Ancient Druid Civilization from Archaeological Texts

(Work in progress by David Olmsted, Illinois, USA)

(May 13, 2023) The past is Pagan yet Pagan history has been defined by those antagonistic towards it. All ancient texts until now have been translated by Non-Pagans and translated without standards. This has allowed bias and fraud to corrupt those translations. Without standards, peer review does not exist but only group-think. Those who control ancient text translations define history and that control has been exercised by both nationalists and dogmatic, faith based religions to suppress the universalist Pagan past in Europe ... until now.

Ancient Druid Civilization is defined as the Akkadian speaking Neolithic farmer civilization which swept out of Mesopotamia and into Europe and around the Mediterranean starting around 8500 BCE. They are the ones who built Stonehenge and other megalithic monuments. The last holdouts of this pre Indo-European civilization were the Minoans, Phoenicians, Aegean Islanders, Etruscans, Carthaginians, Nordic/Germanic, and Israelites.  All their archaeological texts are all in Akkadian.

Druid civilization began in the Neolithic with the first farmers. Image shows the spread of farming from Mesopotamia and Levant through Anatolia and into Europe as determined by archaeology. These farmers started to migrate starting around 9600 BCE and reached Britain by 4100 BCE. Akkadian is the native language of northern Mesopotamia. Map from Gronenborn, D., & Horejs, B. (2023). Online at:  https://www.academia.edu/9424525/Map_Expansion_of_farming_in_western_Eurasia_9600_4000_cal_BC_update_vers_2023_1_?email_work_card=title
Image shows the matrilineal genetic closeness (green) of Neolithic farmers to a 5000 BCE Neolithic reference sample from central Anatolia.  This and other studies show that northern Mesopotamian genetics spread along with the farming culture and that means their native Akkadian language spread with them. This is further supported by survivals of their Akkadian writing on archaeological texts found in Europe. For example, the Minoans were the first European Akkadian writers as evidenced by their 1800 BCE Phaistos Disk. (Map from Haak and all 2010)
Image above shows the spread of the Indo-Europeans and their language who originated on the northern steppes. These invasions of Europe began around 3500 BCE. The Indo-European Bell Beaker culture did not reach Britain until around 2400 BCE just after the building of the last phase of Stonehenge was built. Were they settled they replaced 90% to 60% of the farmer genetics. (Image from: (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Indo-European_expansions.jpg)
Chart showing the population replacement percentages in Britain. From David Reich: "Origins of Humans and Culture" below.

Stonehenge People (Druid Culture) Spoke Akkadian

(July 19, 2022) "Druid Civilization" or Druid Culture" is the term I use for the long lost European/Mediterranean culture which existed prior to the invasion of the Indo-Europeans. These were the Neolithic farmers who built megalithic monuments and whose culture survived until 500 CE as an Akkadian speaking priestly class as evidenced by the Elder Futhark Runestones. Yet only now is their Akkadian speaking culture being recovered from their archeological texts. 

Genetic evidence shows that these Neolithic farmers migrated out of Mesopotamia starting around 8500 BCE (see images). The Indo-European invasion began around 3500 BCE. This means the builders of Stonehenge spoke Akkadian .

The earliest European/Mediterranean Akkadian writing is the 1800 BCE Minoan Phaistos Disk and the 1700 BCE Minoan Linear A tablets and these are in Akkadian. All later alphabetic writing derives from these Minoan texts. Writing formally labeled as Celtic, Tartessian, Etruscan, Phoenician, Punic, Paleo-Hebrew, Archaic-Greek, and Aramaic are all really an alphabetic form of Akkadian.  These texts show Druid culture was the source for both classical philosophy and the authentic teachings of Jesus.

The word "Druid" is Akkadian and its means "Eternal Form - Channeler" which derives from the Akkadian words DR-ID (duru-id) (Olmsted 2022). Eternal forms are the invisible "platonic" forms into which amorphous matter (dust) flows to manifest itself as a physical object.

The word "Ovate or Vate" associated with "Druid" in Roman texts is another Akkadian word meaning "Motion-Magic.Crafter" from from 'W.T (’û-tû or a'u.tu). This word has the letter ayin as its first letter which does not exist in Latin or Greek so it tends to be either ignored or replaced with the letter "O" in Europe and "A" in the near east. This division between life priests who deal with the creation and growth of life, and magic crafters who deal with translational motions is a common one in ancient Druidic texts.

The Neolithic Druidry revealed by the archaeological texts is not exactly the same as the Druidry described 2000 years later by the Romans. Iron Age Druidry like all cultures had been corrupted by the lordification process from political centralization and by the dualism from the Persian Empire. This led to forced personification and feminine suppression of divine powers (deities) and their division into good and evil. This in turn lead to deity appeasement and worship with sacrifices and submission. 

