[/quote] Ogham is a tally? I thought most known examples are more like land markers. Saying whose land it is.
You see, you actually had to be able to read to read Ogham, whereas tallies are non-alphabetic to my knowledge.
Isn't it thought that Ogham arose only AFTER latin was introduced to the isles?
the Amber bead from Ennis is generally considered to Be Ogam...
and is from Ireland
which makes a whole lot more sense!
Y/W - nothing really, I am not an archeologist or linguist. Just very interested.
To me they look like stone knives might have been polished or sharpened on the rock.
or, actually they do look quite "arranged", especially those downward arrows, perhaps those ARE tallies?
The one thing nearly all scholars are agreed on is that Ogam was originally a tally script/system (this is made clear in the medieval manuscripts eg for counting pigs etc) it's use would have been on wood before stone. The use on stone, as you say is for names/territory. Latin was introduced to the British Ilses quite early-certainly pre-Christian, most scholars think Ogam was based on Latin-I have explored a full range of options in my book including Phoenician-I like to keep an open mind on it.
Lol ref the bead-indeed-but still the form is very similar.
Yeah, a native American tally system is certainly a possibility. Like you, I am interested but not fully versed in the subject. But I think that possibility of an Ogam link could be kept in mind. Or perhaps the Vikings taught the natives cryptic runes, or Bran taught them it on a boating trip...
lol
Cheers
John-Paul
