The Role of the Sea in Prehistory

We're conditioned to think of the sea as an isolating element. We forget that for a very long time, it was the only way really to ship large quantities of stuff in single units. I think Cornwall and Brittany are a great illustration of that because the Cornish language and the Breton language are very, very close. A Cornish speaker from Cornwall could step ashore on a harbour side in Brittany without speaking French and without knowingly speaking Breton. And Breton's came to Cornwall. There was a lot of Breton settlement in Cornwall. They may not have spoken English particularly well, but they could use their own first language Cornish to talk to Breton's and be understood.