The endeavor to reconstruct the specific cosmological or
religious beliefs
of pre-literate peoples is one of the most formidable challenges
in historical
scholarship. For the ancient inhabitants of the British Isles,
known to early
Greek geographers as the Pretani, this challenge is particularly
acute. In the
absence of any native written records from the Iron Age, our
understanding must
be meticulously pieced together from disparate and often
problematic sources:
the mute testimony of archaeology, the culturally biased accounts
of
Greco-Roman observers, and the heavily filtered lens of later
literature
composed by Christian scribes. Any claims about the intricate
details of their
belief systems must therefore be approached with profound
scholarly caution.
Whether the Pretani believed in a system of nine elements rather
than the
classical four—sits at the nexus of a fundamental tension in the
modern
engagement with the ancient past. On one side stands academic
history, a
discipline predicated on verifiable evidence and rigorous,
peer-reviewed
analysis. On the other lies the vibrant world of modern spiritual
movements,
including various forms of neo-paganism and animist revivalism,
which seek to
forge meaningful, living traditions for the 21st century. These
movements often
draw inspiration from the past but are not strictly bound by its
evidentiary
limitations, sometimes leading to claims that diverge
significantly from the
academic consensus.
This report will navigate the complex terrain between these two
approaches,
critically examining the historical identity of the Pretani,
deconstructing the
origins of various "nine-element" theories, and ultimately
providing
a definitive, evidence-based conclusion to the question of their
elemental
beliefs.
To investigate the beliefs of the Pretani, one must first
establish who they
were. The name itself is the starting point, but it opens a web of
linguistic
and historical complexities that are crucial to understanding the
subsequent
claims made about them.
The first known name for the islands of Britain and Ireland
appears in the
writings of the Greek geographer and explorer Pytheas of Massalia,
who
undertook a voyage into the North Atlantic between 330 and 320 BC.
While his
original work, On the Ocean, is lost, it was widely
referenced by later
classical authors. Pytheas referred to the archipelago as the Pretanikai
nesoi, or the "Isles of the Pretani". This name, likely
communicated to him by the Gallic peoples with whom he had
contact, is believed
to be a version of the name the inhabitants of the islands used
for themselves.
Later writers, such as the Greek historian Diodorus Siculus
writing around 50
BC, continued to use this terminology, referring to "those of the
Pretani
who inhabit the country called Iris (Ireland)". This establishes
the
Pretani not as a specific tribe, but as the earliest known general
designation
for the peoples of Britain and Ireland.
While "Pretani" was a general term, classical sources,
particularly the Roman-era texts of Tacitus and Ptolemy, provide
names for the
specific tribal confederations that inhabited northern Britain.
Ptolemy's
2nd-century Geographia, though famously distorted, can be
corrected
using modern geospatial analysis, giving us a clearer picture of
the tribal
landscape. The major Pretani groups in the territory that would
become Scotland
included:
·
The Votadini:
Occupying the southeastern
lowlands, their territory centered on the massive hillfort of
Traprain Law.
They were a powerful and influential tribe with evidence of
significant contact
with the Roman world.
·
The Selgovae:
Neighbours to the Votadini,
they inhabited the central Southern Uplands.
·
The Damnonii:
Controlled a large
territory in the Clyde Valley, encompassing much of modern
Strathclyde.
·
The Novantae:
Inhabited the southwestern
peninsula of modern Galloway.
·
The Venicones: Lived
along the eastern
coast in what is now Fife and southern Tayside.
·
The Taexali:
Occupied the northeastern
corner of modern Aberdeenshire.
·
The Vacomagi: Held
the lands of
Strathspey and the central highlands east of the Great Glen.
·
The Caledones (or
Caledonii): A powerful
confederation whose name would eventually be used by the Romans to
refer to all
peoples north of their frontier. They inhabited the Great Glen and
the
highlands to the west.
·
The Epidii: Lived in
Argyll and Kintyre,
with their main centre likely being the fortified promontory of
Dunadd.
