Posted on 11/24/2014 3:56:15 PM PST by SunkenCiv
A small piece of slate was discovered during excavations on Tintagel Island inscribed with the name "Artognov". Is this the first real proof of King Arthur's existence? Was he really born at Tintagel as legend insists?
On 6th August 1998, English Heritage revealed that during the last week of digging on the Eastern terraces of Tintagel Island, a broken piece of Cornish slate (8" by 14") was discovered bearing the name "Artognov". It was excavated on July 4th, by Kevin Brady, an archaeologist working with a team from Glasgow University. "As the stone came out, when I saw the letters A-R-T, I thought uh-oh..."
The stone apparently bears two inscriptions. The upper strongly incized letters have been broken off and are sadly indecipherable. The lower inscription, though fainter, clearly reads "Pater Coliavificit Artognov", which Professor Charles Thomas of Exeter University has carefully translated as "Artognou, father of a descendant of Coll, has had this built". Possibly written by a Gaulish hand, the style of writing is certainly 6th century, a date confirmed by surrounding fragments of 6th century Mediterranean pottery already well known from the Tintagel site. Also found nearby was the remains of the only Spanish glass flagon known from this period of Britain's history. Chris Morris, who has been leading the Scottish based excavation team for the past eight years, believes that the dedicatory "Arthur Stone," as it has already been christened, was placed in the wall of a 6th century stone building which later collapsed soon after it was built. The slate was then reused as drain cover a century later.
(Excerpt) Read more at britannia.com ...
Kilroy was here.
Even the most cursory examination of this astounding artifact proves beyond any shadow of scientific doubt that it was dropped there by Joseph of Arimathea, with further carving by Merlin. Get that Potter Boy on this immediately.
Gold mine for the ‘Face!
Thanks, SC!
It’s written in Aramaic. It says
The final resting place of the Holy Grail is in the castle of arrrgghh...
Just looking at it, you can see the AC part
of AC/DC...
OOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!
Sounds Russian to me. Be careful, Putin may take it back!
It might have been dropped there by a swallow.
/johnny
“during the last week of digging...”
That’s always a good reason to have some healthy skepticism about the find. It’s convenient, to say the least, to find something in the nick of time to show the people who funded your expedition.
It reminds me of the “Oak Island Mystery” show they had on cable this year. There were about seven episodes of them finding a whole lot of nothing, while telling viewers about the history of the island, and then, on the very last day, right as the one brother was about to pull the plug on the money, they found an old coin in a swamp. Right in a spot they had already checked with metal detectors, the day before, no less!
Arkenstone?
How do you know so much about swallows?
No, aarrrghhh. In the back of the throat.
The Isles of Scilly, Lost Peaks of Lyonesse?
http://www.pollyanna-jones.co.uk/?p=82
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/3125850/posts?page=29#29
Oh. I was talking about the website...so much info on my ancestors!
But your sense of humor is pretty keen... :o])
The Oak Island coins (there were two, found some period of time apart) are the first hard-datable artifacts to be found. If we saw the same show, we’ve both seen the very small body of other artifacts, dating back about 300 years, and all found in various investigations. So, no surprise there. What is surprising is, none of the inciting causes for the various excavations still exist anywhere. The cipher slab only exists in reproduction, and it was reproduced from an illustration. IMHO, the Oak Island treasure is entirely imaginary, as are the miraculous hydraulic engineers posited to have put the whole thing together in order to conceal a huge treasure that no one would ever be able to retrieve. Ridiculous.
The Arthur Stone is likewise a real artifact, wish I could say King Arthur was a real person at one time. My view is that a number of real rulers, possibly non-overlapping in a chronological sense, were conflated into the romantic legend which goes back a relatively short distance.
Camelot was boiled down from Camulodunum (Colchester), the Celtic-Roman Ambrosius Aurelianus was probably the “real” Arthur, Merlin was an older legend (and there are no sorcerors, so very much a legend), and the name Arthur was concocted or adapted in the late Middle Ages.
Arthur’s unfaithful wife the white shadow appears to have been lifted from the Mabinogeon (Llew’s wife who was produced out of flowers via enchantment), the various knights borrowed from completely unrelated and probably fictional stories, and some of the lesser known aspects of Arthur pulled from all over. His supposed conquest of western Europe appears to have come from Magnus Maximus, one of the contenders for Roman Emperor (he lost the battle and his life).
Tintagel And The Arthurian Controversy
http://www.storyline-features.co.uk/arthurian_tintagel/arthurian_tintagel.htm
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.
