of reconstructured model of find from Trundholm in Denmark
2. Question: What Evidence Do We Have that Israelites were in Spain?
Answer: Israelites were in Spain before moving into Gaul and the British Isles. The evidence consists of Biblical references, Rabbinical notes, Classical writings, archaeological findings, legends, and namesakes.
See
"Questions on Tarshish"
"Brit-Am Now"-189 #5. Tarshish
The ships of Tyre are ships of Tarshish. Isaiah predicted that Tyre would be destroyed and an attempted re-establishment made in Chittim. This would be unsuccessful and from Chittim a move to Tarshish itself (in Spain) would be made.
The province of Baetica in southern Spain experienced a large scale settlement of people bearing a Phoenician type culture in the period immediately following upon the Assyrian conquest of Phoenicia and claimed domination of Tarshish in Spain.
Archaeology has confirmed the existence in Spain of a material culture from the area of ancient Israel and its neighbors) originating in the decades 750-720 and continuing for two hundred years.
The Phoenician and Israelite settlements in Spain served as transit points to the east for tin arriving from Portugal, Galicia (Galatia in northwest Spain) and Britain.
The Assyrians broke the Phoenician monopoly on tin through conquering the Phoenicians and gaining control over their sources. The Assyrian Empire was then flooded with tin at reduced prices. Western Europe especially Britain and Spain possessed minerals (tin, silver, gold) for which there was an inexhaustible demand in the east.
Most of the Syro-Palestinian finds in Spain belong to types prevailing on the Phoenician coast, in Syria, and the North Israel area. There were also forms of decorated pottery specifically associated with Iron Age northern Syria, ancient Hattina, and Que meaning the once Israelite Northern Syrian areas of Yadi, of the Dananu, and other parts of northern Syria-Israel.
In the Book of Psalms, it says The kings of Tarshish and of the isles shall bring presents (Psalm 72;10): The Aramaic Targum translates this expression to say, The Kings of Tarsis and of the Isles in the Oceanic Sea shall bring offerings and by Oceanic Sea (i.e. Yam Okyanus) the Atlantic Ocean is intended.
The prophet Ezekiel listed Tarshish amongst the numerous places that were wont to trade with Tyre of Phoenicia: "TARSHISH WAS THY MERCHANT BY REASON OF THE MULTITUDE OF ALL KINDS OF RICHES; WITH SILVER, IRON, TIN, AND LEAD, THEY TRADED IN THY FAIRS" (Ezekiel 27;12).
At one stage Tartessos ruled over all of Spain and most of Gaul. Samuel Bochart (1681), affirmed that the province of Dertossa in north-east Spanish was actually named after Tarshish, the name being another form for Tartessa, i.e. (Little-?) Tartessus.
[References to an exile by sea in great ships and in fishing boats are found in the Hebrew Bible, in the Books of Isaiah and Amos].
The appellation "IBERI" was at first that of the Israelite settlers.
The original Iberi (or Hiberi) from Spain passed into Gaul and the British Isles and the root "Eber" (or "Iber" or "Heber") is frequently found in the Celtic nomenclature of those areas.
Justin recorded a tradition of migration from the southeast of Spain to Gallaecia in the northwest. Gallaecia was named after the Galatae who settled in Gaul and the British Isles and according to Irish and Scottish mythology arrived via Spain.
Bochart using Greek and Latin sources demonstrated that the Dorians who migrated to Gades and Tartessus were descendants of a legendary "Dorus" and "Phoenicius" i.e. of Dorians and Phoenicians. Bochart traced them to Dor in Israel and says that originally they were identified as Galicians, i.e. Galatians. Dor and her towns had been part of the region inherited by the Tribe of Manasseh whose original Canaanite inhabitants at first could not be driven out but were put to tribute (Joshua 17:11-12, Judges 1:27-28).
Ptolemy records the Menesthei Portus, i.e. the Port of the Tribe of Manasseh, in the region Tarshish off the southwest coast of Spain! Metal produced in Baetica (in southeast Spain) was called Samarian metal (Pliny N.H.) after Samaria in Israel. There was also a port named Samarium in Galatia of northwest Spain. The Samar (Somme) River in north Gaul and neighboring city of Samarobriva (Amiens) and the Sambre River just to their north in Belgium were also named after Samaria in Israel.
