Snails Reveal Ancient Human Migration from France to Ireland

Popular Archaeology ^ | Wednesday, June 19, 2013 | Public Library of Science

[SunkenCiv]

A genetic study of snails, combined with other factors, suggests a migration of Mesolithic peoples from the Pyrenees to Ireland.

A recent study of the mitochondrial DNA of the Cepaea nemoralis land snail, a snail curiously common only between Ireland and the Pyrenees region of Southern France, has led researchers to conclude the possibility that ancient Mesolithic people carried the fauna with them in a migration from the French region to Ireland about 8,000 years ago.

This correlates with studies of human genetics and the colonization of Ireland, according to the research* published June 19 in the open access journal PLOS ONE by Angus Davison and colleagues from the University of Nottingham, UK.

Ireland and this region of France are thousands of miles apart.

Says Davison, "There is a very clear pattern, which is difficult to explain except by involving humans. If the snails naturally colonized Ireland, you would expect to find some of the same genetic type in other areas of Europe, especially Britain. We just don't find them."

Moreover, he adds, "There are records of Mesolithic or Stone Age humans eating snails in the Pyrenees, and perhaps even farming them. The highways of the past were rivers and the ocean – as the river that flanks the Pyrenees was an ancient trade route to the Atlantic, what we're actually seeing might be the long lasting legacy of snails that hitched a ride, accidentally or perhaps as food, as humans travelled from the South of France to Ireland 8,000 years ago."

*Grindon AJ, Davison A (2013) Irish Cepaea nemoralis Land Snails Have a Cryptic Franco-Iberian Origin That Is Most Easily Explained by the Movements of Mesolithic Humans. PLoS ONE 8(6): e65792. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0065792

[SunkenCiv]

Genetic markers in banded wood snails in Ireland and France reveal ancient human migrations. Credit: Lauren Holden

[SunkenCiv]

http://www.ancienttexts.org/library/celtic/irish/

http://www.donaldcorrell.com/tales/invasions.html

http://www.timelessmyths.com/celtic/invasions.html

http://wolf.mind.net/library/celtic/mil.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lebor_Gabála_Érenn

[SunkenCiv]

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[SunkenCiv]

Look at that S car go!

https://thetfp.com/tfp/tilted-humor/87878-two-snail-jokes-forgive-me-if-theyre-repeats.html

[djf]

I think snails are hermaphroditic and a single snail can reproduce.

So all it would take is ONE SNAIL stuck to a piece of wood or something, floating across the English channel, and you get the same result.

To turn this into some astounding revelation about human migration is lame... just lame.

[ClearCase_guy]

Slow news day?

[Sacajaweau]

Can’t explain unless we involve humans??.....Ridiculous

[Sacajaweau]

I posted before I read yours...but said the same thing.

What they need is more grant money...

[CrazyIvan]

“Can’t explain unless we involve humans??.....Ridiculous”

Agreed. Just build a farm pond in Ill. and soon you will have all sorts of wildlife (including snails) that couldn't make the trip alone. The eggs are transported by waterfowl.

[djf]

Well, we agree 100%

If I was a mentor of somebody who came to such a ridiculous conclusion, I would think the only honorable thing to do would be to resign immediately!

It’s pretty meaningless. I mean the conclusion is that people went from France to the British Isles man that’s just MIND-BOGGLING in it’s implications, eh?

Thank God for snails!!

;-)

[occamrzr06]

GUARD #1: Where’d you get the coconut?
ARTHUR: We found them.
GUARD #1: Found them? In Mercea? The coconut’s tropical!
ARTHUR: What do you mean?
GUARD #1: Well, this is a temperate zone.
ARTHUR: The swallow may fly south with the sun or the house martin
or the plumber may seek warmer climes in winter yet these are not
strangers to our land.
GUARD #1: Are you suggesting coconuts migrate?

[BluH2o]

So all it would take is ONE SNAIL stuck to a piece of wood or something, floating across the English channel, and you get the same result.

The Pyrenees run along the border of France & Spain. This is considerably further than crossing the English Channel.

[djf]

Zero difference.

If it’s longer for snails, it’s longer for humans.

The snails didn’t reveal a single thing. The authors of the study have chosen to speculate.

That’s not science.

[Sacajaweau]

My kids have a pond on their property in the southern tier of NYS.

The geese found it. What a pain...and cr** all over the place.

Then there's the bazillion frogs....

[CrazyIvan]

Brings a new meaning to the phrase “goose step” doesn't it!

[Sacajaweau]

It’s the insane hidden thought that bothers me....that humans deliberately transported the snails.

[SunkenCiv]

LOL!

[SunkenCiv]

No, a single snail is not able to reproduce with itself, and your post is lame.

[La Lydia]

“Honey, we’re all set to leave. Did you pack the snails?” :)

[SunkenCiv]

;’)