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New Written Language of Ancient Scotland Discovered
Discovery News ^
| Wednesday, March 31, 2010
| Jennifer Viegas
Posted on 04/06/2010 4:24:41 PM PDT by SunkenCiv
photo: Rob Knell and Rob Lee
|
The ancestors of modern Scottish people left behind mysterious, carved stones that new research has just determined contain the written language of the Picts, an Iron Age society that existed in Scotland from 300 to 843. The highly stylized rock engravings, found on what are known as the Pictish Stones, had once been thought to be rock art or tied to heraldry. The new study, published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society A, instead concludes that the engravings represent the long lost language of the Picts, a confederation of Celtic tribes that lived in modern-day eastern and northern Scotland... Rob Lee... a professor in the School of Biosciences at the University of Exeter... and colleagues Philip Jonathan and Pauline Ziman analyzed the engravings, found on the few hundred known Pictish Stones. The researchers used a mathematical process known as Shannon entropy to study the order, direction, randomness and other characteristics of each engraving. The resulting data was compared with that for numerous written languages, such as Egyptian hieroglyphs, Chinese texts and written Latin, Anglo-Saxon, Old Norse, Ancient Irish, Old Irish and Old Welsh. While the Pictish Stone engravings did not match any of these, they displayed characteristics of writing based on a spoken language. Lee explained that writing comes in two basic forms: lexigraphic writing that is based on speech and semasiography, which is not based on speech. |
(Excerpt) Read more at news.discovery.com ...
TOPICS: History; Science; Travel
KEYWORDS: caledonia; epigraphyandlanguage; godsgravesglyphs; gundestrupcauldron; ogham; pict; pictish; picts; scotland; scotlandyet; scots; tanistry
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1
posted on
04/06/2010 4:24:41 PM PDT
by
SunkenCiv
To: sionnsar; StayAt HomeMother; Ernest_at_the_Beach; 1ofmanyfree; 21twelve; 240B; 24Karet; ...
2
posted on
04/06/2010 4:25:54 PM PDT
by
SunkenCiv
("Fools learn from experience. I prefer to learn from the experience of others." -- Otto von Bismarck)
To: SunkenCiv
3
posted on
04/06/2010 4:31:46 PM PDT
by
JoeProBono
(A closed mouth gathers no feet)
To: SunkenCiv
The riders do not appear to have stirrups. Not introduced to Europe until about the 8th Century.
4
posted on
04/06/2010 4:36:05 PM PDT
by
Plutarch
To: JoeProBono
Hey, Joe. Give me a call when you get ready to open that.
5
posted on
04/06/2010 4:38:29 PM PDT
by
Savage Beast
(Goneril and Regan are running the U.S., and they're doing their best to silence Cordelia.)
To: Twotone; Knitting A Conundrum; ThanhPhero; Julia H.; DuncanWaring; snuffy smiff; ottbmare; ...
Thanks to
SunkenCiv for the ping.
Pipes and Drums of FreeRepublic ping!
This is an ultra-low-volume ping list (typically weeks to months between pings, for matters related to Highland bagpipes and Scotland).
FReepmail sionnsar if you want on or off this list.
Going to the Games? Organize a Clan FReeper get-together!
6
posted on
04/06/2010 4:39:54 PM PDT
by
sionnsar
(IranAzadi|5yst3m 0wn3d-it's N0t Y0ur5:SONY|Remember Neda Agha-Soltan|TV--it's NOT news you can trust)
To: SunkenCiv
I ain’t gonna argue with the guys,but why can’t they just be like a frieze depicting a hunting or battle scene that can be viewed and understood by everyone regardless of nationality.
Those drawing on the caves in France showing the guys hunting and doing various things, was not a secret language,they could not write but they could draw...
7
posted on
04/06/2010 4:42:01 PM PDT
by
GSP.FAN
(Some days, it's not even worth chewing through the restraints.)
To: Savage Beast
8
posted on
04/06/2010 4:46:13 PM PDT
by
JoeProBono
(A closed mouth gathers no feet)
To: SunkenCiv
9
posted on
04/06/2010 4:48:37 PM PDT
by
bert
(K.E. N.P. +12 . Ostracize Democrats. There can be no Democrat friends.)
To: GSP.FAN; bert
10
posted on
04/06/2010 5:02:04 PM PDT
by
SunkenCiv
("Fools learn from experience. I prefer to learn from the experience of others." -- Otto von Bismarck)
11
posted on
04/06/2010 5:08:14 PM PDT
by
SunkenCiv
("Fools learn from experience. I prefer to learn from the experience of others." -- Otto von Bismarck)
To: JoeProBono
:-)
12
posted on
04/06/2010 5:08:27 PM PDT
by
Savage Beast
(Goneril and Regan are running the U.S., and they're doing their best to silence Cordelia.)
To: SunkenCiv
Will read and comment later..
And now for something completly different....
Several Species of Small Furry Animals Gathered Together in a Cave and Grooving with a Pict....
From the Ummaguumma album by Pink Floyd....
The track consists of several minutes of noises resembling rodents and birds simulated by Waters’ voice and other techniques, such as tapping the microphone played at different speeds, followed by Waters providing a few stanzas of quasi-lyrics in an exaggerated Scottish burr.
The Picts were the indigenous people of what is now Scotland who merged with the Scots.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Several_Species_of_Small_Furry_Animals_Gathered_Together_in_a_Cave_and_Grooving_with_a_Pict
13
posted on
04/06/2010 5:10:45 PM PDT
by
GSP.FAN
(Some days, it's not even worth chewing through the restraints.)
To: SunkenCiv
Ask him:
To: SunkenCiv
You can Pict your frieze but you can’t Pict its prose.
15
posted on
04/06/2010 5:31:47 PM PDT
by
decimon
To: colorado tanker
Great book, great writer.
16
posted on
04/06/2010 5:46:18 PM PDT
by
JMS
To: JoeProBono; Salamander; Slings and Arrows; Markos33
That’s what I like Joe.
You can always be counted on for a “Pict-O-Gram.”
17
posted on
04/06/2010 5:50:11 PM PDT
by
shibumi
(FReepMail me to get on the "Hippo Attack" ping list!)
To: All
Several species of small furry animals gathered together in a cave and grooving with a ....
To: SunkenCiv
OK the markings done with simple slashes i can understand being a language.The Romans would not understand it....
The enigma of the symbol stones If there is one item that has come to typify the Picts in Scotland, it must surely be the numerous ornately carved symbol stones they left. No-one really knows with any degree of certainty why these enigmatic stones were erected or the significance of the symbols carved on them. But as with all things Pictish there are theories aplenty. Some scholars exclaim they were territorial markers, others that the stones commemorated great people or events. It has also been suggested that symbols may denote the rank of an individual within the community, perhaps recorded marriage treaties or were a means of representing personal Pictish names.
19
posted on
04/06/2010 5:54:21 PM PDT
by
GSP.FAN
(Some days, it's not even worth chewing through the restraints.)
To: potlatch
20
posted on
04/06/2010 6:18:15 PM PDT
by
devolve
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