Hey, hope you had a good time, weather was on your side if nothing else.

As far as languag goes, read a book pertaining to the Iron Age which stated that Breton, Cornish, Welsh and Gaelic all come from a common root. Either Brithonic P for Welsh (the example given is for the word son, which in Welsh is Map) and Brithonic Q for Gaelic (Which is why son in Scottish is Mac). Apparently modern Welsh is the closest we have to the language of Britains during the Iron Age. It wouldn't be a terrible stretch to imagine it stemming from an older language. According to the book (unfortunately i forget what book it was) the Gaulish Iron Age tribes in France had no problems understanding the English Tribes, though that doesn't mean that thy spoke exactly the same tongue. Would be curious to know if there were regional variations in the languge like we used to have not so long ago, and indeed have to some degree these days with regional accents.

So sorry, didn't really answer your question, but went some way too.

I saw a Time Team (I think) docu with Tony on a barge with Mike PP and a couple of others, one who stated that the course of the Avon hadn't changed a great deal since the Neolithic. Being chalk I'd have thought it would have cut deeper channels at bends etc.... so moved it somewhat, but apparently not. Think the prog was about finds at Durrington Walls, and the causeway from Durrington to the Avon. Also on catch up on Virgin, there are a couple of Stonhenge Docu's on there right now from the last week, One about ongoing Landscape Project (the Lidar and geophys one) from 2015 where one of the guys seemed to think that the Sarsens were dragged on a route pretty much the same ass the ice age grooves of the avenue, but I've heard no one else subscribe to that (and indeed, if you've walkd the final bit of the avenue, under grass, the grooves don't seem that apparent at all, so I don't know if it's just a happy accident, or Archeo's overthinking things again).

Hi Monganaut, your response brought a huge smile to my face, why?, well the reference to Neolithic language possibly being connected to the Welsh language. As a schoolboy growing up in Amlwch, Anglesey, we had to learn Welsh and the thought that I might have been able to ask one of the builders at Stonehenge 'Where is the train station' quite made my day. On a more serious note, I think the whole question of language during the building of the great monuments and the beginning of trade with Europe is fascinating and definitely my winter project. As for the river at Amesbury still meandering along the same course it did over 4500 years ago I will have to leave to the experts, at least it removes one other variable from the equation (and Lord knows there are enough)