just because the gauls and britons built wooden houses doesn't mean they were more primitive. we know from the roman's that they had a written language, the monks just weren't interested in what they wrote down and they had a religious taboo against writing down religious texts. we actually have some inscriptions from them, but they are very mundane and it is not possible for texts to survive in that climate like in the desert. they had better chemistry and metal working, inventing both soap and waterproof fabric and various types of textiles. there metal working is actually noted by classic scholars as being superior to mediterranean and mesopotamian metal working and the archeological record confirms that. also you realize that they had stone fortresses, look at the hill forts, the climate of north western europe just wears things down much faster. no comment on the germans, but they also seem to have had excellent metal working, but they were not literate in classical times. caesar's gallic wars actually describes their governments, which included both kingdoms and republics. they were surprisingly similar to the greeks and romans, just again, in a different climate.
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