Posted on 09/09/2004 3:59:23 PM PDT by blam
Irish, Scots and Welsh not Celts - scientists
September 09 2004 at 08:15PM
Dublin - Celtic nations like Ireland and Scotland have more in common with the Portuguese and Spanish than with "Celts" - the name commonly used for a group of people from ancient Alpine Europe, scientists say.
"There is a received wisdom that the origin of the people of these islands lie in invasions or migrations... but the affinities don't point eastwards to a shared origin," said Daniel Bradley, co-author of a genetic study into Celtic origins.
Early historians believed the Celts - thought to have come from an area to the east of modern France and south of Germany - invaded the Atlantic islands around 2 500 years ago.
But archaeologists have recently questioned that theory and now Bradley, from Trinity College Dublin, and his team, say DNA evidence supports their thinking.
Affinities don't point eastwards to a shared origin Geneticists used DNA samples from people living in Celtic nations and compared the genetic traits with those of people in other parts of Europe.
The study showed people in Celtic areas: Wales, Scotland, Ireland, Brittany and Cornwall, had strong genetic ties, but that this heritage had more in common with people from the Iberian peninsula.
"What we would propose is that this commonality among the Atlantic facade is much older... 6 000 years ago or earlier," Bradley told Reuters.
He said people may have moved up from areas around modern-day Portugal and Spain at the end of the Ice Age.
The similarities between Atlantic "Celts" could also suggest these areas had good levels of communications with one another, he added.
But the study could not determine whether the common genetic traits meant "Celtic" nations would look alike or have similar temperaments. Dark or red hair and freckles are considered Celtic features.
Nothing. People moved around--a lot.
BTTT
That's okay.
I'd sooner have something in common with the Spanish, than the French and Germans! ;-)
marron -- Doesn't that just tell us that there was a strong Celtic presence in pre-Roman Iberia?spot on!
Servant of the 9 -- Until the Germanic invasions starting in the first century BC, Spain was a Celtic country, as was Gaul.
Mikey_1962 -- the Irish Celts gave the bagpipe to the Scots....evidently they did not get the joke;') The pipes used to be found all over the Isles of the Mighty. Another survivor are the Northumbrian smallpipes.
Question_Assumptions -- Given that "Celtic" is defined by the language they speak, this really isn't all that surprising. I'm sure that many speakers of Indo-European languages aren't that genetically related to the original "Indo-Europeans" of the Caspian Sea region.Quite agree, and would add that most genetic studies are hogwash. Fertile lines have exactly 46 lines of descent, weaving their way back through the past like the Caduceus.
Redleg Duke -- This "Boffin" needs a Claymore Enema!:'D And he'd only need one! ;')
Please FREEPMAIL me if you want on, off, or alter the "Gods, Graves, Glyphs" PING list --
Archaeology/Anthropology/Ancient Cultures/Artifacts/Antiquities, etc.
The GGG Digest -- Gods, Graves, Glyphs (alpha order)
Peter S. Wells, Beyond Celts, Germans, and Scythians: Archaeology and Identity in Iron Age Europe
Fascinating!
I've always found this quite confusing. Thanks for the book suggestion.
ping
Hey now, the Irish are simple Scots before the Scots got it right. We can't help it if they're only seond best ya know!
And btw, bagpipes rule.
You want to get into european histroy? All languages from northern India to Ireland share a common root. All of them are Aryan. That's right, celts, northmen, greeks, and gauls are all originally from India.
That's great that they aren't decsended from frogs... but from strong races of man.... makes me proud... Scott-Spanish blood.
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