Stonehenge builders were Welsh, Oxford University finds
We were slightly short of the concept of being Welsh at that time. Then again current day South Walians aren’t Welsh either. Largely the descendants of recent migrants from the Midlands plus some Irish. That’s why they’re so fervently flag waving of course, recent immigrants often are.
It’s hardly likely to be English. The Angles didn’t turn up until after the Romans.
were consistent with living in western Britain, a region that includes west Wales
And, frankly, also includes Amesbury?
Oh, grotted that HTML up. Sorry.
Large amounts of the immigrants to S Wales during the coal/iron/steel days were escaping from the misery of the West Country I believe…
It’s those cunning old Celts, again.
South Wales immigration in the 19th century was roughly one third Irish, one third rural Welsh, one third English (mostly west country).
“Then again current day South Walians aren’t Welsh either. Largely the descendants of recent migrants”
Interestingly, the word ‘Welsh’ comes from an old word for “foreign”, so you could claim that immigrants to Wales really are Welsh.
And you can’t get much more foreign than the Welsh.
Quite, BiS.
‘the word ‘Welsh’ comes from an old word for “foreign”’: I read someone who did rather better than that. He said it stood for Romanised Foreigner. That makes sense – the early Germans didn’t call the Irish or Picts or Slavs ‘Welsh’, but they did use cognate words for Walloons and Vlachs/Wallachians. (There must be a third example: who?)
Yes, there’s lots of others.
Cornwall ( at least the “wall” bit ) is one
What Oxford University found was that many of the builders of Stonehenge came from an area in what is now West Wales. OU isn’t stupid enough to call them Welsh – that is down to the journalists.
“What Oxford University found was that many of the builders of Stonehenge came from an area in what is now West Wales.”
No, what they found was that the strontium isotope ratios in the bones matched West Wales.
It also matched many other areas, but since there’s already a link to West Wales, this seems the most likely place they came from, or spent time in.
@ Darren
Thanks
The bit I read just stated they matched the results for the Preselli district, not that there were other matches. I am happy to receive a correction as I have learned a bit from that – and it makes more sense.
What Oxford University found was that many of the builders of Stonehenge came from an area in what is now West Wales
Doing the jobs the locals couldn’t be arsed to do?