The Indo-European people from the eastern steppe started invading Europe about 3,500 BCE. They were initially illiterate and had no native stone building traditions so they adopted much of the culture of the Druids. What they did bring was a more militant, godfather type culture with more intensive farming practices using crop/animal rotation to keep the farmlands fertile away from the flooding river valleys.

References

Spread of Farminghttps://scholar.princeton.edu/sites/default/files/bogucki_1996_spread_farming_europe_american_scientist.pdf
Genetics of Early Farmers at: https://www.eupedia.com/europe/origins_haplogroups_europe.shtml
Curry, Andrew (August 25, 2022) ‘Phenomenal’ ancient DNA data set provides clues to origin of farming and early languages. Online at: https://www.science.org/content/article/phenomenal-ancient-dna-data-set-provides-clues-origin-farming-early-languages
Gronenborn, Detlef and Horejs, Barbara (2021) Expansion of farming in western Eurasia, 9600 - 4000 cal BC (update vers. 2021.2. Online at: https://www.academia.edu/9424525/Map_Expansion_of_farming_in_western_Eurasia_9600_4000_cal_BC_update_vers_2021_1_
Haak, Wolfgang and all (2010) Ancient DNA from European Early Neolithic Farmers Reveals Their Near Eastern Affinities. Online at: https://journals.plos.org/plosbiology/article?id=10.1371/journal.pbio.1000536)
Hamon, C. and Manen, C. (2021) The Mechanisms of Neolithisation of Western Europe: Beyond a South/North Approach. Open Archaeology Volume 7 Issue 1. Online at: https://doi.org/10.1515/opar-2020-0164
Olmsted, David D (2022) Mediterranean Akkadian Lexicon 3rd Edition -2022. Online at: https://www.academia.edu/66851810/Mediterranean_Akkadian_Lexicon_3rd_Edition_2022

Animation of Indo-European Genetic Spread

(October 31, 2023) An excellent video by The Geographer.  While being more warlike and having a godfather/war-chief type of culture, Indo-European genetic spread was mostly from having better farming methods then the slash and burn methods used by the Akkadian speaking Neolithic farmers  outside of annual flooding river valleys. The Indo-Europeans simply came in and took over abandoned fields left by the Akkadian speakers and made it a permanent farm with crop rotation and manuring. When Akkadian speaker farms lost their fertility no more good vacant land was available to turn into a farm.

Origins of Humans and Culture

David Reich: "Origins of Humans and Culture" made in 2021. He is one of the leading researchers in the field. https://reich.hms.harvard.edu/

The most recent and detailed genetic study of Otzi the iceman shows his genetics are pure Anatolian farmer.  His skin was darker and he was mostly bald. This means his language was Akkadian because he had no no Indo-European influences. Image from: https://www.trendradars.com/uk/article-643683-is-this-what-otzi-the-iceman-really-looked-like-scientists-say-europes-oldest-mummy-was-dark-and-bald-when-he-roamed-the-alps-5300-years-ago-and-not-fair-and-hairy-as-previously-thought-2

Latest Genetic Info Shows Ötzi the Iceman Had Pure Neolithic Farmer Genetics. Therefore, He Was Speaking Akkadian in 3300 BCE

(November 9, 2023) Ötzi was found in 1991 on the Southern slopes of the eastern Italian (Ötztal) Alps . He is the world's oldest glacier mummy.  Radiocarbon dating and stable isotope analysis date him to between 3350–3120 BCE. Based on the dating he could have been killed by some Indo-European invaders. Here is a quote from the Max Plank Institute Press Release dated August 16, 2023:


Ötzi's genome was decoded for the first time more than ten years ago. This was also the first time the genome of a mummy had been sequenced. The results provided important insights into the genetic makeup of prehistoric Europeans. Advances in sequencing technology have now enabled a research team from the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology and Eurac Research to reconstruct Ötzi’s genome more accurately. The results of this recent analysis refine the Iceman’s genetic picture: compared to other contemporary Europeans, Ötzi’s genome has an unusually high proportion of genes in common with those of early farmers from Anatolia. And, contrary to previous findings, at the time of his death, Ötzi had advanced hair loss and may have even been bald. Furthermore, his skin was darker than previously thought. Ötzi’s genes also show a predisposition to diabetes and obesity.

This is interesting linguistically because the Alpine region and Eturia just south of the Alps continued to speak and write Akkadian until conquered by the Romans.

