European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - November 04, 1993, Darmstadt, Hesse National lao Gramc a painting of Arthur stands in the metropolitan museum of Art above. This spot in Glastonbury for England is thought to be the burial site of Arthur right. By Donald Smith the Bones lie in a Jumble beneath the 400-year-old floor of St. Michael and All Angels Church in Arthurett England a Stone s throw from the place that might have been Camelot. Sometimes for a joke one of the elders will pry up a floorboard and in reverent tones inform some Saucer eyed Village youngsters that they Are beholding the mortal remains of King Arthur. Of course they re not. The Skeleton More Likely belonged to a medieval parishioner who was Laid to rest when burials beneath Church floors weren t uncommon. But the claim that the legendary British ruler s Castle once Rose from the nearby Hill and the ironic twist of history that led to the site s destruction Are no jokes. It s a reasonable supposition says the Rev. John a. Higgins vicar of St. Michael a gazing past tombstones at the spot in question. It is now an empty Swath of grass adjacent to the Church cemetery. All sorts of circumstantial evidence. Supports the notion he says. If there was a Man called Arthur it seems to me the claim that this site was his military Headquarters is extraordinarily Arthurett a tiny Hamlet in Cumberland county near the scottish Border is Only one of some 160 Sites stretching from Cornwall to Scotland that claim some connection to the shadowy supposed commander of native British forces that resisted the invasion of germanic tribes at the beginning of the dark Ages. Almost 30 years have passed since the most ambitious investigation in modern times of the Arthur legends was launched involving some of the Foremost British archaeologists and historians of that time. Vet the True Story of the fifth or Sixtra Century War Leader if he did exist remains buried beneath thick layers of myth and speculation and. The magic and mystery of scholars still debating existence of Camelot considerable academic controversy. I Don t think you can say it will Ever be proved says archaeologist Ralegh Radford who at age 93, is considered the elder statesman of the Arthur Hunters. People will always be Radford Long acclaimed As a leading figure in dark Ages studies in Western Britain is generally credited with touching off the 20th-Century search for Arthur. As a Young Man in the 1930s, Radford dug up evidence that a powerful and wealthy household existed at Tintagel the windswept Promontory on the coast of Cornwall that is reputed to be Arthur s Birthplace during the period when Arthur would have been born. Radford concedes that no one has yet discovered incontrovertible evidence that such a person existed. But neither he Points out has a Man behind the legends been disprove and circumstantial evidence for his existence remains Strong. Personally i think there is sufficient evidence for saying that he was a historical figure says Radford summing up a lifetime of study. This opinion is far from unanimous. One of the latest archaeologists to dig at Tintagel Charles Thomas of the Institute of Cornish studies reflects the attitude of the current generation of academic sceptics. We Aren t remotely interested in Arthur whom we regard As irrelevant and probably nonexistent Thomas says. We be found a great Deal but it has absolutely nothing to do with the ongoing combat among academicians notwithstanding Arthur. Remains a principal hero of English speaking people. Winston Churchill recalled Arthur s Warrior image to Buck up British spirits during world War la. The image of Camelot As the shining capital of an Ideal civilization continues to tantalize today s strife weary world. Interest in the mystery of Arthur s existence May be most intense in the is United states which has the largest number of members of the International arthurian society an organization with branches in France Germany and Japan. The question of Arthur his existence or not is taken much More seriously in America says author and lecturer Geoffrey Ashe who lives near a supposed i Glastonbury England. It seems to have started in the Wake of president Kennedy who was sort of mythic Zed As an american Arthur after his death. There was the musical came Otthat he was fond of the Brief shining moment and the rest of if there were an Arthur he certainly was not the founder of a chivalrous round table society of knights bedecked in shining Armor As he is portrayed in medieval romances such As sir Thomas Malory s Morte d Arthur or later in Alfred lord Tennyson s victorian opus idylls of the King. If he existed Arthur More Likely was a British warlord a powerful military Leader who fought a series of Battles against european invaders culminating in a climactic confrontation at a place identified by a British cleric some 40 years after the event As mount Badon. During this period the invasion of what became England by the angles and saxons was halted in the South for several decades ,1 feet documented by the archaeological record. That can Only mean there was a successful resistance on the part of the britons Radford says. There must have been someone leading them and tradition has transmitted his name As the major contender for the site of Arthur s main military Headquarters the Camelot of later romances is Cadbury Castle near Glastonbury. Not a Castle in the modern sense Cadbury is a Large Iron age Hill fort that archaeological studies have shown was massively re fortified about the time Arthur 10 stripes Magazine no Ember 4, 1993 \