·
Other northern tribes
included the
Creones, Carnonacae, Caereni, Cornavii, and Lugi.
It is these distinct, named groups who constitute the historical
"Pretani" of northern Britain.
The name Pretani is the key to a network of related terms
found in
the Celtic languages of the British Isles. Understanding these
connections is
essential, as different modern groups use these names to claim
specific
historical lineages.
·
Linguistic Roots:
The name is P-Celtic
(or Brittonic, the linguistic ancestor of Welsh, Cornish, and
Breton). It
belongs to the same language family as Gaulish. The Goidelic (or
Q-Celtic, the
ancestor of Irish, Scottish Gaelic, and Manx) equivalent is
reconstructed as *Qritani.
·
Evolution of Terms:
In Old Irish, this
evolved into the name *Cruthin or Cruithni. In Old
Welsh, the
cognate term was *Prydyn.
·
Common Origin: All
these terms—Pretani,
Cruthin, and Prydyn—are believed to derive from a
single proto-Celtic
root, *kwritu, which means "form" or "shape". This
etymology has led scholars to suggest a connection to the practice
of
body-painting or tattooing, a custom famously associated with the
inhabitants
of northern Britain by Roman writers. This same practice is the
likely origin
of the later Roman exonym (a name given by outsiders) Picti,
meaning
"the painted ones," which they applied to the peoples north of
their
frontier in the late 3rd century AD.
·
Interchangeable Terms:
In essence, Pretani,
Cruthin, and Prydyn are linguistic equivalents for
the native
inhabitants of Britain. The Romans later substituted Picti
for the
northern Pretani and, following Julius Caesar's lead, began using
Brittani
for the people of the larger island, which they called Britannia.
Crucially, extensive modern linguistic analysis confirms that the
language of
the later Picts was a P-Celtic language, which scholars have
termed
"Pritenic." This establishes a direct and unbroken linguistic link
from the Iron Age Pretani to their historical successors, the
Picts.
Mainstream contemporary scholarship concludes that "Pretani" was
a
generalized term for the diverse inhabitants of Iron Age Britain,
not a single,
politically unified, or culturally monolithic tribe. The notion of
a singular
"Pretani people" with a uniform set of beliefs is a modern
oversimplification that does not align with the historical or
archaeological
record. In recent decades, the very concept of "Pictishness"—the
identity of the direct successors to the northern Pretani—has
undergone
substantial critical reappraisal. The old, romanticized view of
the Picts as an
exotic "lost people" has been replaced by a more nuanced
understanding. Scholars now recognize that the people called Picts
were a
fundamentally heterogeneous group with little cultural uniformity.
Their
identity was likely fluid, situational, and constructed over time,
rather than
being a fixed, primordial characteristic.
This scholarly consensus on the fluid and diverse nature of these
ancient
peoples is fundamental. The very ambiguity of the term "Pretani"
in
the historical record is not a failure of modern scholarship to
find a clear
answer; rather, it is an accurate reflection of a complex
historical reality.
It is precisely this lack of a clearly defined, unified "Pretani
nation" in antiquity that has created a historical vacuum. This
vacuum has
proven to be fertile ground for modern movements and individuals
to project
their own desired identities onto the past, taking the ancient
name
"Pretani" and retroactively imbuing it with the characteristics of
a
modern nation or a cohesive culture—complete with a shared
language, a single
origin story, and a unified religious system—that did not exist in
that form.
The confusion at the heart of this stems directly from this modern
retrofitting
of a cohesive identity onto a historically fluid and generalized
term.
No discussion of the modern "Pretani" identity can be complete
without a critical analysis of the theories of the late Dr. Ian
Adamson. A
physician and Ulster Unionist politician from Northern Ireland,
Adamson was a
prolific author whose "Pretani Press" published numerous books
promoting a specific and highly controversial interpretation of
Irish and
British history. His work is a primary source for many modern
claims about a
distinct Pretani/Cruthin people and serves as a powerful case
study in the use
of history to shape contemporary identity.
