A new study analysing the geology of the Stonehenge altar stone suggests that the rock is from northern Scotland.

The researchers discount the likelihood it was a glacial erratic and suggest it was transported by people the 750km distance to Stonehenge. A monumental achievement, if you'll pardon the pun, no matter how much it came by coast, river, or over land. It might have been pulled by teams of oxen but that's cool in itself.

To me this highlights the preeminence of Orkney in late Neolithic Britain. As I've said in previous videos, the rulers there were the centre of late Neolithic Britain, with their beliefs and cultural practices spreading to the rest of the islands, demonstrated in new monument types and the famous grooved ware pottery.

Traditionally, the spread of this material culture from Orkney to the rest of the British Isles has been seen as cultural diffusion. I do wonder though if it was mediated by the migration of people to new regions. Maybe elites spreading a religious cult, but maybe also there was a physical conquest.

Serious academics wouldn't talk like that but of course I'm not an academic nor am I in any way a serious person. Though I wonder if in future, as ever more aDNA samples are taken and the technology advances, we will see evidence for a late Neolithic migration of people with Orkney / northern ancestry spreading outwards, imposing their beliefs and practices on the rest of Britain. (They would ultimately be taken over in turn by the arrival of the Beaker people).

Anyway, very cool study.

phys.org

Stonehenge's Altar Stone origins reveal advanced ancient Britain

New research led by Curtin University has revealed Stonehenge's monumental six-ton Altar Stone, long believed to originate from Wales, actually hails from Scotland. The study titled "A Scottish Provenance ...

NEW VIDEOA Border Reiver Folktale ~ The Death of Parcy Reed

This story, based on an old ballad, concerns acts of betrayal and treachery. With some great drone shots of the Cheviots, the hidden location of a forgotten tower house revealed, and an acoustic guitar cover of the ballad at the end, this is one video not to be missed!

https://youtu.be/ELVaZbNca6o?si=hZ8HMnHUmHUEyJQp

YouTube

A Border Reiver Folktale ~ The Death of Parcy Reed

Welcome to my channel! Here you’ll find folk tales and legends from across the British Isles. This story concerns the death of the Redesdale man Parcy Reed and the plot hatched by the Crosier and Hall families to bring about his demise. This is an old ballad…

Love these British folk tales. The Border Reivers were a hard bunch of lads. You can hardly imagine all the generations of raiding, the feuds, the betrayals and changes of fortune. Anyway, check this one out and subscribe to the channel for more.

Man of the Sredny Stog culture based on an anthropological bust. This was made in collaboration with @upas0124 and we also plan on creating another Sredny Stog reconstruction (a woman). Sredny Stog is considered to be early PIE in the steppe hypothesis and is the direct ancestors of the Yamnaya. They were pastoralists who practiced some limited agriculture (and also engaged in some fishing and hunting).

They lived near river valleys and traded with groups in the Balkans and the Caucasus. They are the builders of some of the earliest kurgans and had similar burial customs to the Yamnaya. They wore cloths decorated with shell, copper, and animal bone/teeth beads. Some burials included copper jewelry as well.

Woden as Mercury

There is an obscure Old English text, Salomon and Saturn, which credits Woden with the establishment of letters:

saga me, hwá aeróst bócstasfas sette?
ic the secge, Mercurius ge gygand.

"Tell me, who first established letters?
I tell thee, Mercurius the giant."

The exerpt from Salomon and Saturn above also coincides with verses 138-139 in the Hávamál, which credits Woden with the discovery of the runes. Mercurius is the original Latin form of Mercury, who we know was identified with Woden since the time of Tacitus (c. 56-120 AD) and was worshipped as the highest god amongst the Germans:

"Of the gods, Mercury (Odin) is the principal object of their adoration; whom, on certain days, they think it lawful to propitiate even with human victims. To Hercules (Thor) and Mars (Tyr), they offer the animals usually allotted for sacrifice..." -Tacitus, Germania

Moreover, in his Annals, Tacitus wrote of how war broke out between the Hermunduri and the Chatti over a salt bearing river. He notes that each side vowed to sacrifice the other to Mars and Mercury for victory.

