And now, for something completely different. ... The Irish aren't celts.

[gardenmom5]

well, correctly, the people from whom the Irish descend, were actually there 1000 years before the Celts arrived.  This from a burial site unearthed in 2006.

Essentially, Irish DNA existed in Ireland before the Celts ever set foot on the island. 

Instead, Irish ancestors may have come to Ireland from the Bible lands in the Middle East. They might have arrived in Ireland from the South Meditteranean and would have brought cattle, cereal, and ceramics with them. 

The Proceedings of the National Academy of Science said that the bones strikingly resembled those of contemporary Irish, Scottish and Welsh people. 

A retired archaeology professor at the highly-renowned University of Oxford said that the discovery could completely change the perception of Irish ancestry. 

“The DNA evidence based on those bones completely upends the traditional view,” said Barry Cunliffe, an emeritus professor of archaeology at Oxford.

 

[Junie]

I actually learned a little bit about this just a few weeks ago.

The ladies at my church were doing a Bible study on the book of Galatians.  I was surprised to find out who the Galatians actually were: Celtic people who lived in modern-day Turkey.  The word Galatians is related to the word "Gaul", the ancient name of France.  I really need to study this more to find out exactly how the geography/time works out, but it is rather fascinating.

I know wikipedia isn't the best source, but...  This might give you some search topics to jump off from if you're interested.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galatians_(people)

Edited March 30, 2020 by Junie

[PrincessMommy]

I've been listening to "The Celtic World" from Great Courses and she said the same thing about Irish not being Celts (althought I think she quantified it with "probably not Celts) and the Galatians were celts.  It is very interesting.  

Edited March 30, 2020 by PrincessMommy

[ktgrok]

So, wait -

We have a reality tv star as president, a pandemic, and now the irish are not celts? This timeline is weird. 

[Terabith]

38 minutes ago, Ktgrok said:

So, wait -

We have a reality tv star as president, a pandemic, and now the irish are not celts? This timeline is weird. 

I keep asking who went back in time and stepped on a butterfly.

[Laura Corin]

I got into trouble on this board for saying something similar. I would now say, 'Irish genes predate their adoption/development of Celtic culture'. 

Dr Adam Rutherford, the geneticist, is good on genes and culture.

Edited March 30, 2020 by Laura Corin