Editing Celts (section)

===Head hunting===
[[File:Stone sculpture of celtic hero.jpg|thumb|[[Mšecké Žehrovice Head|Stone head from Mšecké Žehrovice]], Czech Republic, wearing a [[torc]], late La Tène culture, 150-50 BC]]
Celts had a reputation as [[Headhunting|head hunters]].<ref name="Koch head cult">{{cite book |last=Koch |first=John T. |author-link=John T. Koch |title=Celtic Culture: A Historical Encyclopedia |date=2006 |publisher=[[ABC-CLIO]] |pages=897–898}}</ref> [[Paul Jacobsthal]] says: "Amongst the Celts the [[human head]] was venerated above all else, since the head was to the Celt the soul, centre of the emotions as well as of life itself, a symbol of divinity and of the powers of the other-world."<ref>Jacobsthal, Paul; ''Early Celtic Art''.</ref> Writing in the first century BC, Greek historians [[Posidonius]] and [[Diodorus Siculus]] said Celtic warriors cut off the heads of enemies slain in battle, hung them from the necks of their horses, then nailed them up outside their homes.<ref name="Koch head cult" /> [[Strabo]] wrote in the same century that Celts [[Embalming|embalmed]] the heads of their most esteemed enemies in cedar oil and put them on display.<ref name="Koch head cult" /> Roman historian [[Livy]] wrote that the [[Boii]] beheaded a defeated Roman general after the [[Battle of Silva Litana]], covered his skull in gold, and used it as a ritual cup.<ref name="Koch head cult" /> Archaeologists have found evidence that heads were embalmed and displayed by the southern Gauls.<ref>Salma Ghezal, Elsa Ciesielski, Benjamin Girard, Aurélien Creuzieux, Peter Gosnell, Carole Mathe, Cathy Vieillescazes, Réjane Roure (2019), "[https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0305440318303194 Embalmed heads of the Celtic Iron Age in the south of France] {{Webarchive|url= https://web.archive.org/web/20190226211008/https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0305440318303194 |date=26 February 2019 }}", ''[[Journal of Archaeological Science]]'', Volume 101, pp.181-188, {{doi|10.1016/j.jas.2018.09.011}}.</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=The Gauls really did embalm the severed heads of enemies, research shows |url= https://www.theguardian.com/science/2018/nov/07/the-gauls-really-did-embalm-the-severed-heads-of-enemies-research-shows |work=[[The Guardian]] |date=7 November 2018 |access-date=19 May 2022 |archive-date=19 May 2022 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20220519154329/https://www.theguardian.com/science/2018/nov/07/the-gauls-really-did-embalm-the-severed-heads-of-enemies-research-shows |url-status=live}}</ref>
In another example, at the southern Gaulish site of [[Entremont (oppidum)|Entremont]], there stood a pillar carved with skulls, within which were niches where human skulls were kept, nailed into position.<ref>{{cite book |author-link=Barry Cunliffe |last=Cunliffe |first=Barry |date=1997 |title=The Ancient Celts |url= https://archive.org/details/ancientcelts00cunl_933 |url-access=limited |place=Oxford, UK; New York, NY |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |page=[https://archive.org/details/ancientcelts00cunl_933/page/n116 202] |isbn=978-0-19-815010-7}}</ref> [[Roquepertuse]] nearby has similar carved heads and skull niches. Many lone carved heads have been found in Celtic regions, some with two or three faces.<ref name="Davidson heads">{{Cite book |last=Davidson |first=Hilda Ellis |author-link=Hilda Ellis Davidson |title=Myths and Symbols in Pagan Europe: Early Scandinavian and Celtic Religions |date=1988 |publisher=[[Syracuse University Press]] |pages=72–75}}</ref> Examples include the [[Mšecké Žehrovice Head]] and the [[Corleck Head]].

Severed heads are a common motif in Insular Celtic myths, and there are many tales in which 'living heads' preside over feasts or speak prophecies.<ref name="Koch head cult" /><ref name="Davidson heads" /> The [[beheading game]] is a motif in Irish myth and Arthurian legend, most famously in the tale ''[[Sir Gawain and the Green Knight]]'', where the [[Green Knight]] picks up his own severed head after [[Gawain]] has struck it off. There are also many legends in Celtic regions of saints who [[Cephalophore|carry their own severed heads]]. In Irish myth, the severed heads of warriors are called the [[Mast (botany)|mast]] or nuts of the goddess [[Macha]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Egeler |first1=Matthias |title=Celtic Influences in Germanic Religion |date=2013 |publisher=Utz |page=112}}</ref>