At the core of Adamson's work is the argument that the Cruthin
(the
Irish linguistic equivalent of Pretani) were the true, pre-Celtic,
indigenous
people of Britain and Ireland, particularly Ulster. His thesis,
developed
across several books starting with The Cruthin in 1974,
posits a
specific historical narrative:
·
The Cruthin were the
original inhabitants of
Ulster.
·
They were conquered and
displaced by later waves
of Gaelic or Celtic invaders from the continent.
·
Many of these displaced
Cruthin fled to
Scotland, where they became known as the Picts.
·
Centuries later, during the
17th-century
Plantation of Ulster, the Scottish Protestant settlers who came to
Ireland
were, in fact, the descendants of these ancient Cruthin,
effectively returning
to their ancestral homeland.
This narrative strategically reframes the Plantation of Ulster
not as an act
of colonialism or settlement by outsiders, but as a homecoming of
the original
indigenous population.
Despite the persistence of Adamson's theories in certain
political and
cultural circles, they have been comprehensively rejected by the
mainstream
academic community across multiple disciplines.
·
Archaeology: The
most direct critique
comes from archaeologists. As J.P. Mallory and T.E. McNeil of
Queen's
University Belfast state, the Cruthin are "archaeologically
invisible". There is, they conclude, "not a single object or site
that an archaeologist can declare to be distinctly Cruthin". They
describe
Adamson's claims, which attribute a vast range of Irish monuments
to the
Cruthin, as "quite remarkable" and devoid of archaeological
support.
The material culture of the Iron Age across Ireland and Britain
shows regional
variation but no distinct cultural break that would indicate the
presence of a
separate, non-Celtic people.
·
Historiography and
Linguistics: Adamson's
historical model leans heavily on the work of linguist T.F.
O'Rahilly, whose
1946 theory proposed a series of invasions to explain the
development of Celtic
languages in Ireland. However, O'Rahilly's model has been largely
refuted and
superseded by subsequent generations of scholars, including
prominent
Celticists like Kenneth H. Jackson and John T. Koch. The modern
consensus
favors a model of gradual cultural diffusion and language shift
over mass
invasion. Adamson's key departure from O'Rahilly—that the Cruthin
were
pre-Celtic rather than an early Celtic group—is also unsupported
by evidence.
As established, the name Cruthin is the Q-Celtic
linguistic equivalent
of the P-Celtic Pretani. It is not the name of a different
people, but a
different linguistic rendering of the same name.
·
Genetics: The most
conclusive refutation
has come from modern genetic science. The landmark "Irish DNA
Atlas"
study, along with other archaeogenetic research, has definitively
disproven the
kind of mass migration and population replacement models proposed
by O'Rahilly
and Adamson. Recent genetic analysis of Pictish remains
demonstrates
"broad affinities" between the Picts, Iron Age Britons, and
present-day people in western Scotland, Wales, and Northern
Ireland, strongly
supporting a local origin for the Pictish people rather than an
exotic one.
Furthermore, claims by commercial DNA testing companies to have
identified a
specific "Pretani DNA marker" have been dismissed by geneticists
as
unscientific "story-telling".
The development and promotion of Adamson's thesis cannot be
separated from
the political context of Northern Ireland during the Troubles and
the ongoing
peace process.
·
An Origin Myth for
Ulster Loyalism:
Critics, most notably Professor Stephen Howe of the University of
Bristol,
argue that Adamson's theory was designed to provide "ancient
underpinnings
for a militantly separate Ulster identity". By creating an origin
myth
that establishes Ulster Protestants as the true indigenous people
of the land,
the theory serves to counter the claims of Irish nationalism and
provide a
historical justification for their presence in Ireland and for the
partition of
the country.