In sources as late as the 12th century, such as The History of the Kings of Britain by Geoffrey of Monmouth (c. 1095-1155), the identification of Mercury as Woden is further exemplified. Geoffrey writes in reference to Hengist, the leader and first king of the Jutes in Kent, that they "...especially worship Mercury, whom we call Woden."

Additionally, Layamon's Middle English poem Brut - which was largely influenced by the Anglo-Norman poet Robert Wace's Roman de Brut (1155) - states that Hengist once said that Woden is the highest of Gods.

My new video is now live!

Were the Minoans REALLY a peaceful civilisation, that loved nothing but flowers, animals, and boobs?

What does the evidence tell us? Is there any sign of warfare in their artwork, settlements, or artefacts?

Watch my video and find out all about it!

Please do share this with your friends, it makes a huge difference to how a video performs.

I hope you enjoy the video!

Cheers ?

https://youtu.be/eKrzPJ60HKU

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Peaceful Minoans? Warfare in Bronze Age Crete

Let BetterHelp connect you to a therapist who can support you - all from the comfort of your own home. Visit https://betterhelp.com/dandavis and enjoy a special discount on your first month #advert The Minoan Civilisation of Bronze Age Crete is world famous…

New paper by McColl et al. (2024) and the origin of the Germanic people.

"We find evidence of a previously unknown, large-scale Bronze Age migration within Scandinavia, originating in the east and becoming widespread to the west and south, thus providing a new potential driving factor for the expansion of the Germanic speech community. This East Scandinavian genetic cluster is first seen 800 years after the arrival of the Corded Ware Culture, the first Steppe-related population to emerge in Northern Europe, opening a new scenario implying a Late rather than an Middle Neolithic arrival of the Germanic language group in Scandinavia."

In 2000-1000 BC Scandinavia, they claim to find three populations:
-A Norweigan cluster primarily carrying Y-haplogroup R1a-Z284 (they call it Early Scandinavian)
-A Danish cluster primarily carrying Y-haplogroup R1b-U106 (they call it South Scandinavian)
-A Swedish cluster primarily carrying Y-haplogroup I1 (they call it East Scandinavian)

The paper suggests that Germanic originated in the "East Scandinavian" cluster, also known as the I1 cluster in the Allentoft paper. This is the same population with hunter-gatherer fathers that migrated into Denmark, bringing with them their Neolithic stone cist burial tradition, replacing the aforementioned Early and South Scandinavian populations.

Moreover, the I1 cluster, ancestral to the Germanic people, didn't just carry different Y-DNA haplogroups to the Early Scandinavian and South Scandinavian clusters, they had different ancestry on the whole. This was an entirely different genetic population.

The paper suggests that the East Scandinavian cluster (the I1 cluster) had a cross-Baltic maritime origin due to the samples being modelled as having 7% Latvian Hunter-Gatherer ancestry. However, based on strontium isotope analysis, it is more likely that they came from East Sweden, possibly Mälaren Valley.

I theorised back in December 2023 before the McColl and Allentoft papers were published that the founding population of the Nordic Bronze Age Scandinavians (now confirmed to be the I1 cluster) were not only of a non-WSH origin (carrying I1 Y-haplogroup lineages of hunter-gatherer origin), but even Germanic originated with these people. It is now settled that Germanic comes from the I1 cluster. First the Allentoft paper, now the McColl paper.

Why are they being so moody? You're expert horse breeders and trainers with the open steppe on all sides, what you so sad about? And you're R1b, too, the best Y-haplogroup of them all. Cheer up, lads.

NEW VIDEO NOW LIVE!

Please watch my brand new video about the Neolithic Balkans now.

The people of the Vinča culture were Europe's first metalworkers, lived in huge fortified settlements, they had craft specialists and workshops making beautiful pottery and astonishing figurines.

This is one of my most requested video subjects and so I hope that you enjoy it!

As always, if you could share the video then it would help me enormously. Cheers!

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Europe's First Civilization: the Vinča Culture

***💥*** https://wtplay.link/dandavishistory — Download War Thunder for FREE and get your bonus! Over 8,000 years ago, the first farmers of Europe moved into the fertile lands of the central Balkans. These people would develop complex societies and advanced technologies…