<P> The history of pre-Celtic Europe and the exact relationship between ethnic , linguistic and cultural factors in the Celtic world remains uncertain and controversial . The exact geographic spread of the ancient Celts is disputed ; in particular , the ways in which the Iron Age inhabitants of Great Britain and Ireland should be regarded as Celts have become a subject of controversy . According to one theory , the common root of the Celtic languages , the Proto - Celtic language , arose in the Late Bronze Age Urnfield culture of Central Europe , which flourished from around 1200 BC . According to a theory proposed in the 19th century , the first people to adopt cultural characteristics regarded as Celtic were the people of the Iron Age Hallstatt culture in central Europe ( c. 800 -- 450 BC ) , named for the rich grave finds in Hallstatt , Austria . Thus this area is sometimes called the `` Celtic homeland '' . By or during the later La Tène period ( c. 450 BC up to the Roman conquest ) , this Celtic culture was supposed to have expanded by trans - cultural diffusion or migration to the British Isles ( Insular Celts ) , France and the Low Countries ( Gauls ) , Bohemia , Poland and much of Central Europe , the Iberian Peninsula ( Celtiberians , Celtici , Lusitanians and Gallaeci ) and northern Italy ( Golasecca culture and Cisalpine Gauls ) and , following the Celtic settlement of Eastern Europe beginning in 279 BC , as far east as central Anatolia ( Galatians ) in modern - day Turkey . </P>
<P> The history of pre-Celtic Europe and the exact relationship between ethnic , linguistic and cultural factors in the Celtic world remains uncertain and controversial . The exact geographic spread of the ancient Celts is disputed ; in particular , the ways in which the Iron Age inhabitants of Great Britain and Ireland should be regarded as Celts have become a subject of controversy . According to one theory , the common root of the Celtic languages , the Proto - Celtic language , arose in the Late Bronze Age Urnfield culture of Central Europe , which flourished from around 1200 BC . According to a theory proposed in the 19th century , the first people to adopt cultural characteristics regarded as Celtic were the people of the Iron Age Hallstatt culture in central Europe ( c. 800 -- 450 BC ) , named for the rich grave finds in Hallstatt , Austria . Thus this area is sometimes called the `` Celtic homeland '' . By or during the later La Tène period ( c. 450 BC up to the Roman conquest ) , this Celtic culture was supposed to have expanded by trans - cultural diffusion or migration to the British Isles ( Insular Celts ) , France and the Low Countries ( Gauls ) , Bohemia , Poland and much of Central Europe , the Iberian Peninsula ( Celtiberians , Celtici , Lusitanians and Gallaeci ) and northern Italy ( Golasecca culture and Cisalpine Gauls ) and , following the Celtic settlement of Eastern Europe beginning in 279 BC , as far east as central Anatolia ( Galatians ) in modern - day Turkey . </P>
where were the celts said to have migrated from
where were the celts said to have migrated from
Central Europe
Central Europe