Last summer I put together the first of my Ugly Skirts for Bronze and Iron Age wear.  It's not actually "ugly", though it kinda is, by design.  Let me put it mildly that the Huldremose Skirt is NOT a flattering thing by modern standards if made to historic specs.  

Ugly or not, I love it.  And it lead to another, and another.  All in effort to experiment with some very early clothing ideas that I have.  (Eventually, I will post about the Ugly Skirts to date.)

I also have a fascination with Fugly Beads, because seriously, there was some bizarre stuff in early finds!  

I also realized that I want to have a space online where people can discuss and share early continental Celtic finds.  I have learned that too many people think of "Celtic" as being synonymous for Irish and Scottish (and they also tend to some how think all of the latter is 17th century and beyond, lol) and that most discussion groups revolve around the isles (and periodocity of kilts, ugh).

Ugly Skirts and Fugly Beads (name is likely to change at some point), caters to those interested in Central and Northern Europe from the Bronze Age till approximately year 1 BCEish.  The jewelry finds from these periods are AMAZING, and we have textiles here!  Lots of them compared to some places!  Gaul is welcome too, as well as the Eastern Hallstatt region, but the idea is to focus on the early Celtic, Germanic and Nordic cultures that get little air time in the SCA.  If these things are your geek, please come join us!

https://www.facebook.com/groups/1619238801586051

I have been following the Kern Schoolhouse find in Switzerland for sometime and asked on a SCA group on FB for Celtic (and other early period studies) if anyone knew if the data was yet published or had additional info besides the obvious (the press releases, the City of Zurich page, anything that ran in main stream media), and there was silence.

This is a very different, and less populated, world than that of Viking reenactment.  Post a question like that on a Viking group and you would likely a number of people who have either already pulled the article, or who know the exact publication date and have it on order, or whom at least know who the authors of the pending project are (so they can stalk them until publication).  Kelticos used to be the go-to place for information, but it seems that forum is less updated than it was back-in-the-day (at least on the types of material culture in which I am most interested).  It is also blocked from my lunchtime-research due to being an insecure site.  Sigh.

The silence on the subject was still was surprising to me.  In a way it is a little frustrating (though absolutely no one's fault), but also a little exciting to dive into a less populated pool.  

​But back to Kern: 

City of Zurich (this has the links for the dig photos as well as the artifacts): www.stadt-zuerich.ch/hbd/de/index/ueber_das_departement/medien/medienmitteilungen/2019/juli/190705a.html

The initial media release on the project: www.stadt-zuerich.ch/hbd/de/index/ueber_das_departement/medien/medienmitteilungen/2017/170505a.html

The Smithsonian piece is here:  www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/iron-age-celtic-woman-was-buried-hollowed-out-tree-trunk-180972773/

LiveScience:  www.livescience.com/66056-iron-age-celtic-woman-burial.html

There are a number of other news articles on this find, but I am excitedly waiting for the in-depth analysis of the textiles!