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Island of Anglsey
The island of Anglesey , overlooking the Irish Sea from the northwest corner of Wales , has been linked for century with ancient and magical mysteries . The island has been occupy since prehistorical times , more than 5,000 long time ago , and it ’s covered in ancient stone monuments , like the Neolithic musical passage grave name Bryn Celli Ddu — Welsh for " the mound in the dark grove . " [ Read more about the island of Druids ]
Mona by the Romans
Anglesey was called Mona by the Romans – and it hold on that name today in Welsh as “ Ynys Mon ” or “ Mona Island . ”It adopt the name of Anglesey from Viking raiders who attacked Wales in the 10thcentury . This map of Anglesey was made by the English cartographer John Speed in 1607 , for an atlas of the British Isles .
The Druids
For hundred , Anglesey has been linked to the mysterious order of magical priests known as theDruids , who were said to extend theCelticBritish against the invading Romans after 43 A.D.The link seems to have been made by a exclusive Roman writer around the conclusion of the first C A.D. , Cornelius Tacitus , who write about a papistic fire on Anglesey , which he described as a center of British electrical resistance .
Odd tactics
Tacitus write that the assail Roman soldier were surprised to observe Druids on the front origin of the defender , throw magic whammy instead of missiles . Neither the curses or the missile , however , appear to have worked – and the Romans finally occupied Anglesey and put the Druids to death wherever they found them .
Bryn Celli Ddu
Modern archeologist have found no trace of the Druids on Anglesey , or indeed anywhere else in Britain – but their inscrutable and magical role has become an almost unerasable fable in the hand of later writers . Ancient gem repository like Bryn Celli Ddu might have been reuse as ceremonial sites by later people – but they were built many grand of years in the beginning than the purportedly Celtic Druids .
Reconstructing history
The original grave of Bryn Celli Ddu was establish around 5000 long time ago ; it was turn up by archaeologists in 1928 and 1929 , then reconstructed . The archaeology of the site show it was at first a simple burial chamber circumvent by a ditch , and earthen bank , and a lot of upright Stone .
Pathway
The entranceway enactment to the tomb was added later , maybe century of years later . Like the Newgrange tomb in Ireland , the entry passage trace up for a few days a year with the rise Lord’s Day – but at mid - summer at Bryn Celli Ddu .
New discoveries
For the last five year , archaeologist from the University of Cardiff and the Welsh Heritage government agency Cadw have been direct excavations at a burial mound a short length from the handing over tomb at Bryn Celli Ddu . Pieces of typical pottery and sophisticated Flint River tools found at the new web site show that the burial knoll is build up during the Bronze Age in the realm , around 1000 year afterward than the original Neolithic tomb .
Ceremonial center
The excavators have also found artifacts that may be even older than the passageway tomb , including pieces of Neolithic pottery known as “ grooved ware ” and the remains of a stone ax . Archaeologist Ffion Reynolds , who execute the recent dig , suppose that the discovery show that the Bryn Celli Ddu landscape was used as a ceremonial center over thousands of twelvemonth by different mathematical group of ancient people .