Ogham is the name of an ancient
Celtic alphabet system found in stone carvings in some Celtic countries, but
mainly Ireland.
In a recent [1983] study, the
Epigraphic Society's director, Professor Barry Fell, reported finding ogham inscriptions
dated to the sixth century, in W. Virginia.
The inscriptions, believed to have been prehistoric
American petroglyphs, were identified by Professor Fell as ogham.
Previously, Professor Fell reported ogham inscriptions of
unusual form, apparently used in New England, but not in Ireland. The New- England inscriptions,
according to Fell, are Iberian-Celtic
words.
Someone familiar with Celtic languages, for instance, might recognize the name from
a W. Virginian inscription, MB EOGN as McEogan, or "Son of Eugene".
Professor Fell compares the inscriptions - reproduced in
his book, America B.C. - with one of70-odd variations on the Ogham alphabets
to be found in the 14th- century- Irish
Book of Ballymote.
But how does an Ogham script, supposedly used by New World
explorers from Spain in 800 BC, wind up a thousand years later in the Book of
Ballymote?
Professor Fell suggests that Irish monks recorded the peculiar
ogham they found in America, and brought it home to be filed
as one of seventy-odd varieties listed in the Book of Ballymote.
America B.C. - B. Fell, N Y 1976 ISBN
0-671-79013-7
