| 450 | 452 | * History: Celtic homes varied between round wattle and daub homes, common most in the British Isles and northern Iberia, and wood-and-stone longhouses. Later, large tenements and apartments were built. Within a city, houses would be of excellent quality, many having running water. Even the later tenements in cities, intended for poor laborers who worked within the walls, typically had a communal running water connection, all connected to a central cistern that collected rainwater, purified through a granite sieve. These were most common in Gaul, though, as Britain was typically several decades behind in the south, and even a century or more the further north one went, as far as Celtic development went. An underground cess system would also connect these homes, based on modern archaeological findings. However, this is only within the cities. Outside, people lived on maintained, permanent farming estates; small villages built around a powerful aristocrat or low noble's home, with people who worked his fields, or in local shops and businesses catering to the inhabitants of the estate. While in both city and farming village houses often had basements, here they would lack running water, and are often found near running water, or irrigated in streams through the village for ease of water collection and rubbish disposal. Each home typically has a small shrine, to pray to a local god, the spirits of the home, and to the souls of ancestors, as well as cups. If tradition maintained in Gaelic and Brythonic cultures, these were for offerings to spirits, giving them wine or beer in exchange for good fortune, or at least to not be tormented by the less friendly among them. In Gaul, homes would vary between one and five rooms on average, discluding the basement. Upscale homes of the non-aristocratic class may have been fortunate enough to have a kitchen. All would probably have a hearth or firepit, and some simple floor matresses. Beds, while known among Celts, were largely only for the very wealthy, as their construction often included finally crafted wood and metal. There would also be, based on iron bands, be two washtubs, one for bathing, one for clothing, and soap was a common property item, crafted and sold in huge amounts, used for both bathing and washing clothing. The common Celtic family would have a fairly good standard of living; most Celts ate a handsome portion of meat compared to most contemporary societies, even if it was just offal for slaves and 'serfs'. Beer and mead was common, and recent examination even finds 'branding', implying mass production of alcohols from various families and regions, meaning the market could easily have been saturated, making the cost low enough even for a family of debtors able to afford a good cask of beer from time to time. Pets were common among Celts, particularly dogs, who would sleep inside with the family. Livestock would not though, as occured in some medieval societies, as Celts were known to build large, communal barns for the safe-keeping of everyone in the village's livestock, except for the headman and his family, who had their own barns and fields for the private care of their livestock. |
