In his description of Ireland—Geography, Book 2, Chapter 2—Claudius Ptolemy records the names and coordinates of 15 river mouths, 5 promontories, 11 settlements, 16 tribes, and 9 islands. In this series, we have discussed every one of these pieces of data, as well as the names he gives to the surrounding seas. In the preceding article we also briefly reviewed the 165 pieces of data in Ptolemy’s description of Britain. Before taking our leave of Ptolemy, however, there are still a few loose ends I would like to tie up.
First Things First
This series of articles belongs to a study of much broader scope, which I call Ireland and the Short Chronology. If you are a regular follower of this Steemit account, you probably do not need to be told what the Short Chronology is, but for those who have never heard of the Short Chronology, here is a brief introduction.
According to mainstream academia, the last period of glacial cooling—the Younger Dryas, known in Ireland as the Nahanagan Stadial and in Britain as the Loch Lomond Stadial—ended around 9700 BCE. At this time, Britain and Ireland are believed to have been uninhabited, although there had been occasional visitors to both islands prior to this.
Approximately seven centuries later (9000 BCE), Mesolithic hunter-gatherers began to colonize Britain and, somewhat later, Ireland. They and their descendants lived here in isolation for several millennia. These were the first permanent post-glacial settlers
Around 4500 BCE, Neolithic farmers arrived and began clearing the primeval forests. They planted crops and constructed megalithic structures, using implements of stone, bone and wood.
Around 2500 BCE the Bronze Age began with the arrival of metallurgy. Immigrants from Continental Europe—among them the so-called Beaker Folk—are believed to have introduced this new technology.
Around 750 BCE the Iron Age began, in the course of which the technology of iron working superseded that of bronze metallurgy. This period is generally thought to correspond to the establishment in these islands of Celtic culture and languages, though there is still much uncertainty about when and how we became “Celts”, or whether we are Celts at all—the so-called Celtic Problem.
Finally, from 55 BCE, when Julius Caesar crossed the Channel and invaded Britain, we have the end of prehistory and the beginning of history proper. It is thought that while the Romans were making their first incursions into Britain, the Goidels (Gaels) were colonizing Ireland—though, once again, the Celtic problem rears its ugly head.
The Short Chronology is a chronological model that turns much of this on its head. Evolving from the chronological reconstructions of ancient history initiated by Immanuel Velikovsky in 1940, the Short Chronology was subsequently developed by a number of maverick scholars—Charles Ginenthal, Lynn E Rose, Gunnar Heinsohn and Emmet Sweeney, among others—who went well beyond the limits to which Velikovsky was prepared to go.
While these scholars have restricted their studies for the most part to the ancient history of the Near East—Egypt, Mesopotamia, Persia, Greece, etc—I have sought to apply the same criteria to the prehistory of Ireland and Britain. The resulting timeline is radically different from the conventional one outlined above.
According to the Short Chronology, the last phase of the Ice Age occurred much more recently than previously thought. The end of the Younger Dryas is now placed around 1500 BCE, and is attributed to a major impact event, which would have destroyed any civilizations that existed at the time. Ancient History as it is taught in our modern textbooks only began a few centuries after this event. The Dynastic Egyptians, the Sumerians (ie Chaldaeans) of Mesopotamia, the Indus-Valley Civilization (ie Indo-Aryans), the earliest of the Chinese Dynasties on the Hwang Ho, the Olmecs of Central America, and the Norte Chico Civilization of South America all arose sometime after 1500 BCE. Curiously, Isaac Newton anticipated this model by over two centuries in The Chronology of Ancient Kingdoms Amended (1728).
When this Short Chronology is applied to the prehistory of Britain and Ireland, the result is a similar shortening of the timeline. After the retreat of the glaciers and ice-sheets, these islands were afforested and colonized by a bewildering variety of animals and plants—but not yet by man.
