2014 Rhind Lecture 1: "Confronting Ancient Myth" by Professor John Waddell

Lecture 1
Examines the challenges posed by attempting to correlate archaeology and myth.
The 2014 Rhind Lectures - Archaeology and Celtic Myth - an exploration
These lectures are an exploration and their central premise is that elements of pre-Christian Celtic myth preserved in medieval Irish literature shed light on older traditions and beliefs not just in Ireland but elsewhere in Europe as well. This enquiry mainly focuses on aspects of the mythology associated with four well-known Irish archaeological landscapes: Newgrange and the Boyne Valley, and the royal sites of Rathcroghan in Co. Roscommon, Navan in Co. Armagh, and Tara in Co. Meath.
The Rhind Lecturer
John Waddell is Emeritus Professor of Archaeology in the National University of Ireland Galway. For over a decade and with the support of the Heritage Council, his research has focused on the royal site of Rathcroghan in western Ireland, a complex of archaeological monuments that figures prominently in early Irish literature. Recent publications include Foundation Myths. The beginnings of Irish archaeology (2005); Rathcroghan, Co. Roscommon. Archaeological and geophysical survey in a ritual landscape (2009) and in 2010 a revised edition of The Prehistoric Archaeology of Ireland.
The 2014 Rhind Lectures were sponsored by Rubicon Heritage Ltd which attracted an Arts and Business Scotland New Arts Sponsorship Grant. The Rhind Lectures were also gratefully supported by The Consulate General of Ireland and the Royal Society of Edinburgh.

[@coperfield9188]

Delightful

[@benjaminhoover6427]

Saga literature is awesome

[@benjaminhoover6427]

Rama fights Revanna..wow, that was exciting to read...

[@j.m.waterfordasxiphanex3738]

You really need to ask the Boltzmann Institute Team headed by Prof. Wolfgang N. to do a complete, racing, bracing geophys with remote sensory equipment, of the whole Boyne area, from horizon to horizon. They're probably waiting for the invitation. Ask 'em. I dare you!

[@rosetarot5120]

Plenty of foreign archaeological teams come to Ireland to survey. The reason that it hasn't been published in Ireland by Irish archaeologists would most likely be a matter of funding, and the fact that o good portion of the land of the 'Bend in the Boyne' is in private (an non-coperative with state or wandering archaeologists and researchers; they hire their own, and guard the lands with private security)

[@legendno1]

i should be editing my music video but I see the word "myth" and i click it

[@barbjephson]

The idea of the Tara brooch....found on the cloak of tartan...and worn in Irish and Scot reels and dances...ie the sword dance.

[@vecvan]

"Why aren't you searching over there?" "Because there is no light!" The perfect metaphor 😊

[@chriskost7291]

👏

[@TerrariumFirma]

There's Waddell and there's Waddell.

[@benjaminhoover6427]

Waddle... lolol

[@AceKiller9000]

Great series, but frustrating that audio was recorded so badly

[@SideWalkAstronomyNetherlands]

Myths often contain ancient memmories, and often are partially true, people of old were not more "primitive" that people now a days, genetically they were the same even... arrogance is not a good thing..

[@gullybull5568]

MOUND-BUILDERS the ancient O krainians CELTS Arratta. 15,000 bce

[@prof.dr.4224]

