With the introduction of the potters wheel, horse shoes, and wheels added on to theancient plow, as well as advanced techniques for making buildings and various means of transport, the Celtsexperienced a huge increase of technological sophistication rivaling even that of the more recent IndustrialRevolution. It was the Celts who first invented chainmail, and through the use of iron armor, they gave theirwarriors a great advantage over the bronze wearing enemy. The Celtic steel sword and its formidable strength andsharpness was a direct ancestor of the medieval knightly sword in Europe. Metal was such a precious asset to theCelts that the ancient Britons implemented the use of iron bars as an early form of currency. Throughout the flourishment of the iron and steel industry amongst the Celts, the bronze-worker stillplayed a very important role in society (Pennick, 1997). The exquisite jewelry, tools, and even armor thebronze-worker caste have proved the Celts to be a very talented and ingenious culture, embodied with aextraordinary artistic skill and expertise in art of metal working.Although the Celts did not posses a definite caste system of social structure, they did have did have classstructured society. Celtic societies were divided into distinct tribal kingdoms based primarily on family kinshipand ties. The nobility held the highest status within Celtic tribes, and often a king held the highest power, whichwas seen as divine and ordained by the gods, and it was his responsibility to protect the tribe, lead an army in thetime of war, and acting as the representative of the tribe in a time of peace. Unlike the later monarch system whichtook root in Europe, the title of king was not necessarily inherited. Kings had the authority and ability to nominatetheir successor. There are however instances where tribes have been headed by a magistrate, or Vergobret insteadof a well pronounced king. It was from these noble lineages ...