Around 750 BCE, the first humans arrived from Continental Europe. These were the Priteni Celts. Being relatively few in number, equipped with primitive implements of chiefly stone, bone and wood, and finding the islands densely wooded from coast to coast, they lived as hunter-gathers. These are the true Mesolithic Hunter-Gatherers, whose remains have been grossly misdated by mainstream archaeologists.
Around 500 BCE, the next major wave of settlement occurred. These new colonists were the Belgae Celts, who are known to Irish tradition as the Fir Bolg. They introduced agriculture, cleared the forests, tilled the land and built the earliest of the megalithic structures. These are the true Neolithic Farmers, whose remains have been misdated by the mainstream archaeologists.
Around 250 BCE, the third great wave of Celtic colonization took place. These immigrants were known to the Romans as the Dumnonii and to Ptolemy as the Δαμνονιοι [Damnonioi]. In Irish tradition they are variously known as the Domnainn, the Lagin and the Gálioin. Their arrival coincided with a proliferation of metallic implements and a rise in metallurgy. These are the true Bronze Age Cultures, whose remains have been misdated by mainstream archaeologists.
Finally, around 55 BCE we have the beginnings of the Romanization of Britain and the Goidelicization of Ireland. From the time of Julius Caesar, the Romans began to interest themselves in the island of Britain, and eventually conquered a significant part of it. Meanwhile, Ireland was colonized by a new wave of Celts, the Goidels, who are known in our native traditions as the Milesians. This is the point where the two chronologies—Short and Conventional—come together.
In the Short Chronology, the final phase would correspond to the so-called Iron Age, if one insists on retaining this outdated terminology. I believe it would be better to dispense altogether with the artificial division of prehistory into ages of stone, bronze and iron. Trade between these islands and the nearby Continent of Europe would have facilitated the importation of some metallic implements long before the native inhabitants were acquainted with the technologies needed to manufacture them for themselves. It is highly unlikely, for example, that Neolithic farmers (whoever they were and whenever they lived) could have cleared the primeval forests using only stone tools.
In the Short Chronology, the Celtic Problem simply disappears. There is no longer any disparity between the archaeology and our native traditions. There is now an abundance of evidence in support of our Celtic origins, from the earliest post-glacial inhabitants onwards—evidence that the mainstream archaeologists have misdated and attributed to fictitious pre-Celtic peoples. And there is no difficulty in explaining how the Celtic languages came to be spoken in these islands: they were brought here by a succession of Celtic-speaking invaders.
Back to Ptolemy
But what does any of this have to do with Ptolemy? Quite a lot, actually. Claudius Ptolemy’s Geography contains the earliest detailed description of these islands, and this makes it a very valuable source.
According to mainstream archaeology, these islands have been continuously occupied since around 9000 BCE. The earliest settlers lived far too early to have spoken an Indo-European language, let alone a Celtic one. In fact, Proto-Indo-European only dates back to about 4500 BCE (a date which I believe is much too early, but let’s accept it), while Proto-Celtic only dates back to 1300 BCE (also too early in my opinion, but, again, let’s accept it).
According to mainstream archaeology, therefore, these islands were inhabited for at least 4500 years before any Indo-European languages could possibly have been spoken here, and 7000 years before any Celtic languages. It stands to reason, then, that these early inhabitants would have given pre-Indo-European and pre-Celtic names to everything in their environment: every river, every lake, every mountain, every estuary, every island, every inlet, every sea, etc. Even the names of the two main islands—Britain and Ireland—would surely have acquired pre-Indo-European names.
It also stands to reason that many of these names would have been retained by later Celtic-speaking colonists—whoever they were and wherever they came from. Witness the thousands upon thousands of native-American toponyms that were adopted by European colonists and have been retained down to the present day. Similarly, in Australia and New Zealand innumerable Aboriginal and Maori names have been preserved, even as English continues to supplant the native languages and push them towards extinction.
So where are all the pre-Indo-European toponyms of Britain and Ireland?
