THE ORIGIN OF THE LIBYAN ALPHABETS REVISITED

The language used by the ancient Berbers, as well as the origin of their alphabet, are unknown leaving unread a large and increasing number of inscriptions across North Africa. The objective of this paper is to provide the rationale for a new attempt to translate the Libyco-Berber part of the bilingual Dougga monument, this time trying a Proto-European language instead of known Berber languages. Three decades ago an alphabet, virtually the same as the Tifinagh alphabet in use today by the Tuaregs in North Africa, was found on a large limestone rock in Canada which also contained Algonquin petroglyphs. The representations of various figures from Nordic mythology, and other aspects of the inscriptions, indicated that they were made by Scandinavians during the Scandinavian Bronze Age and that not only the shapes but also the sound values of the alphabets in Peterborough and North Africa were largely the same. This epigraphic work has apparently been ignored. Published research, together with writings from classical sources, offers plausible motives for a Scandinavian visit to Canada, the feasibility of such a visit, as well as the suggestion that the Tifinagh alphabet was introduced by the Berbers into North Africa at the time of the attacks on Egypt by the “peoples from the sea”. This would imply that the ancient language used by the Berbers was a Proto-European language.