This makes the kid, as far as kids go and early patriarchs go, a near contemporary of Father Abraham, one way or the other by a couple of hundred years.
Islam was nowhere around in those days.
Still, the Phoenicians knew where Brittain was by that time, as did the people who lived along the coast of what is now called Portugual.
The amber almost certainly comes from Scandinavia although other minor deposits are known. At that time no Indo-Europeans lived in Scandinavia, so this would likely have started out as a direct trade by the Sa'ami to one of the more primitive tribes in the European interior ~ maybe the proto-Germans or proto-Celts, who would have traded it over the years, back and forth, until it ended up around the Black Sea becoming a trophy for some wealthy Mediterranean trader.
Interesting point about the Sa’ami and Indo-Europeans.
I read an interesting thing that attempted to ‘reconstruct’ Indo-European culture from the words in common from Ireland to India (minor exceptions aside). Lots of words for sheep, horses, and the parts to a chariot (axle, wheel, etc); thus they surmised that they most likely rode horses, herded sheep, and had chariots.
There was a show, on the Smithsonian Channel I believe, that said one of the theories is that Stonehenge was a well-known place of healing to which the wealthy but sick would make a pilgrimage . A number of the skeletons that have been found nearby have come from beyond the British Isles.
“3,550 years ago the people who would become the Romans were still huddled in caves picking each other’s lice.
This makes the kid, as far as kids go and early patriarchs go, a near contemporary of Father Abraham, one way or the other by a couple of hundred years.”
Somebody on the thread gets it :)
I agree, the most likely solution is Phoenician. There might have been some proto-Celts living on the Iberian coast by then, but that’s a real long shot. Nobody else from that area, at that time, is really known to have travelled to England.
Of course, we’re talking a period of time that is basically pre-history as far as Europe goes, so there could have been some other people that was trading or colonizing that far, who we simply know nothing about.
(I sure hope someone has analyzed it by now!)
Although the Romans had not really evolved as a civilization in 1550 BC, there were Minoans, Santorini, Mycenaeans, Egyptians, and others in the Mediterranean that could well have traveled up the coast by ship.
Likewise, land travel from the Med or Black Sea combined with a quick cross channel excursion could have brought travelers to England.
We’re talking about the Bronze Age, not the Stone Age, and quite a lot of technological advances were taking place.
I would bet that long distance travel was one of those.
As for Italy, while there were no Romans yet, there were Etruscans, which left some evidence of a written language or symbolic markings, but they’ve never been translated.
We’re not sure what their capabilities were as far as travel or trade.
Plenty of people from the Med that might decide to go to the British Isles.