[JimBob (OP)]

It is well known that Glastonbury is one of the legendary repositories of the Holy Grail. Equally well know is the legend that Joseph of Arimathea brought the chalice with him from Palestine to Glastonbury. It has been theorized that Joseph was a tin trader or bronze worker and had been to mines in Cornwall. This metal working trade has been implied by recent new translations from the Qumran text of the Gospel of Nicodemus.

A recent excavation by the National Trust near Ystradgynlais, just NE of Ystalyfera in the southernmost Siluries Mountains has uncovered some astonishing new evidence that this is a semi-accurate account of Joseph's trade and of his presence in Wales at the time of Jesus. A horde of gold and silver found in a Welch mine shaft of the Roman period contains a significant piece of Siluri tribal gold work, a broach, with a Hebrew maker's mark which transposes from the Hebrew "yod-shin-vav" to the English "Jsf". It is of a style much more ancient than the rest of the horde, of Brythoniaid style, and has led to speculation that Geoffrey of Monmouth in Prophetiae Merlini ("The Prophecies of Merlin") may have modeled Merlin ("Myrddin" in Welch) after this seemingly millennia old figure "Joseph" whose roots may reach back to the Neolithic, as his "maker's mark" is claimed by some individuals to be found in an older form of Hebrew as graffiti on the lintel stone of Bryn Celli Ddu, a late Neolithic chambered tomb on Anglesey and in Aramaic on articles from the Sutton Hoo excavation.

The find, being as it is in old Gwynedd, has stirred Welch Pride and the claim that King Arthur was Welch.

After much research the BBC has found a man of Jewish descent, a jeweler with a rather elaborate cover story, that may be this timeless Merlin. His rings all bear the maker's mark "JSF" but now in English. This Merlin is also know as "too much free time." He associates with an unknown woman who purportedly says "LOL" a lot and a other people who have formed a loose bond of alchemists.

At a future time the BBC will broadcast programming on this and the associated finds. David Attenburogh has agreed to be the presenter. Tom Jones was consider to be potentially too distractive for the female audience. This programme will also report on the sad story of the finder of the Ystradgynlais Horde who, after being paid by the Trust, was found naked and drowned along with his mates in the cellar of Ystradgynlais' only pub, which it seems they had filled with whiskey. On the wall of the floor above was scrawled "Woad to those who do not believe."

[rosy]

See date on above post...

[JimBob (OP)]

ERRATA:

My apologies for an incorrect assertion above. Gwynedd did remain independent from Norman Britan until the 13th century but the Siluries are not in Gwynedd. They are in the old kingdoms of Gwent, Brycheiniog, Deheubarth and part of Powys.

The rest of the article's place names and referenced to books are correct but are subject to interpretation.

Rosy's observation is probably cogent.