About Celtic Texts (600-100 BCE)

Celtic texts are found throughout Switzerland and the Po Valley as shown by the markers on this map. Most are short inscriptions on pottery with the Bronze Liver from Piacenza being a notable exception. Because of its long inscription the Piacenza liver was incorrectly classified as Etruscan. 

Celtic culture is a more general term for the Hallstatt and Le Tene cultures who acquired their wealth from salt out of Salzburg, Austria and the trade along the Danube/Rhine axis. People from Malta at least played a part in this culture's origin.

Map from website: The Cisalpine Celtic Languages which is an ongoing European research project edited by David Stifter, Martin Braun, Corinna Salomon, Michela Vignoli et al. It is online at:  https://lexlep.univie.ac.at/wiki/The_Cisalpine_Celtic_Languages#Definition_of_%22Ligurian%22

Central Celtic Halstatt and La Tene Cultures (1300- 500 BCE)


Hallstatt (yellow) and La Tène (green) cultures. The Proto-Celtic Hallstatt culture was located at the European trade center incorporating the salt mines near Salzburg and the portage between the Danube and Rhine rivers.
Information from Atlas of the Celtic World, by John Haywood; London Thames & Hudson Ltd., 2001, pp. 30-37.
By Dbachmann via Wikimedia Commons at: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Hallstatt_LaTene.png

Ancient European Trade Rivers

(November 3, 2023) Northern European literacy moved from the Etruscan Po Valley through the Alps via the Adda and Mara rivers and then up the Rhine into the Nordic lands. The upper reaches of these rivers are not boatable but people and pack animals would have followed these now mountain streams.

Neolithic Era - Maltese Female Gene Types in Red

Red dots show 3 types of mitochondrial genes which are common between Malta and other places. Mitochondrial genes are only passed down through the female line. This shows that Malta was part of a Europewide genetic heritage.

Late Bronze Age Era - Maltese Female Gene Types Show Survival in Hallstatt Culture

(Jan 14, 2023) The same 3 types of mitochondrial genes show a different pattern during the late Bronze Age. Druid culture people are no longer in Malta, Crete (Minoan), and most of central Europe as a result of the Indo-European invasions.  But for some reason they survived along the Rhine-Danube trade route linking Britain with the Black Sea with greatest survival rate being around the salt mine areas around Salzburg.
Organized salt mining began around Hallstatt (Salzkammergut region) in the Bronze Age starting around 1600  BCE.  Before then water was boiled from salt springs to get the salt. This Central Celtic culture is different from the Eastern Celtic culture of pre-Roman Britain although an early connection does seem to exist.