3. Question: What do Dolmens and other megalithic monuments such as Stonehenge tell us?
Answer: These monuments form a path leading from the Land of Israel to the West.
This path describes the routes of migration of the Lost Ten Tribes. This was predicted by Jeremiah (31:21) who told the Exiled Israelites to take note of this pathway of monuments in the future in order that they may know their duty to return.
See
"Dolmens"
[Jer 31:21] Set thee up waymarks, make thee high heaps: set thine heart toward the highway, even the way which thou wentest: turn again, O virgin of Israel, turn again to these thy cities.
Dolmens and related monuments are found in the Land of Israel, in Jordan, in the Caucasus, in Spain, Brittany (France), Britain, and Scandinavia. The type of dolmen found in the area of ancient Israel (on both sides of the Jordan River) is the same as that found in western Europe.
The verse (Jeremiah 31;12) in the Hebrew be understood as saying:
"Establish waymarks [i.e."Tsionim" =dolmens] for yourself, set up for yourself high-heaps [i.e. cairns, "Tamrurim" = wayfare-markers]:
put your heart [i.e. pay attention] to the pathways you went by and return, o virgin of Israel, come back to these cities of yours.
See also the Brit-Am Commentary to Jeremiah 31:12 on this issue.
"Brit-Am Now"-583
#4. Emmet Sweeney: A Valuable Source for Dating the "Megaliths"?
See also
"Brit-Am Now"-390
#1. Megalithic Monuments: New Evidence (traces Scandinavian megalithic monuments to ca. 500 CE).
Abarbanel: "The prophet therefore spoke concerning the Kingdom of Israel
[of the Ten Tribes] SET THEE UP WAYMARKS saying that when you go into Exile
make signs by the routes and waymarks like piles of rocks [i.e. cairns] or
stone monuments [Hebrew: "Matzavah", i.e. dolmen] so that you may set your
heart to the route and remember in order that you may return in the way you
went in, return to your city."
Stone rings in North Germany once ascribed to the megalithic period (i.e. late stone age) are now proven (by pottery fragments underneath them) beyond all doubt to belong to the Iron Age.
Similarly stone circles in Denmark, Norway, and Sweden must now be ascribed to ca. 400-550 CE.
"Brit-Am Now"-479
#4. Iron Age Megalithics (Sweeney).
The following 6 points are derived from Sweeney:
1. Heinrich Schliemann discovered large numbers of stone
arrowheads and axe-heads in Late Bronze Age burials at Mycenae and
Tiryns, whilst George Rawlinson remarked on the occurrence of flint arrowheads
in the 8th and 7th century (Iron Age) settlements of Assyria.
Herodotus vii,69 noted that a detachment of the Persian army which invaded
Greece in the early 5th century BC. was armed with stone-tipped arrows.
Tacitus records that the Germanic warriors of his time (first century
AD.) mostly could not afford iron swords and spears, and that many were
armed simply with pointed sticks.
2. In Ireland, the great tombs of New Grange which
archaeology once dated to around 3,000 BC are now proven to have belonged to Iron Age, i.e. probably well after 500 BCE.
3. The menhirs of
Scandinavia are decorated with runic inscriptions (- usually bearing the
names of those responsible for raising the menhir-stone -) and Viking Age
artistic motifs.
4. The megalithic monuments of Brittany are frequently
associated with Gallo-Roman remains., i.e. well after 100 BCE.
5. Again, the menhir stones of southern France, which are dated to the
third millennium BC. “have their counterparts in Corsica (where they are
dated to the 1st millennium BC.), and in the stelae of Luni, which on account of
their inscriptions are unanimously dated to early Etruscan times,” i.e. after ca. 700 BCE.
6. The European megaliths were being erected well into the
late Iron Age, and those located in the Celtic regions must indeed have been
the work of the Druid priestly order.
"Brit-Am Now"-491
#1. Jeremy Burningham: Stonehenge, a Neolithic impossibility
"Brit-Am Now"-610
#1. Summary of and Commentary on Emmett Sweeney who proves that Megalithic Monuments were constricted in the Bronze and Iron Ages.