References

Max Plank Institute Press Release dated August 16, 2023: https://www.mpg.de/20711365/0804-evan-dark-skin-bald-head-anatolian-ancestry-150495-x

Ke Wang, Kay Prüfer, Ben Krause-Kyora, Ainash Childebayeva, Verena J. Schuenemann, Valentina Coia, Frank Maixner, Albert Zink, Stephan Schiffels, Johannes Krause. (1923) High-coverage genome of the Tyrolean Iceman reveals unusually high Anatolian farmer ancestry. Cell Genomics, 2023; 100377  DOI: 10.1016/j.xgen.2023.100377

 

Spread of Druid Civilization's Alphabetic Writing from Minoan Crete (1900 BCE) to the Runes of Scandinavia (1300 CE) 

(August 19, 2023) Map showing the spread of Alphabetic Akkadian writing as known in 2023. Red is the Bronze Age spread from Minoan Phaistos disk. The northern branch is Minoan Linear A script which became Phoenician script while the southern branch is the Serabit el-Khadim script. At this time the Minoans had extensive trade relations with the New Kingdom of Egypt. Orange is the spread after the collapse of the Bronze Age. The last major Alphabetic Akkadian text is the Codex Runicus of 1190 CE from Denmark. All the Nordic runes texts are Akkadian and this codex (book) is the culmination of Druid philosophical writing which began with the debate recorded on the Minoan Phaistos Disk. The Druid civilization with its decentralized government, trade, religion and freedom of expression was the real beginning of Western (now Oceanic) civilization.

Druid Spirals (Vortices)

This is the common symbol of Druid civilization throughout its long history

Spiral on Sesklo Culture Pottery, North Greece (5500 BCE)

The first stop of the Neolithic farmers out of Anatolia was the Balkans (Vinca and Cucuteni–Trypillia cultures) and northern Greece (Sesklo Culture). Combined these cultures and their descendants are called Old Europe. They were the first ones to make copper tools and ornaments. Pot in National Museum of Archaeology, Athens, Greece via https://twitter.com/hermahai/status/1553753089706016768/photo/1
Triskelion at Winter Solstice cave at Newgrange in Ireland

Triskelion Spiral at Newgrange, Ireland (3100 BCE)

Top image shows a 12 inch diameter triskelion inside the cave-like Newgrange, Ireland tomb chamber. This chamber lights up on the morning of the winter solstice when the sun aligns with its doorway. This triskelion represents the three motion powers sourced by the night sky to complement the life powers represented by the sun. A single vortex represents a consolidated set of spiritual powers, that is, a perceptheistic deity.
Gold Medallion from Vindelev Viking hoard in Denmark Shows Spirals and Letters

Gold Medallion from Vindelev Viking hoard in Denmark Shows Spirals and Letters (550 CE)

The last Druid spiral design comes from post-Viking age of Denmark. Significantly, this also has Alphabetic Akkadian style lettering in the upper left. These are on their way to becoming  Nordic runes. 
This gold hoard is on display at Denmark's Vejlemuseerne at: https://www-vejlemuseerne-dk.translate.goog/viden-og-forskning/artikler/kaempe-guldskat-fundet-naer-jelling/?_x_tr_sl=da&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en&_x_tr_pto=sc
Minoan Phaistos Disk outer ring with phonetic sign assignments
Image shows the Minoan Phaistos Disk with phonetic sign assignments by Olmsted. Sign assignment charts here.

First European Writing is the Minoan Phaistos Disk.   (1900 BCE)

(Jan 10, 2023) The Minoan Phaistos disk is significant for these reasons:

  1. Its language is Akkadian confirming that was the language of Neolithic Farmers
  2. First European writing
  3. Source of all alphabets via Minoan Linear A
  4. First philosophical debate
  5. Shows tolerant nature-based culture
  6. Written on a Druid Spiral showing its role as a spiritual symbol
  7. Describes most of the Druid Pantheon
  8. First explicit mention of Yahu as I' or Y' (Med 3.11) which later became the national god of Israel as Yahweh (meaning "Power of Yahu" in Akkadian, the glottal stop letter ayin was often slurred into a "h" sound over time in Akkadian) 

This disk found at Phaistos on Crete is the earliest writing in Europe dating to 1900 BCE.  The text is a mix of phonetic signs (da, di, du, ad, etc.) and alphabetic signs which are just phonetic signs in which the reader provides the vowel. The spiral was the European wide cultural sign of the Neolithic farmer. Because these farmers built Stonehenge I call these Akkadian speaking farmers the Druid civilization.  This text essentially summarizes the Ancient Pagan Paradigm and shows the tolerance of differing ideas in Druid Culture.

