International Brigade from Northstar

[Arlequín]

I'll chuck the EPR stuff in the next mould anyway, there's space for them, so I might as well use it.

Nick has done the Northstar figures for a big SCW game he;s putting on around a few shows next year, sounds like its going to be a good one too.

Saya, are you buying Anglian figures from Spain or the USA?

I'm sure there's room for both ranges. particularly as the Northstar ones won't be around long in any case.

I resisted impulse buying them, I'm sure a few others did too. 

[Saya]

Saya, are you buying Anglian figures from Spain or the USA?

Always in Bilbao, in Wolf Miniatures. My friend Basque Gaizka Amondarain ( my Euskera language teacher), who usually travels on business the purchase and brings to me. So I avoid the shipping 

[Durutti]

Saya, are you buying Anglian figures from Spain or the USA?

Always in Bilbao, in Wolf Miniatures. My friend Basque Gaizka Amondarain ( my Euskera language teacher), who usually travels on business the purchase and brings to me. So I avoid the shipping 

Ah, thats great, Jesus at Wolf is a top bloke.

Learning to speak Basque, thats interesting, I have a colleague at work who is learning Catalan.

[Lt. Hazel]

I'm interested to see the 32 variations of the figures.

Sadly this release now means I have to put my EPR figures on hold, some advance warning might have helped, I could have got Paul to sculpt the mortars and crews instead of the EPR figures 

Anglian has the better miniatures. There are much more poses available. And with some easy headsweaps you can create more than 32 different figs. I´ll stick to Anglian.
Nigel it´s good to hear you´ll have mortars soon 

[Saya]

Ah, thats great, Jesus at Wolf is a top bloke.

Learning to speak Basque, thats interesting, I have a colleague at work who is learning Catalan.

My grandfather was Basque. The Basque language is very special to me 
Cheers

[twrchtrwyth]

Ah, thats great, Jesus at Wolf is a top bloke.

Learning to speak Basque, thats interesting, I have a colleague at work who is learning Catalan.

My grandfather was Basque. The Basque language is very special to me 
Cheers

Saya, are the Basques Celts? They say our languages are related.

[Saya]

 Hi twrchtrwyth,  as I understand the Basques are not celts, the Euskera language has no link with other languages and  the archaeological record also shows no direct relationship between Basques and Celts or other ethnic affiliations. In any case the Celts and the Basques have a common history, very very hard history. Within the Spanish state Galicians and Asturians are Celts.
Osasuna!!! (Cheers!!!)

[Plynkes]

Twrchtrwyth, as far as I recall, the Basque language is unrelated to other European languages. It is thought to pre-date them as part of the older culture of Western Europe that existed before the Celtic culture expanded into the west. For some reason when everybody else decided to start being Celts, the people of the Basque region said "No thanks, we're fine as we are."

[argsilverson]

It is also said that maybe the Basque language might have been the remains of the Atlantean language!

However, Basque language is one of the older languages, like greek, that survives till today.

[Arlequín]

There are however genetic links between the Welsh, some Irish, Cornish (or South West England more correctly) and 'Basques' (more correctly North West Spain in general) that aren't prevalent in other groups.

[Plynkes]

Not surprising really. The western fringe of Europe wasn't originally part of the Celtic world, and the Basques are the last remnant of the original culture. People tended to be absorbed into the new cultures as they moved westwards, rather than being massacred by them. Thus even in apparently Germanic England there are many folks descended from the original prehistoric, pre-Celtic inhabitants. Well, that's what I heard, anyway.


Oops, we seem to have got pretty far away from the International Brigades! 

[Helen]

It's all in the spirit

Helen

[Arlequín]

Not surprising really. The western fringe of Europe wasn't originally part of the Celtic world, and the Basques are the last remnant of the original culture. People tended to be absorbed into the new cultures as they moved westwards, rather than being massacred by them. Thus even in apparently Germanic England there are many folks descended from the original prehistoric, pre-Celtic inhabitants. Well, that's what I heard, anyway.


Oops, we seem to have got pretty far away from the International Brigades! 

A current view is that it was the 'Celtic' culture that spread rather than the people. In the same way as cola cans and baseball caps will not signify that Americans mass-migrated to Europe to future archaeologists.

However Britain's inhabitants appear to have come from the Northern Spanish and the Black Sea 'refuges' following the last ice age, approaching from the South West and East respectively, as the ice retreated. Britain had no indigenous population as such prior to this.

It sort of quite neatly explains the slight genetic divide between West and East within the UK, supports Irish creation myths like 'the sons of Mil' and muddies the question of the Anglo-Saxon 'migration'... so prepare for it to be disproved shortly. 

[Argonor]

However Britain's inhabitants appear to have come from the Northern Spanish and the Black Sea 'refuges' following the last ice age, approaching from the South West and East respectively, as the ice retreated. Britain had no indigenous population as such prior to this.

What about the Picts? Weren't they a non-celtic people? I know the Scots immigrated from Northern Ireland...

[Arlequín]

However Britain's inhabitants appear to have come from the Northern Spanish and the Black Sea 'refuges' following the last ice age, approaching from the South West and East respectively, as the ice retreated. Britain had no indigenous population as such prior to this.

What about the Picts? Weren't they a non-celtic people? I know the Scots immigrated from Northern Ireland...

Maybe non-celtic, maybe celtic, the jury's still out on that, but nevertheless, there was no human habitation during the ice-age, only after. Of course this was true for most of Northern Europe.

The problem with the celtic question is that it is difficult to determine whether it was a spread of culture, or a spread of people. The 'beaker culture' was previously thought to be a migration, but it turns out not to have been.

We typify Irish culture as being 'celtic' but there is little similarity genetically between them and other Northern Europeans (other than the common markers we all share), but similarities with common markers in NW Spain, yet there is no shared culture or language. Likewise with the Island and Highland Scots, Welsh and Cornish overall. However there is a shared culture and language (with variations) within the 'celtic fringe' of Britain. The only identifiable interlopers were 'Norse' and contributed a low percentage in all these areas.

Perhaps the Picts chose not to take celtic culture on board, but as there hasn't been any identifiable Pictish genetic sequence identified as yet, they are essentially the same as everyone else. So in essence they weren't a proto-British people forced into a remote wilderness by waves of invaders.

It is much harder to determine the make up of the lowland areas of the UK, as they share much in common with the rest of Northern Europe. This has been taken in the past to signify population replacement by Anglo-Saxon invaders and following that by the Danes etc, but as these areas were populated after the ice-age from mainland Europe anyway, there wouldn't be much difference.

Current research is looking for evidence of divergance within the gene sequence, so hopefully they'll be able to trace when a particular trait became prevalent and where and then work backwards to identify at what time the 'English' (i.e. Lowland and Eastern British - including lowland Scotland) appeared and where they came from. Which is likely to be at all points along the Western coast of Europe, but approximate dates for specific areas and peoples will also probably be identified.

We really have diverged from the International Brigade figures.... Hopefully nobody dropped off to sleep while reading this