Posted on 08/14/2006 6:17:14 PM PDT by blam
DNA test can detect Picts' descendants
By Auslan Cramb, Scottish Correspondent
(Filed: 14/08/2006)
A geneticist has created a DNA test for "Scottishness" that will tell people whether they are direct descendants of the Picts.
The test, expected to cost about £130, checks a sample of saliva against 27 genetic markers linked to some of the earliest inhabitants of Scotland.
Dr Jim Wilson, of the public health sciences department at Edinburgh University, said: "We started this work a few years ago, looking at the Norse component, and we proved that a large proportion of people on Orkney are descended from Vikings.
"Now the markers have moved on massively and we have discovered that we can trace back the component of the indigenous Picts by looking at the unique grouping of their Y-chromosome. We believe that this would have been found only in Scotland."
Scientists were able to isolate the unique Pictish DNA strands from 1,000-year-old bone fragments found in ancient burial grounds
Man for man, a Viking military force was no more effective in actual battle than the European warrior bands of the day. The Vikings' military advantage was mobility and surprise, due to the longship and the fact that they were (at least initially) raiders who could pick their targets. Their poorly organized victims were unable to provide adequate point defense against an enemy who could strike anywhere while drifting away from serious resistance.
The Vikings' great weakness was their own political fragmentation. On the few occasions when a Viking king was able to put together a broad enough pirate alliance, Viking invasion forces were certainly capable of going toe-to-toe with serious European armies (as opposed to local levies called out to oppose raids), but their success was quite mixed.
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Just updating the GGG info, not sending a general distribution. |
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When the farthing ceased to be legal tender in the UK, there was a cartoon showing a Scot with a huge sack full of farthings bringing it to be cashed in just before the deadline.
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