CONCLUSION

One of the dangers of a survey such as this is the unwitting presentation of a picture which can assume a timeless continuum, spanning nearly a millennium. This is not the intention, but in part is the inevitable result of studying a period which is essentially prehistoric, where chronology is often imprecise, especially where iconography is concerned. Glearly, it is possible to make distinctions between religious behaviour

Figure 25.13 Bronze figurine of Sequana, goddess of the river Seine at its spring source, in her duck-shaped boat; from Fontes Scquanac near Dijon, Burgundy. First century AI3,

(Illustrator; Paul Jenkins.)

Figure 25.14 Scone head, presumably of local deity, from a shrine of lace Roman date; Caerwent, South Wales. (Photo; Newport Museum.)

Before and after the eoming of Roman traditions to Celtie lands. It is possible to observe that imagery inereased towards the end of the Iron Age, when Graeeo-Roman eoneepts and eustoms were already intruding upon the Celtie world. Imagery and epigraphy whieh eome from well-exeavated sites offer an opportunity for elose dating. But all too often, good arehaeologieal eontexts are absent for ieonography, and dating by style alone is neither easy nor reliable. It is important, however, to aeknowledge pagan Celtie religion as a dynamie foree, whieh was eonstantly ehang-ing and responding to the stimuli of new eoneepts and ideas, whilst still retaining a eore of conservatism. It is indeed the tension between tradition and innovation which gives Celtie religion its essential eharaeter of diversity and enigma.