"Brit-Am Now"-580
#6. Readers Comments on Stonehenge and Brit-Am Remarks
"Brit-Am Now"-567
#6. Tore Gannholm: Ancient Swedish Connections to the Middle East
"Brit-Am Now"-286
#5. Jeremy Birningham: Modern Dolmen Waymarks
"Brit-Am Now"-324
#1. Dolmen in North America?
"Brit-Am Now"-325
#7. Steven Collins: Dolmens in North America
Gannholm says: There are direct links between pictures on vases from Mykene [Mycenea] in Greece and Egyptian paintings with the pictures on Scandinavian rock carvings. On the rock carvings are also to be identified the Greek gods of that time or the gods of Phoenicia, especially Baal.
The centre seems to have been Skene with rock carvings in southern Sweden and along the coast up to northern Norway.
The interesting thing is that this high (Greek, Phoenican, Egyptian influenced) culture suddenly disappears.
Another centre with Mykene related monuments is Gotland in Sweden.
The younger Bronze age stone ships in Gotland have grave houses for bones identical to those found in Italia from the same time.
The Gotlandic stone ships are from the same time as the foundation of Rome.
It is interesting to note that this high culture does not appear in "Germania" but in Scandinavia and Gotland.
4. Question: What archaeological evidence do we have linking Ancient Israel with the west?
Answer: The evidence is plentiful but to do it justice should be considered as complementary to proofs from other fields such as the Bible, linguistics, and historical sources in general.
Brit-Am understands that part of the Exiled Israelites were taken by ship to the west especially to Spain from where they moved northward into Gaul (France and the north) and the British Isles. Another section were taken overland to the confines of the Assyrian Empire. of this later group some moved westward at an early date joining Exiled Israelites who had reached the same areas by boat. These groups are defined under the heading of (a) Pre-Celtic and Celtic.
In the east descendants of Israelites became identified mainly with Scythian and Gothic-associated groups who also moved westward at a later date. This section is classified as (b) Northern and Related.
General Overview and other sources
See:
Questions on History: questions 1 & 2.
(a) Pre-Celtic and Celtic
Phoenicians and Israelites were heavily influenced by Egyptian culture and traded with Egypt.
Numerous Egyptian type finds (scarabs, amulets, etc) have been found in excavations of the Phoenician cities of Spain. (Lorraine Evans, "Kingdom of the Ark", UK, 2000, p. 191).
"Egyptian" finds may more often than not be considered evidence of a "Phoenician" presence.
This is especially correct when the said finds are found alongside Phoenician ones.
In the "Mound of Hostages" by the Hill of Tara in Ireland Bronze Age remains in what was considered a Stone-Age burial mound included the skeleton of a young man with a necklace around his neck. The necklace was
comprised of beads of natural jet, amber (from Scandinavia), and faience (fire-hardened decorated ceramic paste of mineral and vegetable matter) manufactured in the same way and with an identical design to that known from Ancient Egypt (Evans p. 3).
A similar necklace was found in Exeter (Devon, Southwest England) (Evans p. 4).
At the mouth of the Humber river in Northern England were discovered the "Ferriby Boats".
These were two boats of Ancient Egyptian type from the Bronze Age period (Evans pp. 10-13).
At least 151 small rings, with copper cores, and once used as money have been uncovered in Scotland. Similar finds have been found in England and Ireland. They date from around 700 BCE (or after) and the only known parallels outside of the British Isles were found in Egypt (J. J. Taylor, "Bronze Age Goldwork of the British Isles", Cambridge, 1980, p.64).
In Southern Scotland "vitrified" forts were quite numerous and were actually stone enclosures which had been reinfoced by timber. When the timber was set alight part of the stone, due to the heat, was turned into a type of glass. These forts go back to the 500s or 400s BCE. This type of fort originated in the Near East and Aegean, in early Crete, Troy, and Anatolia (Stuart PIGGOTT, "Ancient Europe From The Beginnings of Agriculture to Classical Antiquity", 1965, Edinburgh, Scotland, U.K. p. 204)
"Brit-Am Now"-191
#2. Phoenician Boats = Viking longships?
