Trade Secrets

[macausland]

Boreades

'I would not disagree, as I tend more towards our ancient Brits being influenced by Phoenicians rather than Greeks.'

Speaking about Phoenicians and Greeks I've come across a site that claims that Troy was in Cambridgeshire and the Trojan wars were fought there. Tales of the battle passed into oral history and were taken by the 'sea people' to the Med where eventually the legends were associated with local places and landmarks.

Has anyone come across this before?

It's apparently an old theory and was proposed in the nineteenth century and previous centuries. Not by British people, never mind Greeks, but French and Belgians. So it can't be yet another Anglo-centric bit of national tub thumping.

I would not disagree, as I tend more towards our ancient Brits being influenced by Phoenicians rather than Greeks.

[Mick Harper]

This is the (in)famous Iman Wilkens theory. We discuss this gentleman from time to time on the AEL site. Use the Search facility but make sure you click the posts button, otherwise you just get a list of threads.

[macausland]

Thanks for that. I'll get the sextant and compass out if I get lost.

[spiral]

This is the (in)famous Iman Wilkens theory. We discuss this gentleman from time to time on the AEL site. Use the Search facility but make sure you click the posts button, otherwise you just get a list of threads.

Yes that is a great tip. If you randomly type in "Lewis" "chess" and remember to click the posts button, it brings up a fascinating topic for discussion "Noggin the Nog"........(the true scandal of the Lewis chessmen)....

[Mick Harper]

Ah, yes, the Lewis chessmen. This is a perfect example of Piltdown Syndrome -- when you spend a whole lifetime believing something as being not just true but self-evidently true, even boringly true. Then all of a sudden somebody points out it is not just untrue but it is a forgery of such blatancy that it shouldn't fool a six-year-old.

I think, at the time of writing, that the entire archaeological and art historical professions (not to mention the Celtica Industry of course) believe the emperor is still wearing these particular clothes. Anybody know anything different?

[Boreades]

This is the (in)famous Iman Wilkens theory. We discuss this gentleman from time to time on the AEL site. Use the Search facility but make sure you click the posts button, otherwise you just get a list of threads.

Or click here
http://www.troy-in-england.co.uk/

[hvered]

I would not disagree, as I tend more towards our ancient Brits being influenced by Phoenicians rather than Greeks.

Maybe Greeks, then as now, had shipping interests. A rather dreadful programme about shipwrecks on TV yesterday was a reminder of the risks of financing long-distance voyages. Disappointingly there was no discussion of sailing techniques pre-Tudor though it was pointed out that the design of the Mary Rose, the country's most celebrated wreck, was better suited to trade than warfare.

[Boreades]

I would not disagree, as I tend more towards our ancient Brits being influenced by Phoenicians rather than Greeks.

Maybe Greeks, then as now, had shipping interests. A rather dreadful programme about shipwrecks on TV yesterday was a reminder of the risks of financing long-distance voyages. Disappointingly there was no discussion of sailing techniques pre-Tudor though it was pointed out that the design of the Mary Rose, the country's most celebrated wreck, was better suited to trade than warfare.

I saw that as well. Mick should have been jumping up and down, spitting feathers. They sailed right past but failed to mention Drakes Island (a megalithic entry port) that used to have a causeway to the mainland (now underwater, but still called The Bridge). Then they sailed right past where The Endeavour was moored for a few months before setting off with Cap'n Cook & Crew.

As usual, the celebrity presenters were so busy being full of themselves, they only bothered mentioning their helmsman once by name, Bob, in a rather dismissive way, with no mention of him on the credits at the end. I happen to know him. Bob is in fact Robert Beggs of the Performance Yachting Sailing School in Mayflower Marina. He's sailed round the world a good few times, and probably has more navigation skills in his little finger than the presenters had in their entire bodies.

[macausland]

Stephen Oppenheimer has an interesting video on youtube where he discusses genetic origins of the British Isles.

Towards the end of the video he briefly touches on copper mining in North Wales and Iberia.

Apparently they've found a strong dna connection between North West Wales and Albania/Balkans His theory is that the Albanians, about 7,000 years ago were copper miners and around 4,500 years ago came to North Wales to mine the copper there. I think he claims that 38 per cent of the people in that area share dna with Albania and the Balkans. He suggests that possibly they may have brought their language with them.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vFQiuGvxMd0

Perhaps Albania and Albion are cognate after all.

[hvered]

Stephen Oppenheimer's research is very thought-provoking and, I think, widely respected. I'm not clear how reliable DNA findings are, he does at least acknowledge that dating is a little doubtful. The question of Basque settling for instance; could it be when Spain's empire went bankrupt, more or less coinciding with north-west Europe's Industrial Revolution, or even more latterly during the Franco years? Would a Basque refugee be more likely to go to at least nominally Catholic Ireland?