In my 2016 book The Mystery of Skara Brae, I make some controversial claims for parallels between the cosmology of the Dogon in North Africa dating from around 3000 BC, cosmological elements that I trace southward from Gobekli Tepe in Turkey starting at around 10,000 BC, and megalithic and architectural sites on Orkney Island at 3200 BC based on common cosmological forms, common words, and other evidence.
A recent BBC documentary about the same Orkney Island sites, titled Britain's Ancient Capital, Orkney Secrets, mentions the presence there of a type of vole (small mouse-like rodent) that is not found elsewhere in the UK, and whose genetics are believed to have evolved in isolation on Orkney Island since the end of the last Ice Age, sometime before 10,000 BC. These voles cannot swim, and so must have been brought to Orkney Island by early settlers there, although it is not clear where those settlers originated. The unique presence of the voles on Orkney Island reflect influences there that, at least in the Neolithic era, by-passed the rest of the UK.
Similar voles are found in Europe, and DNA studies were conducted to try to identify a point of origin for the rodents. No exact match was found, however the closest match was determined to be to voles found in Belgium
As it turns out, there is another variety of quite similar vole found in Turkey and regions southward, and that is also found uniquely in one coastal region of Libya in North Africa, who share a number of esoteric attributes with the Orkney vole.
Linked below is an image of the Orkney Island vole, the vole from Libya, and the range of distribution for the Libyan vole. The upshot is that there is a perspective from which attributes of this unique species uphold the viewpoints expressed in my book
- Laird
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A recent BBC documentary about the same Orkney Island sites, titled Britain's Ancient Capital, Orkney Secrets, mentions the presence there of a type of vole (small mouse-like rodent) that is not found elsewhere in the UK, and whose genetics are believed to have evolved in isolation on Orkney Island since the end of the last Ice Age, sometime before 10,000 BC. These voles cannot swim, and so must have been brought to Orkney Island by early settlers there, although it is not clear where those settlers originated. The unique presence of the voles on Orkney Island reflect influences there that, at least in the Neolithic era, by-passed the rest of the UK.
Similar voles are found in Europe, and DNA studies were conducted to try to identify a point of origin for the rodents. No exact match was found, however the closest match was determined to be to voles found in Belgium
As it turns out, there is another variety of quite similar vole found in Turkey and regions southward, and that is also found uniquely in one coastal region of Libya in North Africa, who share a number of esoteric attributes with the Orkney vole.
Linked below is an image of the Orkney Island vole, the vole from Libya, and the range of distribution for the Libyan vole. The upshot is that there is a perspective from which attributes of this unique species uphold the viewpoints expressed in my book
- Laird