Nowhere! They simply don’t exist. Every toponym in these islands is invariably of Celtic or post-Celtic origin. Not a single trace of any pre-Indo-European language can be found in the place-names of these islands. For mainstream archaeology, this is the elephant in the room that the experts simply will not address. They ignore it because they must ignore it if they wish to hold onto their current model. But those of us who espouse the Short Chronology embrace this complete lack of a pre-Celtic legacy in our toponyms. There are no pre-Celtic place-names because there were no pre-Celtic inhabitants of these islands—at least, not since the end of the Younger Dryas.
And now, hopefully, you can see why Ptolemy’s Geography is so important. If any pre-Celtic or pre-Indo-European toponyms were ever in use in these islands, then surely some trace of them would be discernible in Ptolemy. This would be particularly true of his description of Ireland, which, as T F O’Rahilly proved, is considerably older than his description of Britain (O’Rahilly 39-42).
But as we have seen in this series of articles, there is no such trace. This is the most important lesson to be learned from Ptolemy’s description of Ireland and Britain. Even names that have not survived to the present day can always be provided with transparent and unforced Indo-European etymologies. Many of these etymologies are, admittedly, speculative, but they are always plausible. There is never any compelling reason to postulate a pre-Celtic or pre-Indo-European etymology.
Occam’s Razor obliges us, then, to posit a historical model that does not feature any pre-Celtic inhabitants. The Short Chronology is currently the only model that does just that.
References
- Julius Caesar, The Gallic War, With an English translation by Henry John Edwards, Harvard University Press, Cambridge MA (1958)
- Karl Wilhelm Ludwig Müller (editor & translator), Klaudiou Ptolemaiou Geographike Hyphegesis (Claudii Ptolemæi Geographia), Volume 1, Alfredo Firmin Didot, Paris (1883)
- Isaac Newton, The Chronology of Ancient Kingdoms Amended, J Tonson, J Osborn, T Longman, London (1728)
- Karl Friedrich August Nobbe, Claudii Ptolemaei Geographia, Volume 1, Karl Tauchnitz, Leipzig (1845)
- Karl Friedrich August Nobbe, Claudii Ptolemaei Geographia, Volume 2, Karl Tauchnitz, Leipzig (1845)
- Thomas F O’Rahilly, Early Irish History and Mythology, Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, Dublin (1946, 1984)
- Claudius Ptolemaeus, Geography, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Vat Gr 191, fol 127-172 (Ireland: 138v–139r, Britain: 139r–140r)
- Karl Horst Schmidt, The Celtic Problem: Ethnogenesis (Location, Date?), Zeitschrift für Celtische Philologie, Number 45, pp 38-65, Max Niemeyer, Tübingen (1992)
- Immanuel Velikovsky, Days and Years, The Immanuel Velikovsky Archive, Online (1999)
- John Waddell, The Prehistoric Archaeology of Ireland, Galway University Press, Galway (1998)
- Friedrich Wilhelm Wilberg, Claudii Ptolemaei Geographiae, Libri Octo: Graece et Latine ad Codicum Manu Scriptorum Fidem Edidit Frid. Guil. Wilberg, Essendiae Sumptibus et Typis G.D. Baedeker, Essen (1838)
Image Credits
- Ptolemy’s Map of Ireland: Wikimedia Commons, Nicholaus Germanus (cartographer), Public Domain
- Greek Letters: Wikimedia Commons, Future Perfect at Sunrise (artist), Public Domain
- Traditional Periodization of Irish Prehistory: John Waddell, The Prehistoric Archaeology of Ireland, Table 1, p 4, Galway University Press, Galway (1998)
- Reconstruction of an Irish Hunter-Gatherer Camp: Irish National Heritage Park, County Wexford, © David Hawgood, Creative Commons License
- Newgrange, County Meath: Bórd Fáilte, Fair Use
- Gold Lunula, Blessington, County Wicklow: British Museum (WG.31), John Maynard Friedman (photographer), Public Domain
- Clonycavan Man: National Museum of Ireland, Dublin, © Mark Healey (photographer), Creative Commons License
