The Cosmos is an unending source of fascination for humans. Not surprisingly, then, the Celts were among those interested in the size, nature, and meaning of the heavenly bodies they were able to observe. The Celts made a variety of observations including some about the impact of the sun and moon on things like the tides and people’s moods.

The Celts also used their observations about the phases of the moon to develop an extremely accurate calendar that dates from around 1100 B.C., a system that served them well into the Christian era.

In many respects celestial observations made by the early Celts were more accurate than observations made by other Europeans (this is known by comparing the Celt/European observations to observations made by the Chinese and others….the Celts’ observations align more closely with the Chinese observations than do the observations of other European cultures). These records suggest the Celts’ intellectual tradition was strong and well beyond the barbarians their enemies made them out to be.