Megalithic shipping and trade routes

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Re: Megalithic shipping and trade routes

Postby hvered » 10:02 am

The Phoenicians seem to have been international middlemen though who started where is debatable. I was looking at tin ingots from the Erme estuary just round the corner from Burgh Island, a tidal (Phoenician?) island in Devon, which are described as knuckle- or H-shaped.

Image

This site http://www.swmag.org/index.php/stories/ ... ary-ingots says rectangles and other shapes and sizes of ingots were found but the H-shaped ingots are considerably smaller and appear to be peculiar to this area.

They look like dung beetles which were sacred to Ancient Egyptians. The beetles may have been as useful to African pastoralists as the earthworm is to English gardeners though the latter don't have to contend with tsetse flies. Dung beetles have an extraordinary (unique?) ability to navigate via the Milky Way which may, or may not, have been regarded as ultra-special by herders.
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Re: Megalithic shipping and trade routes

Postby Boreades » 3:03 pm

Aren't they knucklebones from cows or oxen?
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Re: Megalithic shipping and trade routes

Postby Boreades » 10:16 pm

As the ME has well-established, usually the movement of peoples was for peaceful trade and commerce. But as we know, that doesn't get much attention from Orthodox Historians, because Death, War and Destruction sells more books and make for better TV series and academic fame. (Petty jealousy, moi?)

By which means I make no apology for this excellent animation of 3,000 years of Middle Eastern Wars in 90 seconds
http://www.mapsofwar.com/images/EMPIRE17.swf

Now we can talk about the wars being the means to get control of the trade assets.
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Re: Megalithic shipping and trade routes

Postby spiral » 6:25 am

hvered wrote:The Phoenicians seem to have been international middlemen though who started where is debatable. I was looking at tin ingots from the Erme estuary just round the corner from Burgh Island, a tidal (Phoenician?) island in Devon, which are described as knuckle- or H-shaped.

Image

This site http://www.swmag.org/index.php/stories/ ... ary-ingots says rectangles and other shapes and sizes of ingots were found but the H-shaped ingots are considerably smaller and appear to be peculiar to this area.

They look like dung beetles which were sacred to Ancient Egyptians. The beetles may have been as useful to African pastoralists as the earthworm is to English gardeners though the latter don't have to contend with tsetse flies. Dung beetles have an extraordinary (unique?) ability to navigate via the Milky Way which may, or may not, have been regarded as ultra-special by herders.


Counting devices.
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Re: Megalithic shipping and trade routes

Postby hvered » 7:25 pm

spiral wrote: Counting devices.

Yes! Very good.
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Re: Megalithic shipping and trade routes

Postby Boreades » 11:20 pm

Counting devices?
Sorry - I don't get that.
Why would any elaborate and pseudo-random shape be needed for a counting device? Counting is all about putting things in a regular order. These knuckle-bones (or whatever) don't look like regular objects.
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Re: Megalithic shipping and trade routes

Postby Boreades » 8:30 pm

Just when I had started wondering if we had exhausted this theme of headlands and beacon sites, the very wonderful Alexander Aberfeldy has relit my fire (sic)

Here she says

To restrict ourselves for the moment to fairies, we can note the link between E. fairy and G. faire ‘to keep watch’. There is nothing supernatural about the original fairies. The fairy knolls of Scotland were a combination of outlook point and signal station which appear to have formed a network operated by those who controlled prehistoric Scotland. They were typically prominent hills of moderate height with extensive views and can still be identified in most localities in Scotland, Highland and Lowland. Examples of such hills, still associated with fairies, are numerous: The Doon or Fairy Hill at Aberfoyle, Tomnahurich at Inverness, Tombuidhe Ghearrloch ‘hill of the hunting troop of the Gairloch’ which was inhabited by a dwarf. D. McRitchie 1890, 112. In Strathtay the fairies danced on moonlit nights at Tom Challtuinn. J. Kennedy, Folklore of Strathtay and Grandtully, c,1927, 46-7. They also migrated three times a year from Cnoc Forbaidh (‘knoll of the ambush’) to Creag Scraidhlain. The Fairy knowe of Logie ‘still stands as an adornment to the Golf Course of Bridge of Allan’. It was visited at New Year (an important date for hunters) and has a view which embraces the Vale of Menteith, Stirling Castle, the Forth and the distant Grampians. R.M. Ferguson, The Ochil Fairy Tales, 1912, vii, 58-9. ‘Two very good examples may be seen at Dalry, on the Ken, in Galloway, and at Parton, on Loch Ken. The grassy howes are large and symmetrical, though it is possible they are medieval rather than prehistoric.
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Re: Megalithic shipping and trade routes

Postby Boreades » 4:46 pm

It's a safe bet that a fair amount of trade and shipping was seasonal, to fit in with the growing seasons, or just to avoid the worst of winter weather in N.West Europe.

The arrival of the first boats of the season each year must have been eagerly awaited, just like the arrival of the first Clippers with tea from India/China was a big event.

For a flavour of a gathering of classic boats at the start of the season in Brittany - in real time - have a look at the Marine Traffic site.
http://www.marinetraffic.com/ais/

Zoom in on the South Brittany coast, around Lorient and Quiberon. Right now,
- Matthew of Bristol (that famous replica of John Cabot's boat) is on route from Cornwall to the Ile Aux Moines.
- At anchor off the Belle Ile is "Iris" from the Netherlands.
- La Recouvrance is on route from Brest.
- Bessie Ellen is passing Ushant on route from Fowey to Morbihan.

There are more. Tip: Look for the purple/pink coloured icons for "Yachts & Others".
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Re: Megalithic shipping and trade routes

Postby hvered » 10:56 am

One of those icons might belong to Komorikid, last heard of somewhere in the Bay of Biscay. His report on Carnac is just in, as follows:

I was a little underwhelmed with the Alignment though. I expected the stones to be "megalithic", instead most were small in size and most appeared to be unworked - no toolmarks or obvious signs of being hand cut.
Quiberon on the other hand was much more interesting. My very first impression as we drove onto the island was 'this looks and feels like Anglesey'. The coastal stretches are barren, windswept and boggy underfoot like moorland. There were druids here going by most of the street names.
Located just inland from what would have been the tidal crossing in ancient times, on a forested knoll that was probably right on the old shoreline, is the Abbey St Michel run by Benedictine Monks.
I didn't spy any Venus Pools but from the southern tip there is a commanding view of the English Channel and the coastline to the north and south.
The other interesting thing is that the name of virtually every town for miles around begins with KER - Kerlann, Kerzivien, Kerous,etc.
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Re: Megalithic shipping and trade routes

Postby macausland » 10:45 am

The 'Independent' newspaper has an article today about the forthcoming sale of the 'Speculum Orbis Terrarum', a world map from 1593 only a hundred years after Columbus reached the Caribbean. It clearly shows the Arctic and the Antarctic as well as what looks like Australia.

It seems like a very quick advance in navigation, exploration and map making techniques.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/ho ... 40855.html

After reading the article I had a trawl around the internet to see what other maps there were from the same period and came across the Catalan Atlas produced in 1375 by Cresques Abraham.

The whole of the map has been triangulated from various reference points. Strangely one of the lines criss crossing the map appears to go straight through the tip of Cornwall and direct to East Anglia, seemingly following the 'ley line' everyone goes on about on this site and everywhere else.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/c ... Atlas.jpeg

Is this a coincidence?
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