Doc, Someone has said that wire would have been a desired import if it existed in Ireland in Elizabethan times, but that ignores the fact that in the times of Good Queen Bess the old Ireland of the Celtic kinglets had disappeared. The "Brian Boru" harp, that is sort of preserved, dates back almost 500 years before the Queen of Shakespeares time. It is unlikely that that "great king" of the 10th century actually played that harp (for one thing it would have been a hell of a coincidence that the only harp of the era to last was his, and for another it is unlikely that the king played a harp - he had a harpist to do that). The representations of harps on grave monuments go back to the 9th century in Ireland, and the written texts of the old legends to the 8th (the legends are of indeterminate origin, but like the Greek legends probably reflect real events in fantastic story). Like the Norse the ancient Celts of Ireland have their own separate mythical legends of creation while much of Continental Europe subscribed to the Greek, Roman or Biblical legends. Not that they might not have had there own, but by the beginning of their written records they had been already converted to those of the conquerers.
I don't believe there was anything sacred or secret in metal working techniques, just a matter of "you didn't ask". There are lost arts in metal work, the Damascus blade (although I think it isn't really lost, the antique guns I have with "Damascus" barrels - a wrap of metal ribbon hammered around a mandril - remind one of the ancient Japanese art of making Samurai swords, a technique still practiced today. It is a tedious art, not conducive to general production. A small block of metal heated and hammered out, then reheated and folded, then again and again. I'm convinced that the Damascus blade might have been a similar long process and that the metalurgists who say they can't duplicate it need to check those few old Japanese who still make the sword. Too much, as usual. But it is in support of your comment that things can be discovered and rediscovered in different places at different time. The artifacts from the early dwellings in the Hebrides, and the form of those dwellings, are just as sophisticated as those of the Cradle of Civilization in the Middle East of the same era. And I'm speaking of 5000 years ago, 3000 BC. The various peoples of the world developed many different things independently, but as small civilizations were subsumed much of their culture, unique to them, was lost. It has happened over and over again in all parts of the world. Best, Jon > This may be true, but that doesn't say anything about Ireland, and even > if there is documentation about how and when it all happened in > England, that doesn't mean that it didn't happen somewhere else, > possibly using different techniques. Plus, if Ireland, or anywhere else > for that matter, was primarily an oral culture, and/or the operation > was considered sacred or secret or reserved for any reason (or > unimportant or common knowledge), that could explain why no > documentation has been found. Anyway, besides a certain anglo-centric > point of view, the key point in this passage, for me, is "does not > appear", which is a much more concise way of saying what I've just > said... > > > > To get on or off this list see list information at > http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html > > >
