G’day Janet The Picts who were the inhabitants of Orkney before the Vikings, are generally regarded as a Celtic people. But who were the people who built the Ness of Brodgar Temple, the village of Skara Brae etc, some 5,000 years ago ago is not known. However, the point I was trying to make yesterday with my reference to the Ness of Brodgar and the “origins of the Irish” article, was that new archaeological research is up-ending previous ideas as to direction in which culture flowed in ancient times. Previously, it was taken as a given that things developed in the Mediterranean and moved northwards through Europe. But now we’re seeing that there were great goings-on in the north-west of Europe in prehistoric times and the cultural influences were moving southwards. One line of speculation for the demise of the Ness of Brodgar temple is the advent of the Bronze Age leading to the centre of political/religious power moving south, closer to the sources of tin (Cornwall) and copper (Cork and Kerry) which are needed to make bronze. Back to the Vikings: there is news today that what appears to be another Viking site has been found in Newfoundland, several hundred miles further south from L’Anse aux Meadows which was discovered in the 1960s. < http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2016/03/160331-viking-discovery-north-america-canada-archaeology/ > < http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/01/science/vikings-archaeology-north-america-newfoundland.html?_r=0 > David Armstrong Maylands Western Australia From: [email protected] Sent: Friday, April 01, 2016 12:49 AM To: DSA2003 ; [email protected] ; Marge in SoCal Subject: Re: Re: FERMANAGH-GOLD Fwd: Origins of the Irish -- not Celtic? LOVE reading about the stuff on Orkney. I was just there this past September. Unfortunately the excavation at Ness of Brodgar was closed for the season, so I'll just have to go back! However the Orkney islanders are/were not Celts. They never spoke a Celtic language. Instead they were influenced by Vikings and Picts. Janet C --- This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software. https://www.avast.com/antivirus

Thanks, David! Especially for the link to the news about the possible new Viking site. That is fabulous. I will try to watch the PBS program. Janet Sent from my iPad > On Mar 31, 2016, at 8:00 PM, DSA2003 <[email protected]> wrote: > > G’day Janet > > The Picts who were the inhabitants of Orkney before the Vikings, are generally regarded as a Celtic people. But who were the people who built the Ness of Brodgar Temple, the village of Skara Brae etc, some 5,000 years ago ago is not known. > > However, the point I was trying to make yesterday with my reference to the Ness of Brodgar and the “origins of the Irish” article, was that new archaeological research is up-ending previous ideas as to direction in which culture flowed in ancient times. Previously, it was taken as a given that things developed in the Mediterranean and moved northwards through Europe. But now we’re seeing that there were great goings-on in the north-west of Europe in prehistoric times and the cultural influences were moving southwards. One line of speculation for the demise of the Ness of Brodgar temple is the advent of the Bronze Age leading to the centre of political/religious power moving south, closer to the sources of tin (Cornwall) and copper (Cork and Kerry) which are needed to make bronze. > > Back to the Vikings: there is news today that what appears to be another Viking site has been found in Newfoundland, several hundred miles further south from L’Anse aux Meadows which was discovered in the 1960s. > > < http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2016/03/160331-viking-discovery-north-america-canada-archaeology/ > > > < http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/01/science/vikings-archaeology-north-america-newfoundland.html?_r=0 > > > David Armstrong > > Maylands > Western Australia > > > > > > From: [email protected] > Sent: Friday, April 01, 2016 12:49 AM > To: DSA2003 ; [email protected] ; Marge in SoCal > Subject: Re: Re: FERMANAGH-GOLD Fwd: Origins of the Irish -- not Celtic? > > LOVE reading about the stuff on Orkney. I was just there this past > September. Unfortunately the excavation at Ness of Brodgar was closed > for the season, so I'll just have to go back! > However the Orkney islanders are/were not Celts. They never spoke a > Celtic language. Instead they were influenced by Vikings and Picts. > > Janet C > > This email has been sent from a virus-free computer protected by Avast. > www.avast.com

Is it thought that the Picts spoke a Celtic language? Janet Sent from my iPad > On Mar 31, 2016, at 8:00 PM, DSA2003 <[email protected]> wrote: > > G’day Janet > > The Picts who were the inhabitants of Orkney before the Vikings, are generally regarded as a Celtic people. But who were the people who built the Ness of Brodgar Temple, the village of Skara Brae etc, some 5,000 years ago ago is not known. > > However, the point I was trying to make yesterday with my reference to the Ness of Brodgar and the “origins of the Irish” article, was that new archaeological research is up-ending previous ideas as to direction in which culture flowed in ancient times. Previously, it was taken as a given that things developed in the Mediterranean and moved northwards through Europe. But now we’re seeing that there were great goings-on in the north-west of Europe in prehistoric times and the cultural influences were moving southwards. One line of speculation for the demise of the Ness of Brodgar temple is the advent of the Bronze Age leading to the centre of political/religious power moving south, closer to the sources of tin (Cornwall) and copper (Cork and Kerry) which are needed to make bronze. > > Back to the Vikings: there is news today that what appears to be another Viking site has been found in Newfoundland, several hundred miles further south from L’Anse aux Meadows which was discovered in the 1960s. > > < http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2016/03/160331-viking-discovery-north-america-canada-archaeology/ > > > < http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/01/science/vikings-archaeology-north-america-newfoundland.html?_r=0 > > > David Armstrong > > Maylands > Western Australia > > > > > > From: [email protected] > Sent: Friday, April 01, 2016 12:49 AM > To: DSA2003 ; [email protected] ; Marge in SoCal > Subject: Re: Re: FERMANAGH-GOLD Fwd: Origins of the Irish -- not Celtic? > > LOVE reading about the stuff on Orkney. I was just there this past > September. Unfortunately the excavation at Ness of Brodgar was closed > for the season, so I'll just have to go back! > However the Orkney islanders are/were not Celts. They never spoke a > Celtic language. Instead they were influenced by Vikings and Picts. > > Janet C > > This email has been sent from a virus-free computer protected by Avast. > www.avast.com