On Mon, 19 May 2008 16:25:28 -0700 (PDT), "w_sugar03@yahoo.co.uk"
wrote:
>On 19 May, 14:33, Paul C wrote:
>> On Sun, 18 May 2008 18:05:07 -0700 (PDT), "w_suga...@yahoo.co.uk"
>>
>> wrote:
>>
>> >Yes, the descendants of the original pre-Roman British whose DNA is
>> >present in more than 70% of today's 'indigenous' Britons.
>>
>> Ah, you mean Celts.
>
>No, I do not. The Celts are unquestionably not the indigenous people
>of the British Isles. Recent evidence is strongly suggesting that it
>was primarily Celtic culture, mainly agricultural knowledge, and not
>its people that came to Britain. Furthermore, some are debating
>whether the Celts were actually a 'people' at all.
>
>And to clarify my previous post:
>70% of 'white' people in England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland, who are
>a 'single' people, carry the same genetic make up found in DNA dating
>from the Younger Dryas period - approx 11,000 years ago.
The Scotsman
We're nearly all Celts under the skin
IAN JOHNSTON SCIENCE CORRESPONDENT
Thu 21 Sep 2006
A MAJOR genetic study of the population of Britain appears to have put
an end to the idea of the "Celtic fringe" of Scotland, Ireland and
Wales.
Instead, a research team at Oxford University has found the majority
of Britons are Celts descended from Spanish tribes who began arriving
about 7,000 years ago.
Even in England, about 64 per cent of people are descended from these
Celts, outnumbering the descendants of Anglo- Saxons by about three to
one.
The proportion of Celts is only slightly higher in Scotland, at 73 per
cent. Wales is the most Celtic part of mainland Britain, with 83 per
cent.
Previously it was thought that ancient Britons were Celts who came
from central Europe, but the genetic connection to populations in
Spain provides a scientific basis for part of the ancient Scots'
origin myth.
The Declaration of Arbroath of 1320, following the War of Independence
against England, tells how the Scots arrived in Scotland after they
had "dwelt for a long course of time in Spain among the most savage
tribes".
Professor Bryan Sykes, a human geneticist at Oxford, said the myth may
have been a "residue" in people's memories of the real journey, but
added that the majority of people in England were the descendants of
the same people who sailed across the Bay of Biscay.
Prof Sykes divided the population into several groups or clans: Oisin
for the Celts; Wodan for Anglo-Saxons and Danish Vikings; Sigurd for
Norse Vikings; Eshu for people who share genetic links with people
such as the Berbers of North Africa; and Re for a farming people who
spread to Europe from the Middle East.
The study linked the male Y-chromosome to the birthplace of paternal
grandfathers to try to establish a historic distribution pattern. Prof
Sykes, a member of the Oisin clan, said the Celts had remained
predominant in Britain despite waves of further migration.
"The overlay of Vikings, Saxons and so on is 20 per cent at most.
That's even in those parts of England that are nearest to the
Continent," he said.
"The only exception is Orkney and Shetland, where roughly 40 per cent
are of Viking ancestry."
In Scotland, the majority of people are not actually Scots, but Picts.
Even in Argyll, the stronghold of the Irish Scots, two-thirds of
members of the Oisin clan are Pictish Celts.
However, according to the study, the Picts, like the Scots, originally
came from Spain.
"If one thinks that the English are genetically different from the
Scots, Irish and Welsh, that's entirely wrong," he said.
"In the 19th century, the idea of Anglo-Saxon superiority was very
widespread. At the moment, there is a resurgence of Celtic identity,
which had been trampled on. It's very vibrant and obvious at the
moment.
"Basically the cornerstone of Celtic identity is that they are not
English. However, to try to base that, as some do, on an idea that is
not far beneath the surface that Celtic countries are somehow
descended from a race of Celts, which the English are not, is not
right. We are all descended from the same people.
"It should dispel any idea of trying to base what is a cultural
identity on a genetic difference, because there really isn't one." |