·
The "Common Identity"
Project:
Adamson himself framed his work as a reconciliatory project aimed
at creating a
"Common Identity" for all the people of Ulster, Catholic and
Protestant alike, based on a shared, pre-Celtic, pre-sectarian
heritage. He
argued that by revealing these deeper historical roots, the
divisions of the
present could be overcome. However, this is seen by many academics
as a
politically motivated revision of history, attempting to erase the
complexities
of colonialism and sectarianism by inventing a unifying, but
historically
unfounded, past.
The "Pretani/Cruthin" identity as articulated by Adamson and his
followers is a clear example of the construction of a historical
narrative to
legitimize a modern political identity. This process involves the
careful
selection, reinterpretation, and at times invention of historical
"facts" to create a cohesive story that serves present-day
political
goals. The user's confusion about a distinct "Pretani" people is
therefore, in large part, an unwitting encounter with this modern
political
project masquerading as ancient history. The claims are not
primarily about
discovering the past, but about shaping the present and future of
a specific
community.
Setting aside modern reconstructions, it is necessary to
establish what the
actual evidence reveals about the religious beliefs and practices
of the Iron
Age inhabitants of Britain—the historical Pretani. While the
picture is
incomplete, archaeology and credible textual sources paint a
consistent
portrait of a spiritual worldview deeply intertwined with the
natural world,
the landscape, and the ancestors.
Unlike their contemporaries in the Greco-Roman world, the peoples
of
pre-Roman Britain did not focus their worship on purpose-built
temples.
Instead, their sacred spaces were features of the natural
landscape.
·
Sacred Groves and
Shrines: Classical
writers and later Irish sources refer to sacred groves, or nemetons,
as
primary sites for religious ceremonies. These natural sanctuaries,
along with
significant springs, pools, rivers, and rock formations, were
considered to be
imbued with spiritual power and were likely the focus of worship.
The landscape
itself was a repository of myth and memory.
·
Votive Offerings:
One of the most
powerful forms of archaeological evidence for these beliefs is the
widespread
practice of depositing votive offerings. High-value items—swords,
shields,
cauldrons, jewelry, and tools—were deliberately and permanently
cast into rivers,
lakes, and bogs. This act is interpreted as a sacrifice to
powerful deities or
spirits associated with these watery, liminal places. The most
famous example
from northern Britain is the Traprain Law Treasure, a
massive hoard of
over 24kg of late Roman silver plate that was deliberately hacked
to pieces,
crushed, and folded before being buried near the summit of the
hillfort. This
"killing" of the objects transformed them into a spiritual
sacrifice,
removing them from human circulation and dedicating them to the
otherworldly
powers.
The beliefs of the Iron Age Pretani did not emerge from a vacuum
but were
built upon millennia of preceding traditions. The monumental
constructions of
their Neolithic and Bronze Age ancestors left an indelible mark on
the
landscape and likely on their worldview.
·
Megalithic Heritage:
Massive "ritual
landscapes," such as those surrounding Stonehenge and Avebury, and
thousands of communal tombs (long barrows) and individual burial
mounds (round
barrows) attest to a profound and long-standing preoccupation with
the dead,
the afterlife, and the cosmos. Many of these monuments are
precisely aligned
with celestial events, particularly the rising and setting of the
sun at the
midsummer and midwinter solstices, indicating that the procession
of the
seasons was of supreme religious importance.
·
Ancestor Veneration:
The placement of the
dead in monumental tombs suggests a belief that the ancestors
played an active
role among the living, perhaps as guardians of the land and
guarantors of the
fertility of people, animals, and crops. Archaeological
investigation at
long-occupied centers like Traprain Law reveals occupation layers
dating back
many centuries, with the deepest and oldest layers showing signs
of the most
intense activity, suggesting a profound and continuous connection
to the
ancestral site. This focus on the power of ancestors and their
connection to
specific territories likely persisted into the Iron Age.
The overall belief system of the Pretani can best be described as
a blend of
animism and polytheism.