"The Phoenician small long range ship (known to the Greeks
as "Hyppo", i.e. the "horse") is in effect almost identical in both
structure and appearance with the later Viking longship of Scandinavia."
"Brit-Am Now"-215
#6. Mummies in Ancient Britain
"Brit-Am Now"-234
#2. Phoenician Curiosities
#3. Did the Phoenicians Discover the New World?
Two mummified bodies found in the Hebrides dating from the Bronze Age. This could be an indication of Egyptian or
Phoenician influence.
"Brit-Am Now"-335
#4. Ancient British Civilization
Welsh tradition speaks of "Albion" leading exiles from Syria and Mesopotamia to Britain.
On the South-Central English coast were discovered many thousands of oak tree trunks,
driven down into the mud to stabilize the masses of rocks and rubble in the
ancient jetties, were radio carbon 14 dating at 250 BC.
"The scale of the construction work was atounding, and implied a large skilled and organized
workforce."
"Brit-Am Now"-348
#1. Phoenicians in Britain
On South English coast found Phoenician ship containing tin blocks with Phoenician inscriptions.
"Brit-Am"-580
#3. Rochelle Altman: Hebrew-Phoenicians in the British Isles
Tin ingots with Phoenician stamps on Cornwall coast... and a Mediterranean type vessel buried in the mud.
Climatic Maritime conditions in ancient times made it easier to reach West Coast of Britain than the eastern one.
One of the four types of Early Christianity in Britain developed in Phoenician or Hebrew settlements.
"The Caergwrle Bowl" at present in the National Musuem in Cardiff is a model found in Wales of a Phoenician-type ship
and beieved to date from the Early Bronze Age (Bobb Quinn, "The Atlantean Irish", Dublin, 2005, p.88).
"Brit-Am Now"-500
#4. Early British Contacts with Carthage
Three North
African (Carthage, Numidia) coins found in West Cornwall dating from 300 BCE to 100 BCE.
Bones of a Barbary ape dated to 200 BCE near Dublin, Ireland, and also
"the Lough Lene [in West Meath, besides a lake in Central Ireland] boat,
which was of Mediterranean construction."
"Brit-Am Now"-623
#3. THE HEBREW CELTS
"Brit-Am Now"-628
#4. Ancient Britain, Phoenicians, Horses
#6. Atlantis and Tarshish
"Brit-Am Now"-631
#1. "Mousehole of the Phoenicians"
"Brit-Am Now"-632
#4. Arthur & Rosalind Eedle: "THE TIN ISLANDS"
"The island he [Diodorus Siculus] called Ictis is none other than St.Michael's Mount, just offshore to Marazion in Cornwall, and exactly fits Diodorus's description. In 1969, in the little harbour of the island, skin divers found a stone bowl with a handle, which was subsequently identified by the British Museum as Phoenician, - and dating as far back as 1500 B.C. When visiting Truro recently, we were able to see the massive H-shaped tin ingot that was dredged from the St Mawes harbour in 1812, weighing 158 pounds. The shape indicated that they were designed to be carried one on each side of a horse for transportation, as mentioned above."
#7. Quotation Concerning Spain and the Phoenicians
"During the 8th and 7th centuries [i.e. 700s and 600s BCE], the Phoenicians radically transformed the economy of Southern Spain through Gadir (Cadiz) and an extensive series of other colonies, extracting enough silver to leave 20 million tons of silver slag on the countryside (Frankenstein 1979). Copper, gold, lead, and other metals useful as currency were also exported (Aubet 2002). By-products of this extractive industry included environmental degradation, deforestation, and stratification within the local Iberian society. The Spanish hinterland was incorporated into the Phoenician extractive economy and was reorganized toward intensive mining and smelting of silver ore for export on Phoenician ships."
"Brit-Am Now"-634
#1. Phoenician type script via Khazars influenced early Hungarian writing?
#2. Ancient Tin Supplies from the Iberian Peninsula and from Britain
#3. Tin and Bronze From Cornwall
"Brit-Am Now"-636
#4. Gold and Silver in Ancient Ireland??
#5. Hebrew, Celtic, and Scythian Art
"Brit-Am Now"-640
#7. Gold in Bronze Age Ireland
"Brit-Am Now"-643
#7. Welsh Daffodils and the Phoenicians?
