Re: The Iberian/Irish connection
Ok, here we go.
As Picenian noted in his first post, the cultural links between Ireland and Iberia in prehistory were ancient ones. Recent genetic studies (Oppenheimer 2006) have shown that the Mesolithic populations of Iberia and Ireland stem from the same Pleistocene refugia; an area of the Basque country which was sufficiently warm and free of glaciation to enable human beings to survive there. During the Mesolithic, with the end of glaciation, this population expanded through Iberia and then migrated up the Atlantic coast into southern Ireland. Although agriculture appears to have been introduced to Ireland from Britain during the Neolithic, during the Bronze Age we once again have evidence of Ibero-Irish contact in the form of mining and megaliths. During the Bronze Age it appears that Mediterranean metal prospectors arrived in Ireland from Iberia. Western Iberia and the British Isles, due to their Jurassic geology, are rich in tin and copper (although the two metals have mutually exclusive distributions). We know from historical accounts that the Greeks were visiting Tartessos in southern Iberia (modern day western Andalusia) during the Iron Age, but it seems almost certain that metal prospectors from the Near East were visiting Iberia during the Bronze Age in search of the above metals. A Bronze Age (or rather Chalcolithic) open mine has been excavated in County Kerry in Ireland and the fact this mine is older than the tin mines of Britain suggests that the prospectors who came to open this mine (the natives had hitherto shown no interest in the copper deposits, nor would they have been familiar in how to extract copper from the rocks, external instruction would have been required) traveled from Iberia, where similar mines were already in operation, rather than from Britain. This exchange of metals along the Atlantic coast appears to have created something of a cultural koine, with Ireland, western Britain and western Iberia all sharing similar cultural traits, the most striking of which are the large stone tombs/astronomical structures, the megaliths (see Stonehenge and Newgrange for particularly brilliant examples). It is also theorised that the Celtic languages, which are first attested to in Tartessos, emerged in this part of Europe and were spread by the metal trade; only later did they spread inland to Europe, whereupon they became synonymous with the La Tene culture.
With the onset of the Iron Age Ireland became culturally isolated from the rest of Europe. The rich Irish Bronze Age was replaced by a sparse Iron Age. In fact, so little has been recovered of the Irish Iron Age that the Iron Age Irish are referred to as "The Invisible People". However, the settlement pattern in southern Ireland, with its stone enclosures set on hills shows strong similarities to the Iberian castro culture which existed in Celtiberia (until c.300 BC when oppida emerged) and in north and western Iberia. Old Irish and Celtiberian also share many linguistic features, such as the retention of the Q/Kw sound where British and Gallic use a P sound. For example the Irish and Celtiberians would have said *Equos (horse) whilst the Britons and Gauls would have said *Epos. North eastern Ireland shows more similarity to the settlement pattern and material culture of nearby Scotland, and by the end of the Roman occupation of Britain the two shared a common culture; the historical Gaels who would introduce the nationality of Scot to Scotland (hitherto Caledonia/Pictland). Even so, we know that the north of Ireland was still in contact with Iberia. At the "royal" site of Emain Macha/Navan in Northern Ireland the skull of a barbary ape, a species native to Morocco and southern Iberia, was excavated dating to the 1st century BC. The presence of this skull, within a structure which likely had a very important ritual/religious function, suggests that the Iron Age Irish in the north were still in contact with their Iberian cousins.
If you are looking for proof of the Dosidataskeli and Dubosaverlacica read the Irish heroic literature, such as the Táin Bó Cúailnge and the Tuatha Dé Danann, the few La Tene era weapons which have been discovered in Ireland are small by Celtic standards. These works were written in the Early Christian Period (the Irish Dark Age) and have their origins in Pagan Ireland, although they were written by Christian monks. It is theorised that they were committed to writing in the face of increasing Norse raids and settlement in an effort to preserve Irish culture and encourage Irish leaders to unite and resist Viking attacks.
Does that help?
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Originally Posted by Picenian
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