Sean Adams - Tells a Tale

SEAN’S TALE – MYTH OR HISTORY

At the meeting of the Bridge of Allan and Dunblane Rotary Club on Thursday 14 January, members were intrigued as Sean Adams – husband of member Jill Adams – spoke of the difficulty of distinguishing between history and myth. In his studies, he had become interested in seeing how myths about about early settlers in Scotland and Ireland might be linked with historical evidence.  His interest in this study had been sparked by reading about a discovery in the Humber estuary in the late 1930s of timber remains of boats, possibly used by early settlers.   

The investigation into the origin of the remains of the boats in the Humber had not caused much interest at the time because it was thought that they were likely to be remains of Viking or other 10th century craft.  But perseverance by the original finder of the remains over the following thirty-five years was rewarded: a new technique of mass spectroscopy used by Oxford University identified the wooden fragments as coming from craft dating from the period 1,350 to 2,000 BC.

This dating of the remains had led to interest by the Egyptian Institute of Antiquity. Its investigations confirmed that the information from the fragments, together with confirmation of their dating, suggested a link with Egyptian seafaring craft of that period.

More speculatively, Sean looked to any evidence from that period in Egypt of movements of population that might have led to migration, which could even include migration to the British Isles.  His studies included examination of records kept meticulously by Egyptians of the period. Fascinating information emerged from this study of an attempt by a Pharaoh, Amenhotep IV, to bring about a significant change in Egyptian religious practice from the worship of multiple gods to that of a single deity.  In support of this change in religious practice, the Pharaoh established a new City of Golden Light as the capital of this new religious sect that worshipped the Sun God as the only God. 

Given Amenhotep’s single-minded concentration of resources on the building of this new city, there was severe hardship – lean years - elsewhere in the country.  This led to what amounted to a revolt against the new sect, and, it appears, the possibility of its members being banished from Egypt.  Does this accord in any way with the Biblical account of the flight from Egypt in the time of Moses?  Was this group of monotheistic worshippers in some way akin to those who crossed the Red Sea?  In the subsequent period, did adventurers from this group of exiles look to opportunities further field?  Confirmation of the arrival of a small group from the Middle East to the British Isles has come from a recent DNA examination of a representative sample of the population of Ireland by a team from Trinity College, Dublin, and The Queen’s University, Belfast. This has confirmed the presence of elements of DNA that are matching DNA samples from the Middle East. Similar evidence is emerging from studies in Scotland.

Is there, therefore, any factual basis for the myths that include stories of seafarers from the Middle East arriving in the British Isles?  Could this include the supposed visit of Joseph of Arimathea and others to sacred sites?  Could this explain how the boat remains ended up in the Humber estuary?  Could those involved even have been part of the so-called lost tribe of Israel? None of these questions can be answered at the moment, but there is certainly scope for further research to establish how far we are dealing with myth or history in connection with these early movements of populations.

A lively question and answer session confirmed the great interest of members in the topic, and the desire to explore the ideas further.  A vote of thanks by Speaker’s Host Peter Holmes was then warmly endorsed.