·
Animism: There is
strong evidence for a
belief that spirits, or genii, inhabited all aspects of
the natural
world. Trees, rocks, streams, and animals were not merely inert
parts of the
environment but were seen as sentient or possessed by spiritual
forces. The
importance of certain trees, for example, is suggested by tribal
names (like
the Eburonians, which references the yew tree) and by their
prominent role in
later Irish mythology.
·
Polytheism:
Alongside this animistic
worldview, the Pretani worshipped a pantheon of gods and
goddesses. Many of
these deities were likely local, tied to a specific tribe, place,
or natural
feature. When the Romans conquered southern Britain, they
practiced a policy of
religious syncretism, merging their own gods with native
British
deities. This resulted in hybrid figures like Sulis Minerva,
worshipped at the
hot springs of Bath, and Mars Cocidius, a war god venerated along
Hadrian's
Wall. A recurring theme in Celtic iconography across Europe,
including Britain,
is that of "triplicity," where deities appear in groups of three,
such as the Matres (the Three Mothers). The rich visual
language of
Celtic art, particularly the sophisticated metalwork produced in
northern
Britain, is filled with symbols and images that carried deep
religious meaning,
even if we can no longer fully decipher them.
It is imperative to underscore that our knowledge of these
beliefs is
entirely indirect. We have no written accounts from the Pretani
themselves. The
sources available are all filtered through other perspectives:
·
Archaeology reveals
practice—what
people did—but it cannot definitively tell us about belief—why
they did
it or what it meant to them.
·
Greco-Roman texts
were composed by
outsiders who often held a hostile or sensationalist view of
"barbarian" peoples. Accounts like Julius Caesar's description of
the
Druids must be read as propaganda designed for a Roman audience,
not as
objective ethnography. Modern analysis of Tacitus's Agricola,
for
example, shows how he carefully constructed his narrative of the
northern
tribes to fit Roman literary and political tropes.
·
Later Irish and Welsh
literature, while
preserving echoes of pre-Christian mythology, was written down by
Christian
monks centuries after the conversion. These scribes preserved, but
also
reinterpreted, censored, and reshaped the ancient stories to fit
their own
Christian worldview.
Given these limitations, the conclusion for this section is
unequivocal:
there is no archaeological or credible contemporary textual
evidence for a
specific, formalized cosmological system based on either four or
nine elements
among the Pretani or their immediate successors. The spiritual
landscape was
rich and complex, but its precise theological structure remains
largely
unknown.
This is complicated by the fact that the term "nine elements" is
not a single, coherent concept. It is a semantic red herring that
refers to
several distinct systems, none of which can be historically
attributed to the
ancient Pretani. A comparative analysis is essential to
disentangle these
different ideas.
The following table provides a clear, at-a-glance breakdown of
the various
"elemental" systems that are often conflated in modern discussions
of
Celtic and Pretani spirituality. This visual aid clarifies that
these are not variations
of a single ancient system but are distinct concepts with
different origins and
purposes.
|
System
Name |
Attributed
Culture / Source |
Number |
Elements |
Nature of
System |
|
Classical
Elements |
Ancient
Greek Philosophy (Empedocles) |
4 (or 5) |
Earth,
Water, Air, Fire, (Aether) |
Physical
cosmology / Philosophy |
|
The
Nine Dúile |
Modern
Druidic reconstruction of Irish lore (e.g., Luke Eastwood) |
9 |
Stone,
Earth, Plant, Sea, Wind, Moon, Sun, Cloud, Heaven |
Spiritual
cosmology / Microcosm-Macrocosm model |
|
The
Nine Powers |
"The
Deer's Cry" / "St. Patrick's Breastplate" (Irish prayer) |
9 |
Heaven,
Sun, Moon, Fire, Lightning, Wind, Sea, Earth, Rock |
Invocation
/ Charm / List of protective powers |
|
The
Seven Siona |
Carmina
Gadelica (Scottish Gaelic folklore) |
7 |
Earth,
Air, Fire, Water, Ice, Wind, Lightning |
List of
elemental powers for charms/prayers |
|
The
Nine Elements |
Clann
Bhríde (Modern religious order) |
9 |
(Not
physical elements) |
Set of
nine guiding principles/tenets for the order |
|
The
Nine Elements |
Pretani
Wisdom Traditions (Sam MacLaren) |
9 |
(Unspecified,
but linked to Proto-Indo-European origins) |
Modern
animist/spiritual framework for personal transformation |
The most famous elemental system in the West originates with the
pre-Socratic Greek philosophers, particularly Empedocles, who
posited that all
matter was composed of four roots: Earth, Water, Air, and Fire.
