Most of us have heard the legend of King Arthur. We might have read the ‘original’ story (which was constructed out of bits and pieces of other legends) or seen one of the many television programs or movies about Camelot.
No matter how ‘real’ it may seem, the ‘scientific’ community continues to maintain it is fiction.
However, today, Archaeologists have discovered the impressive remains of a Dark Age palace at Tintagel in Cornwall.
The walls are one metre thick and are currently being unearthed. These walls are part of the main residence of the 6th century rulers of an ancient south-west British kingdom, known as Dumnonia.
The arguments as to whether King Arthur actually existed are being restated.
According to the ‘story’ Arthur was conceived at Tintagel as a result of an illicit union between a British King and the beautiful wife of a local ruler.
The basic story of Arthur was written by Geoffrey of Monmouth. It was completed by 1138 when the Tintagel promontory (where the Dark Age palace complex has been discovered) was uninhabited.
The palace archaeologists have found appears to date from the 5th and 6th centuries AD – which would theoretically fit well with the traditional legends of King Arthur which precisely places him those centuries.
What the archaeologists have found is that those who live in that well-constructed palace appear to have been of elite status.
Scores of fragments of pottery and glass – show that the residents were enjoying wine from what is now western Turkey and olive oil from the Greek Aegean and what is now Tunisia.
They ate their food from fine bowls and plates imported from western Turkey and North Africa, while they drank their wine from the very finest, beautifully painted French-made glass cups.
The complex came into existence in the 5th or the early 6th century AD – but was probably in decline by the early 7th.
No evidence of any catastrophic destruction has been found, however, the latter half of the 6th century and the 7th century were notorious for a terrible plague pandemic, a early version of the Black Death,
The ‘Black Death’ (Bubonic Plague) which devastated parts of Britain after having killed millions in the Mediterranean world.
It is conceivable that Tintagel suffered the Plague and was abandoned.
Whether it is a mere coincidence that a Palace of this magnificence is dated at the precise time King Arthur was to have lived, must generate popular and scholarly interest in the site.
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It will be interesting to see if any additional information can be gleaned from the find. Often, what we get from such digs is a few pieces of data and more questions than answers.
What I have always believed is that King Arthur was a real person. This find may prove that.
I have always believed King Arthur was a fictional person. However, if they happen to dig up a round table, I might start singing a different tune. :)
Life has taught me that many 'myths' or 'legends' have a lot of truth in them. The Flood really happened, (geological evidence)