The Aryan invasion theory according to the British was that ancient Aryans invaded India at about 1500BC, driven out the Dravidians from their land, have imported the Hindu civilization along with the Sanskrit language from the steppes of central Asia (Kuhn, 1845, Max Muller, 1878, Childe, 1926, Elst, 1999; Trautmann, 2005). The theory was the justification for the British occupation of India. Although there was no archeological evidence to support this theory, it has become the most important doctrine on ancient Indian history. However, some recent archeological discoveries in India, Russia, and Japan have pushed back the antiquity of the Aryans to at least 9000 BC and proved beyond doubt that the ancient Aryans were not nomadic tribes from central Asia but had very advanced urban civilizations. India was possibly the original home of the Aryans. From India, the Aryan language and other languages of Aryan affinity came into existence due to the contact between the migrating Aryans and non-Aryans out of India (Mazumdar, 1917). The Vedic literature was the expression of the highly developed thoughts of the Aryans. If the Aryans had come to India from outside it would be natural to find some traces of their thoughts and literary activities in some of the places through which they had traveled. However, no such record has been discovered at any place. To suggest that the Aryans had attained the highly developed literary and intellectual acumen after coming into India does not justify the absence of any record whatsoever in any of the places through which they had traveled into India. Genetic Evidence for Westward Indo-Aryan expansion Recent DNA evidence shows that Europe experienced a massive population influx from the east, beginning around 4,500 years from the present. Several haplogroups were involved in this expansion, including the Indian-origin R1a1a. This was almost a total replacement event, which indicates that Indo-Aryans, among others, expanded westward into Europe and to a large extent, replaced indigenous European males and their Y-chromosome strata (Sharma and his associates, 2009) This genetic evidence indicates that several Y-chromosomal (patrilineal) lineages, one of which was the Indian-origin R1a1a, gave rise to the modern European population. Out of these lineages, R1a1a is the most widespread and numerous. 1. The R1a haplogroup originated in India. 2. The Indo-Aryan people have lived in India for at least 15,450 years, which invalidates the theory that the Indo-Aryans invaded India 3,500 years ago. 3. The hundreds of millions of members (possibly over a billion) of the R1a family living across the world today - a very large fraction of humanity - are all descended from one single male ancestor who lived in India at least 15,450 years ago. This discovery demonstrates the close genetic (and hence linguistic and cultural) affinity of Indians with the Russian and Polish people, the Vikings and Normans, and with the ancient Scythians and Tocharians, among many others (Sharma et al, 2009). This is irrefutable scientific proof that not only did the Indo-Aryan people originate in India over 15,450 years ago, but also that they expanded out of India and settled in lands far to the west in Europe. It thoroughly invalidates the AIT (Aryan Invasion Theory) and AMT (Aryan Migration Theory). Literary Evidence for Westward Indo-Aryan expansion Consider the Baudhayana Shrauta Sutra, a Vedic text. Baudhayana Shrauta Sutra @ records: “Amavasu migrated westward. His people are Gandhari, Parsu and Aratta.” This refers to a Vedic king called Amavasu, whose people are the Gandhari (Gandhara - Afghanistan), the Parsu (Persians) and the Aratta, who are tentatively identified as living in the vicinity of Mt. Ararat, which is located in Turkey (eastern Anatolia) and Armenia. Afghanistan (Gandhara) was historically part of the Indian civilization until the Islamic invasions. The name “Persia” comes from the ancient Parshva people (an Aryan clan). The word “Parshva” is derived from the Sanskrit/Avestan (Old Persian) word “Parshu”, which means “battle-ax”. There are clear linguistic and cultural similarities between India and Persia. The traditional Armenian name for Mt. Ararat is Masis. It is named after the legendary Armenian king Amasya. The name “Amasya” is linguistically related to the name “Amavasu” of the Indian king recorded in the Baudhayana’s Shrauta-Sutra. This establishes literary evidence for the westward expansion of Indo-Aryans, via Afghanistan, to Persia, Armenia and Anatolia. The ancient kingdom of Mitranni, of the people who used to worship Mitra, the Vedic God, located in present-day Syria and Anatolia, had an Indo-Aryan, Sanskrit-speaking ruling class. Mitranni kings had Indo-Aryan names. The oldest recorded (Vedic) Sanskrit words are found in a horse training manual by a Mitranni horse master named Kikkuli. Although the text is written in the Hittite language, it appears that Kikkuli was not familiar enough with that language to use technical terms, which made it necessary for him to use the terminology of his own language (Vedic Sanskrit) instead. Inscribed clay tablets discovered in Boğazkale, Anatolia (Turkey), record a royal treaty and invoke the Vedic gods Indra, Mitra, Nasatya & Varuna by the Hittites, another Indo-European tribe, as witnesses. The Boğazkale clay tablets are dated to about 1380 BC. This is around the same time as Kikkuli’s horse training manual. The Mitranni and Hittites belonged to the Indian-origin haplogroup R1a1a. This is clear evidence of a large-scale westward expansion of Sanskrit-speaking Indo-Aryans, and their presence as the ruling aristocracy in lands thousands of kilometers west of India. The children of Goddess Danu. The primordial Rig Vedic river goddess Danu is the mother/progenitor of the Danava clan of Indo-Aryans. The Danavas revolted against the Devas and were eventually defeated and got banished. As it turns out, that was far from the end of their story. The word dānu means “fluid, drop” in Rig Vedic Sanskrit. The Avestan (old Iranian) word for “river” is “dānu”. The Scythian (Saka/Shaka) & Sarmatian words for “river” are also “dānu”. Now consider this: linguistically, the names of the European rivers Danube, Dnieper, Dniestr, Don, Donets, Dunajec, Dvina or Daugava, and Dysna are all derived from the Rig Vedic Sanskrit root word “dānu”. These rivers flow across eastern & central Europe. These rivers, all named after the Rig Vedic goddess Danu, seem to trace the gradual westward migration through Europe of the Danava clan of Rig Vedic Indo-Aryans. According to Irish & Celtic mythology, the Irish & Celtic people are descended from a mother goddess - a river goddess - called Danu. The ancient (mythological) people of Ireland are called the Tuatha Dé Danann (Old Irish: “The peoples of the goddess Danu”). Is there genetic evidence to support this story? As it turns out, there is. The R1a1a haplogroup is rare in Ireland, at 2.5% of the population. This can be explained by the fact that Ireland has suffered many invasions since the Bronze Age, which would have led to the gradual replacement of the R1a1a haplogroup with those of the various invaders. The fact that R1a1a is still present in Ireland proves that people of Indo-Aryan origin settled there in the past (Sharma et al, 2009). Elsdon Best (1972) in his book wrote that the ancestors of a tribe Tuhoe in New Zealand came from India via Peru. DNA tests on some of them proved the origin of their ancestors. They said that they traveled from India after the Mahabharata war to New Zealand. Thus, the story of Manu dividing up the world among his sons maybe not a myth. (@ In a report published in Nature, a group of scientists and archeologists of the ASI (Archeological Survey of India) and IIT (Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur) proved that the cities of Indus valley were at least 9000 years old, not just 3500 years. The cause of the decline was not any Aryan invasion, but a continuous lack of rainfall since that 9000 years when most rivers dried up. That might have caused the outward migration of the Aryans from India (Sarkar, 2016). (This is quoted from our (Victoria Miroshnik and Dipak Basu), forthcoming book, Ethics, Morality and Business, to be published by Palgrave-Macmillan. )

[@SideWalkAstronomyNetherlands]

well check the dna i'd say...and research the languages.... oops... :)

[@Meine.Postma]

Funny, all Indian scientists and writers.

[@Texasmade74]

There's lots of evidence for the Aryan invasion

[@Catonius]

Load of old codswallop.

[@kingtufu1]

Yeah this is bs, its very clear the steppe is the homeland of indo european, including indo-aryan

[@gullybull5568]

ONLY 330 thumbs up. ??? IF.THIS.WAS.ISRAELI. oh boy EVERYONE VOTE TWICE !!!.

[@gullybull5568]

😮😮😮😮😅😅😅😊