This system,
later expanded by Plato and Aristotle to include a fifth element,
Aether,
became foundational to Western science and philosophy for nearly
two millennia.
It is frequently adopted and adapted by modern neo-pagan and
Wiccan traditions,
which often associate the elements with cardinal directions and
ritual
practices. Its inclusion here serves to provide a baseline and
demonstrate that
elemental cosmologies are not unique to "Celtic" cultures.
This is a specific, complex system promoted by modern authors
within the
Druidic revival movement, such as Luke Eastwood. It is a reconstruction
based on interpretations of later Irish mythology,
medieval texts, and
folklore. The nine Dúile (an Irish word for elements or
creations) are
listed as: Stone (Cloch), Earth (Talamh), Plant Life
(Uaine),
Sea (Muir), Wind (Gaeth), Moon (Gealach), Sun
(Grian),
Cloud (Nel), and Heaven (Neamh). This system is
intricately woven
into a reconstructed Irish cosmology, connecting to a tripartite
model of the
cosmos (Sky, Land, Sea) and a microcosm-macrocosm theory of three
mystical
"cauldrons" residing within the human body. The critical point is
its
origin. It is a sophisticated reconstruction rooted entirely in Irish-Gaelic
sources. There is no historical or archaeological evidence to
connect this
specific nine-part cosmology to the earlier, broader,
Brittonic-speaking
peoples known as the Pretani. To attribute the Dúile
system to the
Pretani is an anachronistic cultural transfer.
Another source for a "nine-fold" list comes from a famous Irish
prayer known as "The Deer's Cry" or "St. Patrick's
Breastplate". While the prayer itself is a Christian composition,
its
opening invocation is widely believed by scholars to preserve the
structure of
a much older, pre-Christian protective charm. The prayer begins:
"I arise
today, through The strength of heaven, The light of the sun, The
radiance of
the moon, The splendor of fire, The speed of lightning, The
swiftness of wind,
The depth of the sea, The stability of the earth, The firmness of
rock."
While this text demonstrates a profound reverence for these nine
powerful
natural phenomena, it is essential to correctly interpret its
function. This is
not a formal cosmology defining the constituent parts of the
universe. It is an
invocation, a magical or spiritual act of calling upon
these forces for
strength and protection. It is a list of powers to be harnessed,
not a
philosophical system of elements.
This is the most direct source of the claim that "latest
research"
supports a nine-element theory, and it is primarily associated
with modern
spiritual teachers like Sam MacLaren, co-founder of "Pretani
Wisdom
Traditions". In podcasts and online materials, MacLaren speaks of
"the nine elements that were honored in different Indo-European
cultures,
likely including the Pretanī people of ancient Britain". A review
of
academic scholarship on Proto-Indo-European (PIE) religion and
cosmology
reveals no evidence for such a nine-element system. The
reconstruction of PIE
beliefs is a highly specialized and debated field of historical
linguistics and
comparative mythology. There is absolutely no basis in mainstream
PIE studies
for a specific, codified list of nine physical or spiritual
elements. The claim
of a PIE nine-element system is therefore a neo-perspective. It is
a modern
spiritual interpretation—a form of personal gnosis—that is
projected
back onto a deep and unattested past. It is not the product of new
archaeological discovery or peer-reviewed linguistic research.