"Brit-Am Now"-645
#4. The Dr. Rochelle Altman Incident
"Brit-Am Now"-649
#2. Art of the Picts of Scotland
#3. Daffodils Were Not Enough! The Phoenicians Brought Leeks to Wales As Well!
"Brit-Am Now"-660
#4. New Find: Bronze Age Crete-North Frisia [Northwest Germany] Connections
#9. Ancient Swedish Links to Greece and Phoenicia?
(b) Northern and Related
Orjan Svensson/Archaeology
Orjan proves through archaeological findings and a new interpretation of runic inscriptions that there settled in Scandinavia a people who originally spoke Hebrew and Aramaic dialects.
"Brit-Am Now"-2
#2. The Azerbaijan Connection: Challenging Euro-Centric Theories of Migration by Dr. Thor Heyerdahl.
Traces early Scandinavians to Azerbaijan which was part of Ancient Media. One of the areas to which the Ten Tribes was taken was that of "The Cities of the Medes"(2-Kings 17:6).
Identical Petroglyphs in Norway and Azerbaijan.
Odin came from the land of the "Aser", and is, therefore,
frequently referred to as "Asa-Odin". The legendary land of the people
known as Aser is given a very exact location in Snorre's saga as east of
the Caucasus mountains and the Black Sea.
In the 5th century B.C., the
Greek historian, Herodotus, described foldable boats such as those used in Ancient Scandinavia as also employed
precisely in the area referred to in Asa-Odin's saga as the home of the
Aser, namely the land of the present day Azeri and Armenians.
"Brit-Am Now"-277
#2. Some Archaeological Findings: Implements (Sintasha Culture: Middle East-Scythia to Europe)
Finds in Southern Ukraine. The founders of Celtic
civilization in Europe were from the same grouping as the Sintasha people.
Direct analogies with them are known only in Anatolia,
Syro-Palestine, and the Transcaucasus. Sintashta burial traditions are identical to ones in this region too. Other
artefacts (metal, ceramics etc.) have parallels there.
"Brit-Am Now"-595
#7. Brit-Am Historical Research Conclusions Strengthened
(a) From Scythia to Germany to Britain
(b) More on Phoenicians in Scandinavia
(a) From Scythia to Germany to Britain
The Thuringians were in effect Tervingi Goths who migrated from
the Black Sea area to Central Germany. This occurred over a period of time but culminated in the
400s CE. They were federated with Warnians (Varni), Anglians (Angli)
and Suebians (Nordsuavi), and other groups who evidently migrated with them
and shortly afterwards participated in the Anglo-Saxon invasions of England.
b) More on Phoenicians in Scandinavia
The Scandinavian Bronze Age started very suddenly about
1800 BC (it is claimed?? Brit-Am would place it about 900 years later) with a very high culture and the artifacts deteriorated in
quality over the centuries.
The earlier artifacts are almost identical with similar finds from the
Phoenician and the pre-hellenic or Achaean culture in Greek Mycaene. This is
interpreted as the Phoenicians established trading colonies in Scandinavia and
introducing their culture and gods. The god Baal (later in Scandinavian
mythology known as Balder) would have been introduced at that time.
5. Question: What archaeological evidence is there to justify the Brit-Am scenario of Israel Migration Patterns?
Answer: The answers to all of the questions above provide evidence also for this question.
"Brit-Am Now"-260
#1 Soren Larsen: Black Sea Find in Denmark
Jewellery from a female grave from Aarslev Denmark:
The grave is dated to the mid-late third century AD.
This whole set of jewellery has its counterparts in the second half
of the third century barbarian Black Sea area.
She was a high status woman
and the gravegoods suggests that she came from the barbarian
Black Sea area in the mid third century.
"Brit-Am Now"-533
#3. Another Source Confirming Brit-Am Findings?
Assyrians –Celts
R. Ewart Oakeshott:"The Archaeology of Weapons":
"The legendary home of iron is in north-east Asia Minor, in ancient Paphlagonia and Pontus, where the Chalybes (mentioned by Aeshylus in the sixth century B.C.) seem to have had a sort of monopoly, while to the south was Commagene, Ubi ferrum nascitur [where iron originated?].
