up to the Romans was a woman. (McDowall, 8) She had become a queen since her husband died and I believe that this is a great example of the equality between Celtic men and women.
The Vikings arrived from Scandinavia to Britain in the eighth century. At first they only came to raid but years later after conquering a lot of other places in Europe they decided to settle in eastern England, the land of the Vikings was called Danelaw. (Haywood, 26)
The Vikings broke up the power structures in both England and Scotland. In England, the Vikings eliminated all of the kingdoms except for Wessex, leaving this to be the only Anglo-Saxon kingdom. When the Danelaw was conquered by Wessex in the tenth century, the English were, for the first time, united under one crown.
The Vikings have also left tracks in the English language, as the language today contains hundreds of loan words from the Old-Danish language.
Also the women of the Vikings had great authority. (Haywood, 44) The men haunted, fished and went to war and the women stayed to care for the home. In a marriage, the man and the woman were equal and if the woman could prove a marriage unworkable, she was entitled to a divorce just like women are today.
Comparing the Viking and the Celtic society, they are in some respects very much alike. In both societies, the women had great authority and men and women were as good as equal even though there were jobs and titles that suited men better and others that suited women better just as in society today.
Both the Celts and the Vikings had reputations to be very aggressive and dangerous but I believe that the equality between men and women is a sign of some kind of social skills.
References
Haywood, John. The Penguin Historical Atlas of the Vikings (London: London penguin, 1995)
McDowall, David. An Illustrated History of Britain (China: Longman, 2006)
Stora civilisationer - vikingar och kelter, n.a. Accessed on 22 April 2010.
Wikipedia, n.a. Accessed on 22 April 2010.
