[Hemlock]

The original Scythians were Indo-European; however, some scholars believe they eventually mixed with Mongoloid populations. The Picts were probably related to the Basque, but as far as I can tell, nobody has proven anything definite regarding their ethnicity, only that they were eventually subsumed by Irish and Norse invaders. The Huns, of course, were primarily Mongoloid. Frankly, I don't see how all of this adds up to those populations being related in the sense you are implying.

[blam]

"Frankly, I don't see how all of this adds up to those populations being related in the sense you are implying."

I noticed that you have an MA in anthropology. I will try harder over the next few days to make a (more) convincing story. PS, I lived out your way in the mid-60's to mid-70's.

[twigs]

I had not heard that the Picts and Basques may be related. Very interesting. Have any of the mitochondrial DNA studies being conducted in Great Britain shown that similarity as well? Thanks for the info.

[Cleburne]

The Picts were curious people; curiouser yet is that we know so little about them, even though they were Christianized and interacted with both the Romans, the Brythonics, and the Anglo-Saxons. I tend to picture them as an Indo-European people but closely connected with whatever people they assimilated. Their language is quite an enigma, as what little survives in monuments and placenames is fragmentary and inconlusive. If the monument inscriptions mean anything- and they often appear as just jumbles of letters!- then it would seem from first glance their language was perhaps only "half" Indo-European, so to speak.

I wonder, how common is the souterrain-type construction which may or may not have been Pictish? I am aware of it in the British Isles and in Armenia (where belowground tyoe dwellings existed untill relatively recent times)- I would assume it occured elsewhere in the world.

[mamelukesabre]

Apparently, the huns were not *completely* mongoloid. YOur typical chinese man does not grow facial hair. THe huns did grow facial hair but at puberty they scraped thier faces down to raw meat so that it scarred over thereby preventing the hair from growing.

THey must have been quite ugly by modern anglo american standards.

P.S. they also drank horse blood, and they did it by cutting a vein on a horse's neck or shoulder and sucking it directly from the horse with their mouth.

[sinanju]

There was an exhibit of Scythian works in a Baltimore museum some years ago, I found it fascinating but couldn't help but notice that the mannekins were all lily-white redheads.

There was no talk about ethnicity.