- This article is about the archaeological tool, for the top, see rattleback.
Celt (pron. /sɛlt/) is an archaeological term used to describe long thin prehistoric stone or bronze adzes, other axe-like tools, and hoes. By the beginning of the twentieth century, the term had largely been abandoned by archaeologists, who were beginning to classify the tools into more precise sub-groups. It remains in use in a few specific artifact types such as the Danubian and Shoe-last celts, as well as in Olmec studies. The term "celt" came about from a misreading of Job 19:24 in the Sixto-Clementine edition of the Latin Vulgate Bible: Stylo ferreo, et plumbi lamina, vel certe sculpantur in silice (It is indeed carved with an iron pen on a plate of lead or in stone). The certe ("indeed") was misread as celte, which would have to be the ablative of a non-existent third declension noun celt or celtis, the ablative case giving the sense "with/by a celt". A 'Celt' was thus wrongly assumed to be a type of ancient chisel. During the late 11th century, the word appeared with this interpretation in scholarly medieval Latin. Eighteenth century antiquarians then adopted the word for the stone and bronze tools they were then finding at prehistoric sites.
