The arrival of so-called Celtic groups in northern Italy between the 4th and 3rd centuries BCE is traditionally framed as a sudden and violent invasion, derived largely from Greco-Roman literary sources and reinforced by long-standing culture-historical models. This paper critically reassesses this narrative by confronting historical accounts with the archaeological and bioarchaeological evidence from the Po Valley and adjacent regions.
Drawing on recent reassessments of settlement patterns, funerary contexts, material culture, and isotopic data, the paper argues that the archaeological record does not support large-scale, homogeneous migrations corresponding to the dramatic events described in the sources.
Instead, evidence points to a complex and regionally varied set of mobility processes unfolding over several generations, including small-scale movements, chain migration, elite mobility, mercenary activity, exogamy, and the gradual integration of incoming groups into existing social landscapes.
Particular attention is paid to the weak archaeological visibility of 4th century BCE “invasion horizons,” the heterogeneous character of communities traditionally labelled as Celtic, and the widespread presence of hybrid material cultures that defy straightforward ethnic attribution. Bioarchaeological studies, while offering important insights into individual mobility, are also discussed critically, highlighting the risks of reintroducing deterministic or invasionist interpretations through uncritical use of isotopic or genetic data.
By situating the case of northern Italy within broader theoretical debates on mobility, identity, and post-colonial approaches to the past, this paper advocates moving beyond invasionist explanations toward multiscalar models that better capture the diversity of social interactions and historical trajectories in Iron Age Europe. The “Celtic invasion” thus emerges not as a single catastrophic event, but as a long-term process of encounter, negotiation, and cultural transformation.

First Author: Lorenzo Zamboni

Keywords:
Archaeology of Mobility
Postcolonialism
Late Iron Age