OUR ANCESTORS THE GAULS - ARCHAEOLOGY, ETHNIC NATIONALISM, AND THE MANIPULATION OF CELTIC IDENTITY IN MODERN EUROPE

Celtic identity has been invoked in recent European history in the con struction of what Benedict Anderson calls ''imagined communities.'' Ap peals to an ancient Celtic past have played, and continue to play, a n umber of important and often paradoxical roles in the ideological natu ralization of modern political communities at several levels, includin g: (1) pan-European unity in the context of the evolving European Comm unity; (2) nationalism by member states of that community; and (3) reg ional resistance to nationalist hegemony. Archaeology may be appropria ted by invented traditions, but it also has a role to play in the deco nstruction of competing claims.