The very idea of a "nine-element system" appears to be a
recurring
motif within modern Celtic-inspired spirituality. Its persistence
is likely
driven by the demonstrable numerological significance of three and
nine (as
3×3) in Celtic art and mythology. This has created a spiritual
demand for such
a system, which different creators have met in different ways. The
belief in
"nine elements" is not a single ancient belief being rediscovered;
it
is a modern spiritual solution to a perceived need, which has been
independently constructed multiple times, leading to the confusing
and
contradictory landscape the user has encountered.
The investigation into the elemental beliefs of the Pretani,
prompted by
conflicting claims, arrives at a clear and unambiguous conclusion.
By
critically analyzing the historical record, the political use of
the past, and
the nature of modern spiritual movements, it is possible to
resolve the things
definitively.
The two propositions presented can now be assessed against the
evidence.
·
Verdict on Claim B:
The claim that
"the latest research and archaeology shows that they did in fact
believe
in 9 [elements] and not just 4" is demonstrably false.
There is no
credible, peer-reviewed archaeological, contemporary textual, or
linguistic
evidence to support this assertion. The academic record on the
specific
cosmology of the Iron Age Pretani is largely silent, and what is
known points
to a system of animism and polytheism focused on natural sites,
not a
formalized elemental system.
·
Verdict on Claim A:
The claim that
"the concept of 9 elements is a neo perspective" is demonstrably
true. The various nine-part systems discussed are all modern
constructs,
reconstructions, or reinterpretations. They are not the
rediscovery of a lost
ancient belief but the product of modern spiritual creativity.
The reasoning supporting this conclusion is built upon a
multi-layered
analysis:
1. The
"Pretani"
were not a single, unified tribe with a monolithic
belief system. The name was a generalized designation for the
diverse and
heterogeneous peoples of ancient Britain.
2. The
modern
"Pretani/Cruthin" identity movement, particularly as
articulated by Ian Adamson, is primarily a political-cultural
project designed
to create a historical narrative for a modern community, not an
objective
historical rediscovery. Its claims are refuted by archaeology and
genetics.
3. The
term
"nine elements" is a semantic red herring. It is used to
describe at least four different and unrelated concepts: a
reconstructed
Irish-Gaelic cosmology (the Dúile), a list of protective
powers from an
Irish prayer (the "Deer's Cry"), a set of theological principles
for
a modern religious order (Clann Bhríde), and a speculative
animistic framework
projected onto Proto-Indo-European origins (Pretani Wisdom
Traditions).
4. None
of
these systems can be historically or archaeologically tied
to the actual
inhabitants of Britain during the Iron Age. They are either
specific to a later
and different culture (Irish-Gaelic) or are entirely modern
inventions created
for contemporary spiritual purposes.
To fully resolve the user's confusion, it is helpful to draw a
final,
nuanced distinction between the concepts of history and heritage.
·
History is the
critical, evidence-based
academic discipline of studying and interpreting the past. Its
goal is to
understand the past on its own terms, based on the available
evidence. From the
perspective of history, a nine-element belief system for the
Pretani is an
unfounded claim.
·
Heritage, in
contrast, is the dynamic,
living relationship that contemporary people and communities have
with the
past. It is a process of creating meaning, identity, and
spirituality for the
present by drawing inspiration and raw materials from history. In
this light,
the work of figures like Sam MacLaren or Luke Eastwood can be
understood not as
flawed history, but as a valid and often powerful form of modern
heritage-making and spiritual bricolage. They are not
"discovering"
an ancient religion in a scientific sense; they are "creating" a
new
one.
Therefore, the most complete resolution is to recognize that the
claim of
new research supporting a nine-element Pretani belief is factually
incorrect
from a historical and archaeological standpoint. Understanding
this claim as a
manifestation of a modern, neo-pagan perspective—one that is
actively
constructing heritage rather than passively reporting
history—provides the most
accurate and comprehensive answer.
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