The problem of archaeology today is that it has no overarching theory to guide the interpretation of archaeological finds. This started to change with the first Book by Marija Gimbutas (1921-1994) published in 1982 in which she presented the Goddess Theory of European civilization to challenge the nationalist and patriarchal orthodoxy of Greek and Hebrew Source priority. At the time she was professor Emeritus of Archaeology at UCLA.
When the Goddess theory was later discredited what remained was the old nationalistic Greek and Hebrew Source Theory. This combined with the competitive nature of Academia these day is leading to a segmentation of archaeology and linguistics into narrow nationalist specialties pandering to nationalist funding sources. The result is fake history from academic linguists whose "translations" end up being mostly names representing their own nations language. Another result of this is the rise of pseudoarcheology from people who realize the old nationalist models are not valid and so are grasping at any alternative. 

Reference

https://www.opusarchives.org/marija-gimbutas-collection/

Druid Civilization Theory Supersedes European Goddess Theory

(Feb. 6, 2023) Before there was this Druid theory of European cultural origins there was the Goddess Theory by Marija Gimbutas (1921-1994). She was the first to realize that the archaeological evidence pointed to an earlier and different civilization existing prior to the traditional Greek and Hebrew sources of European civilization.  

Yet she failed in defining this earlier civilization for these reasons:

In Gimbutas’ last book The Civilization of the Goddess, which synthesizes the work and theses of her previous books (Goddesses and Gods of Old Europe 1974/1982 and The Language of the Goddess 1989/1991), she wrote, 


  • “The primordial deity for our Paleolithic and Neolithic ancestors was female, reflecting the sovereignty of motherhood. In fact, there are no images that have been found of a Father God throughout the prehistoric record. Paleolithic and Neolithic symbols and images cluster around a self-generating Goddess and her basic functions as Giver-of-Life, Wielder-of-Death, and as Regeneratrix.” 

Further in Civilization of the Goddess Gimbutas outlines the symbolic understanding Old European societies had of the universe and the divine. She wrote, 

  • “The multiple categories, functions, and symbols used by prehistoric peoples to express the Great Mystery are all aspects of the unbroken unity of one deity, a Goddess who is ultimately Nature herself.”

The Problem With Academia

(August 3, 2023) Like most scholars I am appalled and conflicted about the corruption which continues to spread in academia despite some past attempts at reform. Truth is important and hard to get at yet our main social institution for this endeavor is failing. The root of this problem is the bureaucratization of science where the only object measure of institutional success is profit.  Universities want to make ever more profits from researchers so they hire researchers who can bring in government money. Because the people in government funding agencies are not experts in the field and because as bureaucrats they need to protect the backsides, they rely of publication statistics. So researchers game the system attempting to publish as much as they can. This means publishing slightly novel information as cheaply as they can on trendy and not too controversial topics which do not deviate much from the standard models (because gathering enough evidence to challenge standard models take time and interdisciplinary knowledge as demonstrated by this website). The result is that peer review is no more than group think because reviewing new papers has to be done for free and that takes away from time scholars can use to get published themselves. These problems are especially bad in my field of ancient linguistics. No translation standards exist define what is a good translation (until now). Additionally, ancient linguists only seem to get funding if their work is seen as supporting various popular nationalist and religious paradigms (not any sort of Paganism despite the past being Pagan).  The following YouTube channels are good ones to follow.

Fake Data Problems Seem To Be Spreading

(August 5, 2023)

Fake Data Problems Seem To Be Spreading

(August 5, 2023)

Scholars Are Getting Tired Of Being Free Labor For Profit-Seeking Publishing Conglomerates

(August 5, 2023)

Small Sample Sizes in Statistical Research Leads To A Lot of Fake Science

(August 5, 2023)

As Long As He Can Bring In Money Stanford Will Support Him

(August 5, 2023) He resigned as President of Stanford University but he will continue on as a lab head despite proven data fakery under his leadership. This fakery was not discovered by peer review.

The Fake Persian King Darius Inscription Published Worldwide in 2023

(August 7, 2023) Applying basic translation standards would have prevented any competent  ancient linguist from claiming they could translate this text yet this does not stop various unscrupulous academic institutions from pandering to their audience. In this case it was the Israeli Antiquities Authority who claimed the name of king Darius appears in this text. Ignore letters and word spaces and you can pick out almost any word from a page of text and that is what was being done here.

They only retracted their claim when the modern author of this text came forward to correct the issue. If she had not come forward then this text would have been added to the ever growing list of academically accepted fake (AAFT) translations. She was out in the field and wanted to demonstrate to her students how this sort of writing could be scratched on pottery shards. She grabbed on old shard laying around and scratched a few letters then threw it back. As you go through this site I point out many AAFTs which have never been challenged during peer review or by subsequent scholars. 

References

https://www.timesofisrael.com/hiker-discovers-2500-year-old-ancient-receipt-from-reign-of-purim-kings-father/

https://news.yahoo.com/archaeologists-israel-left-red-faced-093705040.html