ABSTRACT
Great Britain presents a pattern of national identities that, even in the tangled history of European nationalisms, is uniquely complex. Despite the existence of the Cambrian Association, much of the work published was in an increasingly archaic romantic and antiquarian vein. Active intervention in archaeology by the state, royal palaces and medieval castles, ruined abbeys and country houses have played the major role in this commercialized vision of our national past, although augmented by military and industrial museums. Government policy was committed to membership, critical of petty Brussels bureaucracy, eager for reforms, but opposed to greater integration which would further erode the powers of the member nation-states, most especially at the level of increased federalization. In emphasizing this theme of common roots, particular attention was paid to the similarity of certain types of artefact over long distances, and no questions were asked about the definition of the concept of Celts or about the relationship of material culture to ethnic identity.
