Celtic Myths: Celtic History?

'If', goes a question given to first-year geology students, ‘geological history could be reduced to a single day, the Earth coming into existence at 00.01 am, at what time would the first humans appear?’ The answer – the last chimes of midnight – has a lot to say about humanity’s importance in the cosmos. But a similar question can be posed for history students that is, in its own way, just as striking. ‘If man’s existence on Earth were reduced to a single day how late in that day does history – i.e. written records – begin?’ The answer in this case is at a quarter to midnight. From 400,000 BC, and the appearance of the first Homo sapiens, to the first writing in approximately 4000 BC there is no ‘history’. And in many parts of the world ‘history’ – written accounts – begin only at one or two minutes to midnight.