Exploring Celtic Civilizations uses data abouty material artifacts, people, events and source texts to aid in discussing and exploring the history of Celtic-speaking communities across space and time. Explanations of the definitions of data records is offered below. All visualizations are powered by the Prospect data collaboratory.
To go directly to a data visualization of the digital collection of Celtic materials, click here. It will take several seconds for the database to load. Go to the bottom of this page to see a list of “Perspectives” (which create specialized views of the database).
Object Type Definitions
Artifacts
Physical artifacts, including large-scale structures and settlement. Artifacts are defined with the following characteristic attributes:
What: The kind of object/entity. Must be one of the following: Container, Money, Sacred Object, Structure (i.e., statue, building, settlement, etc), Text, Tool, Vehicle, Weaponry, Wearable (e.g., clothes and jewelry).
Material: The constituent elements of the artifact. Can be any combination of the following: Metal, Stone, Vellum, Ceramic, Wood, Bone, Fiber, Mineral, and Inscription.
When: The date range when the artifact was likely to have been made. When dates are grouped together as a category, the number used as a label is beginning of the century (i.e., -400 is the beginning of the 4th century BCE, 0 is the beginning of the 1st century CE, etc.).
Scripts: When the artifact has an inscription, this attribute specifies which scripts were used.
Picture: An illustrative graphic of the artifact, if any is available.
Where: Where the artifact originally belonged or was located.
Events
Events that are historically significant and have been included in Exploring Celtic Civilizations.
When: The date or date range when the event occurred, if known.
Type: The nature of the event. Can be one or more of the following: Demographic, Life (e.g., the birth or death of a person), Military, Natural (e.g., a natural catastrophe), Political, Religious.
Where: Where the event occurred, if known.
Who: People who were involved in the event (if they have been defined in the database).
People
People who are historically or culturally significant and have been included in Exploring Celtic Civilizations. Their primary name will always be their native one (in a Celtic language).
Alternate Name: Another well-established form of their name, or an anglicised version of their name.
Sex: Male or Female.
When: The dates range of their lifespan (approximated if not known for certain).
Birth Location: Where they were born (if known).
Death Location: Where they died (if known).
Languages: The languages they knew.
Roles: The primary social role they occupied. Can be any combination of: Clergy, Literati, Progenitor, Ruler, Warrior.
Texts
People who are historically or culturally significant and have been included in Exploring Celtic Civilizations. The primary name for the text is usually that of the original language (Latin or a Celtic language).
Alternate Name: Usually the English translation of the text’s name.
When: The date when the text was composed (or a range of likely dates).
Where: Where the text was written or the location that it deals with.
Languages: The language (or languages) in which the text was originally composed.
Topic: The primary topic of the text. Can be any (minimal) combination of the following: Genealogy, History, Law, Memorial, Ownership, Panegyric, Politics, Religion, Scholarship.
On: The artifact on which the text was inscribed (if the artifact is defined in the database).
Subject: The subject of the text (if the subject is defined in the database).
Author: The author of the text (if the author is defined in the database).
Perspectives
Perspectives recreate the state of the visualization “laboratory,” including filters, highlights and visualization settings, with an annotation. The Perspectives below offer interesting “curated views” of aspects of the data.