John T.
Koch s. xx–xxi
2023
Recent chemical and isotopic sourcing of copper alloys, mostly from Scandinavia but some also from Britain (Ling et al. 2013; 2014; Melheim et al. 2018; Radivojević et al. 2018), point to a production–distribution–consumption system that connected the South with the North along the Atlantic façade during the period 1400/1300 to 700 BC. Up to now, Scandinavia has not been directly related to the Atlantic Bronze Age of this time. Parallel to these discoveries, aDNA evidence has revealed a bidirectional north–south genetic flow at nearly the same time, 1300 to 800 BC, as early European farmer (EEF) ancestry rose in southern Britain and fell in the Iberian Peninsula, accompanied there by a converse rise in steppe ancestry (Patterson et al. 2021). It appears, therefore, that people as well as metals were on the move during a period of intensified contacts across Europe’s westernmost lands in the Middle and Late Bronze Age. Thus, there arose a network comparable to that established earlier in connection with the Beaker phenomenon, one coinciding with a comparably significant transformation of the region’s populations (Olalde et al. 2018; Koch & Fernández 2019).
Recent chemical and isotopic sourcing of copper alloys, mostly from Scandinavia but some also from Britain (Ling et al. 2013; 2014; Melheim et al. 2018; Radivojević et al. 2018), point to a production–distribution–consumption system that connected the South with the North along the Atlantic façade during the period 1400/1300 to 700 BC. Up to now, Scandinavia has not been directly related to the Atlantic Bronze Age of this time. Parallel to these discoveries, aDNA evidence has revealed a bidirectional north–south genetic flow at nearly the same time, 1300 to 800 BC, as early European farmer (EEF) ancestry rose in southern Britain and fell in the Iberian Peninsula, accompanied there by a converse rise in steppe ancestry (Patterson et al. 2021). It appears, therefore, that people as well as metals were on the move during a period of intensified contacts across Europe’s westernmost lands in the Middle and Late Bronze Age. Thus, there arose a network comparable to that established earlier in connection with the Beaker phenomenon, one coinciding with a comparably significant transformation of the region’s populations (Olalde et al. 2018; Koch & Fernández 2019).
2022
Celtic inherited from Indo-European a system in which the first word of the sentence was invariably accented and was often followed by an unaccented word. In the evolution towards Gaelic and Brythonic, it became most common for that first word to be either a verb or a preverb. The beginning of the sentence thus became even more clearly defined because, also as an inheritance from Indo-European, verbs and preverbs were unaccented in other positions. Between Proto-Indo-European and the earliest attested Gaelic and Brythonic, the accent moved. As a result, the phonetic effects of the earlier accent became morphophonemic: phonologically stronger forms of verbs and preverbs occur in sentence-initial position in Old Irish and early Brythonic. Information about the shape and function of the clause, formerly conveyed by the accent, came to be conveyed by these morphophonemic contrasts. If the inherited primary/secondary system marking tense still survived then, this new absolute/conjunct opposition clashed with it and displaced it.
Celtic inherited from Indo-European a system in which the first word of the sentence was invariably accented and was often followed by an unaccented word. In the evolution towards Gaelic and Brythonic, it became most common for that first word to be either a verb or a preverb. The beginning of the sentence thus became even more clearly defined because, also as an inheritance from Indo-European, verbs and preverbs were unaccented in other positions. Between Proto-Indo-European and the earliest attested Gaelic and Brythonic, the accent moved. As a result, the phonetic effects of the earlier accent became morphophonemic: phonologically stronger forms of verbs and preverbs occur in sentence-initial position in Old Irish and early Brythonic. Information about the shape and function of the clause, formerly conveyed by the accent, came to be conveyed by these morphophonemic contrasts. If the inherited primary/secondary system marking tense still survived then, this new absolute/conjunct opposition clashed with it and displaced it.
