I came across this whilst searching for images to illustrate the next upcoming episode of The Dark Earth Chronicles. It involves Saint Columba, the BBC and Bayesian archaeology.
First some background info on St. Columba... which probably wasn’t his given name. In Gaelic it means ‘dove’ which is also the Latin meaning and that's weird because Gaelic is a ‘Celtic’ language while Latin is ‘Italic’… sorry ‘
Italic’. His father was what they now call a semi-mythical figure who was one of the ancient High Kings of Ireland. His grandmother on his father’s side, was claimed to be Saxon, or at least Romano-British, which conforms to the 6th century that the official narrative stipulates for his existence. After a thoroughly monastic education or two or three, St. Columba left Ireland. Some say he was exiled, but most prefer to call it a 'pilgrimage', although where he was pilgriming to is never specified. There are tales of some form of conflict which gained him the reputation of being a ‘warrior saint’. He left in a wicker currach covered with leather accompanied by 12 apostles, no sorry, 12 ‘companions’. That must have been some currach to hold 13 people and all their possessions and supplies. Once again, we have the familair ‘One plus Twelve’ coven, which is the trademark of Christian manipulation.
St. Columba was bound for the Isle of Iona. Iona is currently a small island 2km from a much bigger island called Mull on the west coast of Scotland. It was here that St. Columba chose to make himself accessible to the people of Scotland for the purpose of converting them to Christianity. A more inaccessible place is hard to imagine. We must not forget though, that Iona may not have been an island back then if the 10th century cataclysm is taken into account, which might suggest that St. Colomba was actually around before 934AD. His lineage from a semi-mythical father certainly suggests that, more than most people, he should have had a strong ‘pagan’ inclination.
Of course there were ‘miracles’, one even includes an encounter with a ‘water beast’ on the banks of the river Ness. From that small island of Iona he supposedly converted the whole of Scotland and his monastery on Iona became the hub of an important network of monasteries. Today it is a site of pilgrimage.
OK, so back in July 2017 the BBC announced "
Archaeologists say they have identified the remains of the cell of St Columba on the Scottish island of Iona."
The story goes that one Charles Thomas and his team were excavating on Iona back in 1957 in an attempt to find evidence for the existence of St. Columba...
"On Tòrr an Aba [a rocky hillock] the diggers found hazel charcoal, apparently the remains of a wattle hut.
The site had been deliberately covered with beach pebbles and there was a hole where a post - possibly a cross - had been placed. Were these the remains of Columba's cell? Charles Thomas thought so."
No other reason is given as to why he "thought so." And, of course, the hole in the beach pebbles was "possibly a cross" rather than a sign saying 'Beware! Buried Charcoal' or something.
"If only they could be accurately dated. But in 1957 that was impossible. The technique of radiocarbon dating was in its infancy then. [WS: So not in fact impossible]
It measures the level of carbon 14, a radioactive isotope, to assess the age of a sample of organic material. But 60 years ago the process was expensive, required the destruction of a relatively large sample, and the dates it produced had a wide margin of error.
"So Charles Thomas did not write up his findings in an academic paper. Instead he carefully preserved the samples from the dig along with his notes. He took the remains with him from university to university. After he retired he stored them in his garage in Truro."
So these samples got dragged around the country for 55 years and finally carefully dumped in a garage, then suddenly...
"Prof Thomas was happy to hand them over for testing using radiocarbon techniques of an accuracy unimaginable six decades ago."
...an accuracy unimaginable, Oh! If only!
"The result? The remains of the hazel stakes date the hut between the years 540 and 650. Columba died in 597. Adrián Maldonado says it is 'within a standard deviation of the lifetime of St Columba', which he says is 'about the closest you can get to being certain that it is something that was standing when Columba was on Iona."
Well, of course! Was there ever any doubt, given the unimaginable accuracy of modern Bayesian Radiocarbon dating techniques? But it gets better...
"
Historic Environment Scotland's Senior Archaeologist Richard Strachan is similarly enthusiastic. He said: 'It's fantastic, it absolutely nails it. There's no debate. We can actually prove this scientifically. This is real. This actually happened here."
Nails what exactly? What actually happened there? There were some twigs of hazel burnt to a crisp on the Isle of Iona between 540 and 650. That's all they have actually 'proven' - although given the involvement of Bayesian statistics in all radiocarbon dating these days it's hardly surprising. But we're not finished yet because now there's an enormous leap from 'some hazel twigs' to this...
"Dr Campbell says it is extremely rare to be able to associate any archaeological deposits with a figure from the past. He said: 'This being Columba, who is so important as a spiritual figure and as a person who founded this series of monasteries which cultivated that learning which spread throughout Europe, it's really important. It's really exciting to be able to touch some of the things that were associated with him."
Hang on a minute, surely they don't mean that the carbonised hazel twigs are actually the remains of Co,umba himself or maybe we missed the part where he wrote his name and passport number on them? Are they that crazy? And now he spread Christianity throughout Europe, not just Scotland!
"Sixty years on, some of Prof Thomas's fellow diggers on Iona are still alive. They were as sure as they could be that this was the saint's scriptorium, but lacked the backing of modern radiocarbon dating. Sadly Charles Thomas did not live to see his work vindicated. He died last year before the definitive date of his samples could be established. But Dr Maldonado [WS: Maldonaldo!? Is he an Italian/Scottish anagram of Macdonald I wonder?]
is in no doubt about the significance of his legacy: 'What Charles Thomas and his team found - and couldn't prove until now - was that we've been walking on the early monastery this whole time."
Right, so we have some 55 year old bits of carbonised hazel that have now proven, beyond any doubt, that Saint Columba was actually real and alive in the 6th century, exactly when the mainstream official history has always told us and that he was on Iona, exactly where the mainstream official history has always told us he was, where he established an abbey that spread Christianity throughout Europe... well almost exactly like the mainstream official history has always told us he did.
Isn't it amazing what science can do these days? They can make a whole load more bullshit out of just the smallest amount of bullshit. Personally, I find it utterly insulting that these so-called academics think we are all stupid and gullible enough to believe their hyped-up, illogical, insane nonsense.
Any statue that is dug up out of the dirt or found in a ruined building is just some random person unless it is clearly marked with an inscription...and even those can be faked. All of the statues in museums are given labels and we're expected to believe it, when there is literally no way to tell who they were meant to represent. I'm sure the Turkish officials have their own story about who this is supposed to be, with just as little proof to back it up. The fakery is getting comical at this point.
