Evidence Britons Were In TheUS In The 6th CenturyBy Tim MatthewsTMMatthews99@ aol.com www.kingarthur- online.co. uk
It's proof of Prince Madoc in America circa 560," say leading British and US historians.A team of leading independent historians and researchers announced today that Radio Carbon dating evidence, and the discovery of ancient British style artefacts and inscriptions in the American Midwest, provided, "the strongest indications yet" that British explorers, under the Prince Madoc ap Meurig, arrived in the country during the 6th Century and set up colonies there.Research team members have known the location of burial sites of Madoc's close relatives in Wales for some time, it emerged today; they have decided to break their self-imposed silence in order that their research be fully known and understood.
DNA evidence could provide vital new leads, they say.
TRANSATLANTIC EFFORT "We have a mass of remarkable evidence," said British historian Alan Wilson, who has been working with Jim Michael of the Ancient Kentucke Historical Association since 1989. "As experts in ancient British history, we were approached by Jim and visited locations in the Mid West with him," he added.
BAT CREEK MOUND Many of the grave mounds found in the American mid West, including those at Bat Creek, Tennessee, are ancient British in origin and design, Wilson said. Jim Michael added, "the stone tablet found at Bat Creek in 1889 included an inscription written in Coelbren, an ancient British alphabet known and recorded by historians and bards down the ages." Wilson said that his research had brought him into contact with very similar alphabet inscriptions in Britain, Europe and the Middle East. "The components of the alphabet derive from the earliest days of the Khumric (Welsh) people," he added, "and were used along their migration routes to Wales in antiquity."
A MADOC INSCRIPTION Wilson's research partner, Baram A. Blackett, said, "oncewe discovered the cipher for the alphabet in recorded in texts dating to the 1500s we knew we were in business.We have translated many of these inscriptions and they all make perfect sense." Jim Michael commented that the final translation for the Bat Creek tablet was an exciting business, "especially when we knew it read, 'Madoc the ruler he is'."
THE MADOC 'LEGEND 'Some historians have written off the evidence for Prince Madoc, the Welsh Prince who sailed to America circa 562 (AD). "They often give a false date of 1170 and this legend has replaced the facts," added Wilson. "At the moment, there is a small group of wreckers trying to steal our research and to promote this misdating. Luckily, we've done all the groundwork and have a substantial body of evidence in our favour."
ACADEMICS SLOW TO RESPOND "In Britain and America the academics have been slow to respond," said Jim Michael. "There is a theory that there was no European settlement here before Columbus, despite the evidence, but this is for political and theoretical reasons." In the UK, public bodies had, "failed to engage with this vital research effort," added Alan Wilson. "I think they're afraid that an independent group such as ours has made such progress. They prefer to ignore and neglect ancient British history rather than to deal with it. The Welsh people have suffered, and the opportunity to boost the economy, to bring thousands of jobs to Glamorgan and Gwent, where Madoc and his brother Arthur ll ruled, has not been exploited."Public bodies in the US and UK must now start to actively pursue this new evidence. DNA profiling could help identify the human remains found at Bat Creek. "It could well be Madoc himself," said Blackett. "After all, the inscription was found right next to the bones, which are currently housed at the Smithsonian Institute in Washington DC." Wilson, Blackett and their research team know the location of Madoc's close relatives and have made significant archaeological finds at sites nearby. "So we can use Welsh DNA evidence from the graves here, and compare it with the bone fragments in the Smithsonian, " he said. "This would be of massive historical value." It is estimated that up to 20,000 jobs and hundreds of millions in tourism could be an immediate benefit in South Wales, claimed the men."In the American Mid West the results could be very similar," added Jim Michael.
IN BRIEF- Wilson, Blackett, and Jim Michael made the identification of the Bat Creek main tumulus as the likely tomb of Prince Madoc, in January 1990. Michael has been in contact with the Smithsonian with a view to its allowing the bone fragments to be DNA tested.- There are numerous ancient British Coelbren inscriptions in the American mid West.- Skulls found in some US grave mounds are of European-Caucasian origin; they do not include an Inca bone.- There was only one Prince Madoc. He was the brother of King Arthur ll and lived during the 6th Century. This is not in doubt. Ancient British manuscripts and genealogies tell us this.
ENDS."Alan Wilson and Baram Blackett They have been investigating the true history of King Arthur and the Khumric-Welsh dynasty for a total of nearly 70 years. Wilson's interest began in 1956 and Blackett joined him in 1976, when the Arthurian Research Foundation of Great Britain was started.They have written the best-selling The Holy Kingdom (Bantam, 1999) with Adrian Gilbert and self-published underground classics including Arthur, King of Glamorgan and Gwent, Artorius Rex Discovered, Arthur and the Charters of the Kings and Arthur, The War King (a historical novel).The men have lectured extensively in the UK, including Manchester and Jesus Colleges at Oxford University, and Alan Wilson gave the prestigious Bemis Lecture in Boston in 1993. Wilson and Blackett were also commissioned to produce a detailed genealogy of the Bush family by former President George Bush (senior).
