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Riding in Carts With Hobbits - Page 2

© Michael Martinez

The Helvetii and their allies claimed they were fleeing west to escape the threat of German and Slavic tribes. Julius Caesar used the Helvetii migration as an excuse to establish a power base in Gaul, and once he had defeated the Helvetii, forcing them to return to the Alps, he went on to conquer all of Gaul. Caesar's Gallic campaigns triggered one final Celtic migration, from northern Gaul into Britain. Every time the ancient Celts moved or expanded, regional political arrangements went to Utumno in a hand-basket. Whichever kingdom or city lay in the path of the migration was usually trampelled, but the enemies of that unfortunate people often found new allies in the Celts as they moved through lands. The custom of ver sacrum is disputed, though it is mentioned by ancient writers. But archaeologists and historians generally accept that the Celts and Germans were probably following ancient practice in sending out "colonists" whenever their populations became too great. The archaeological record for European farming communities suggests that, about 8,000 years ago, farmers moved into Europe through Greece. It is assumed that they pushed the older, wandering clans west and north. The farmers brought with them domesticated animals, superior tools and weapons, and a knowledge of agriculture which enabled them to raise larger families, live in larger communities, and live longer. Agriculture and animal husbandry empowered clans to become tribes and nations. But the technology was insufficient to support large populations. So, every few generations, the villages had to exile part of their populations. The local farms were consuming all the land with traditional slash-and-burn technology which provided for brief periods of good farming before the farmers had to move on. South American farmers are destroying hundreds of thousands of acres of tropical jungle each year using similar technology. Although slash-and-burn farming requires that new land be opened every few years, the farmers can move around in the same general region so long as their numbers stay about the same. But agriculture feeds many hungry mouths, and people tended to have many children. Although most children probably did not reach maturity (for a variety of reasons), the farming communities gradually spread eastward and northward for about 3,000 years. And then new peoples, whom we call Indo-Europeans, started coming into Europe, and they started the process of expansion all over again. The Indo-Europeans were not simply agriculturalists. They were warriors and nomads. And they were inventors. They designed carts which were efficient, easy to build and maintain, and capable of hauling a lot of goods. The Indo-European cart design remained essentially unchanged even up until the 19th century, when American pioneers and Russian serfs used wagons that looked very much like their 5,000-year-old predecessors to open new lands on two continents.

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