ogam

The Answer to the Question: Is there Ogam in California?

Written by Dale

I will try to share the discovery of Ogam inscriptions that I happened on to while I was watching a show on my local TV broadcast. They were doing a Documentary on the town of Cherokee, showing the remains of the old gold town when something caught my eye.

It was a large stone that was in the shape of a coffin for burial and had some lines that looked like Ogam to me.

I only saw about two seconds of it as they scanned across it and I just about jumped through the ceiling! I said to myself is this Ogam!

I said to my wife Dorothy let's go to Cherokee and see if we can locate the stone.

When we arrived at the Cherokee museum it was closed, but there was a man next door and so I spoke to him . He said that he watched over the museum and he gave me the phone number to get in touch with the owner later, and come again.

The caretaker let me take some quick pictures of the stone before I left Cherokee but they are not very good quality because I had to hurry! (picture at top).

What is Ogam ?

Ogam is the oldest form of writing in Ireland and Scotland. It can still be seen inscribed on hundreds of large and small stones, on the walls of some caves, but also on bone, ivory, bronze and silver objects. The Ogam script was especially well adapted for use on sticks. Sticks are part of the Basque word for "alphabet": agaka, agglutinated from aga-aka, aga (stick or pole) and akats (notch). The meaning of the word agaka therefore isn't so much "alphabet" as "writing", a stick with Ogam notches conveying a message. The name Ogam likely comes from oga-ama, ogasun (property, wealth) ama (Priestess, mother) property of the Priestess, which indicates that the script may originally have been designed for use by the clergy of the pre-Christian religion. There is over 300 styles of Ogam script.