"In the north-east of this area, as well as to the north of the Caucasus, cemeteries have been found which have yielded weapons and other iron objects closely allied to the Hallstatt products; also, and perhaps more significantly, types of bronze horse-bit and bridle mounts have been found in many graves in Hungary and Austria which are closely related in form and type to types found across the Pontic steppes, beyond the Caucasus and even farther off in Iran... of horse-using warriors... veteran mercenaries from the armies of Assyria and Urartu.
Graves of the Hallstatt warriors...objects of the same culture and the same form have been found in regions very close to the Medean territories (and even within them) as well as in Austria. This at least suggests a cultural connection between the Hallstatt people and the Medes.
"There is an even closer link with Assyria. In Celtic burials widely scattered in Western Europe-at Avranches, in the Loire valley, near Abbeville, in Baden and the Palatinate and Moravia-have been found ingots of iron, small billets of good quality metal in a handy and portable size. Identical ones have been found at Khorsabad, near Nineveh. Nor is this all, for a distinctive style of sword and scabbard mount is found both in the West and in Assyria."
"the similarity in the helmet styles of the Assyrians and Celts, that they both have a similar pointed apex, and that no other culture has helmets of this type; thus he sees a connection between the two.
Q.6 What Can We Learn From Immanuel Velikovsky?
Immanuel Velikovsky
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immanuel_Velikovsky
Immanuel Velikovsky (June 10, 1895 (NS) ? November 17, 1979) is best known as
the author of a number of controversial books on prehistory, in particular, the
US bestseller Worlds in Collision, published in 1950. Earlier, he played a role
in the founding of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and was a respected
psychiatrist and psychoanalyst.
His books use comparative mythology and ancient literary sources (including the
Bible) to argue that Earth has suffered catastrophic close-contacts with other
planets (principally Venus and Mars) in ancient times. Velikovsky ... proposed a
revised chronology for ancient Egypt, Greece, Israel and other cultures of the
ancient Near East. The revised chronology aimed at explaining the so-called dark
age of the eastern Mediterranean (ca. 1100-750 BCE) and reconcile biblical
history with mainstream archeology and orthodox interpretations of Egyptian
chronology.
Velikovsky is important to us primarily on two counts:
a. To some degree he disproved the conventional chronology of Ancient History.
He is especially noted for showing that the so-called "Dark Ages" of the Ancient
World did not happen.
Velikovsky reduced ancient time scales by up to 700 years. This reduction could
be exaggerated and other scholars, such as
Peter James,
who followed in the steps of Velikovsky but were more moderate in their time
reductions
may be closer to the truth.
b. Velikovsky showed that (in conventional time-dating) around 700 BCE the
length of the year changed from 360 days to 365.25 days.
Many Megalithic monuments contain inbuilt arrangements that accord exactly with
the winter and summer solstice and other solar calendar phenomena. These accord
with the length of the present solar year. If Velikovsky is right (and ancient
records show him to be) then it would mean that the Megalithic Monuments must
have been built after 700 BCE. This is what we also claim though we adduce
archaeological evidence as well.
The Israelites were exiled after 700 BCE.
The Megalithic Monuments form a path from the Middle East to the West.
Jeremiah 31:21 according to the Classical Commentators and the simple meaning of
the Hebrew verses predicts a path of Megalithic Monuments that the Israelites will be able to use
in the future to prove their ancestry.
http://britam.org/Jeremiah/Jeremiah29to32.html
[Jeremiah 31:21] SET THEE UP WAYMARKS, MAKE THEE HIGH HEAPS: SET THINE HEART
TOWARD THE HIGHWAY, EVEN THE WAY WHICH THOU WENTEST: TURN AGAIN, O VIRGIN OF
ISRAEL, TURN AGAIN TO THESE THY CITIES.
Jeremiah 31;21 may be understood to say:
"Set yourself up stone monuments [menhirs, dolmens] and high heaps of stones
[cairns] [i.e. ?Megalithic? monuments!]. Set your heart towards the prepared
way: The way in which you went. Turn back o virgin of Israel, return unto these
cities of yours.
See also:
"
