
Irish DNA originated in Middle East and eastern Europe - hunglee2
http://www.theguardian.com/science/2015/dec/28/origins-of-the-irish-down-to-mass-migration-ancient-dna-confirms?CMP=share_btn_fb
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arethuza
Interestingly enough, ancient Scottish legends do claim that they came from
the Middle East via Spain and Ireland - this is mentioned in the 1320
Declaration of Arbroath:

 _" They journeyed from Greater Scythia by way of the Tyrrhenian Sea and the
Pillars of Hercules, and dwelt for a long course of time in Spain among the
most savage tribes, but nowhere could they be subdued by any race, however
barbarous.

Thence they came, twelve hundred years after the people of Israel crossed the
Red Sea, to their home in the west where they still live today."_

[http://www.scotsman.com/lifestyle/the-text-of-the-
declaratio...](http://www.scotsman.com/lifestyle/the-text-of-the-declaration-
of-arbroath-1-465230)

~~~
jbattle
snorri sturlson claimed the norse gods were refugees from Troy. There must be
something appealing about having exotic roots.

~~~
arethuza
And the Romans claimed a similar back story:

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aeneid](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aeneid)

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danieltillett
No. It shows that the four individuals sequenced from this time (~3000 to 4000
years ago) who died in Ireland had significant middle eastern ancestry. It is
not a sampling of the Irish population at the time, nor even a likely
representivive sampling of the ancestors of the modern Irish population. All
it tells us for certain is that some of the people living in Ireland at the
time had middle eastern ancestors.

~~~
joeyo
That's overly dismissive. The sampled individuals had several crucial genes:
the C282Y hemochromatosis mutation, a Y chromosome haplotype which is common
among modern Irish, and a gene for lactase persistence, all of which strongly
suggest genetic continuity with the modern Irish.

~~~
danieltillett
All these genes are found elsewhere in Europe too. You really can’t read that
much into such analysis because of this - genes get around.

The most interesting thing about this study is that that there were
individuals with a high level of middle eastern ancestry in Ireland at the
time. This is not too unexpected given that the Phoenicians were tin trading
with Cornwall around this time so of course they could have been trading with
the Irish as well. One of the things we have found in recent times is the
bronze age trade networks were more extensive and widespread than might be
expected.

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jackgavigan
The 11th century book _Lebor Gabála Érenn [1]_ (a Tolkein-esque attempt to
provide an epic history for Ireland) claims that the Gaels (Irish) originated
in Scythia (modern Eastern Iran and *stan) and migrated to Ireland via Spain.

1:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lebor_Gabála_Érenn](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lebor_Gabála_Érenn)

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gvozd
It aligns with what we know about the history of the Celtic languages. The
ancestor to the remaining Celtic languages first appeared in Central Europe.
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proto-
Celtic_language](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proto-Celtic_language)

~~~
temp
No, you're misinterpreting things. The analyzed DNA is from 5, 4 and 3
thousand years ago, at a time when there are suspected to have been no Celtic
speakers in the Isles. Speakers of the Celtic branch of languages began
appearing in the Isles far later than that (probably around 600 BCE).

This DNA would have not been representative of the DNA of the people who
brought Celtic languages to the Isles. Similarly, the people who brought
Celtic languages to the Isles are not necessarily representative of the
current or even the populations contemporary to their times (minority
languages can become dominant as was the case with Hungarian).

This only tells us about the population's genetics, but it doesn't link it to
the Celtic language group.

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benbojangles
Some interesting storytelling:
[http://jahtruth.net/tephisum.htm](http://jahtruth.net/tephisum.htm)

