There has been a flurry of activity around a new study linking the Atlantic slave trade to the Highland clearances. 18th and 19th centuries. Fascinating stuff. I read the Smithsonian article first. “Sure,” I thought, “we knew this already.” Or at least some of us could easily guess. If you read history, at some point you start to notice bits and pieces that aren’t...
I’ve written about the Gunns before: Recovering the Gunn Lineage (Jan. 31, 2019), so we already know I’m an admirer of Alastair Gunn and his work putting the Gunn lineage on a firmer footing. I still haven’t done the work of cleaning up my own notes. Some day. Soon. I promise. I saw recently on the Facebook page for Clan Gunn that Alastair Gunn has published The real history of...
We’ve had all these little hints over the years, now here’s the confirmation. Viking expansion funneled greater genetic diversity into Scandinavia, according to new study published in the journal Nature. “The ongoing exchange of goods, people and ideas encouraged Vikings to interact with populations across Europe—a trend evidenced by the new survey, which found relatively...
It’s been awhile since I’ve read anything new and intersting about the Holy Gail. This might not be exactly new but it’s off the beaten path of modern romanticism. The legends about the Holy Grail are associated with the Knight Templar, almost from the beginning. And the Templars were in Poland. So… On the trail of the Knights Templar and Holy Grail in western Poland, at...
“And some things that should not have been forgotten were lost. History became legend. Legend became myth. And for two and a half thousand years, the ring passed out of all knowledge.”― Galadriel in J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring