Dominant Celtic blood?

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Priscilla Duck

Blood doesn't equate to culture, that's a dangerous argument. If it were true, then how can we explain a recent survey of DNA done in the UK by University College London that showed that the south of England is as Celtic as mainland Scotland, and that many of those who consider themselves Anglo-Saxon are in fact Celts?

It's more likely that geographical and environmental factors played a significant role in the cultural legacy we have on this island. Although a melting pot, it is an insular one, cut off from mainland Europe yet close enough to gain from the cultures of successive waves of migration. As different cultures encountered the original population, they added to the flavour of the culture rather than diluted it, as the inflows of people were not matched by outflows. Although we don't know much about the pre-Celtic people who lived here, some of their legends and customs persist. More modern 'invasions', like that of Christianity, and even the Normans, simply adapted to the Celtic customs that were already in place, making sure that the old beliefs and customs never really went away. It was politically expedient for the Vikings and Normans to marry in to Irish families, adopting their culture in exchange for power and influence. A 'blood' explanation is far too simplistic and doesn't really take into account the complexities of history and cultural development.

EDIT - judging by the UCL research, then yes, the majority of Irish people would share DNA with particular Irish/Celtic markers, although of course it will very from family to family. You can get tested for about $100 dollars through the National Geographic website if you'd like to find out your exact make-up. An aunt of mine had it done and it was mostly Irish but showed Ukrainian and French genetic markers which I'd like to find out more about. They send you a swab kit and you send it back. They then send you a report with maps etc. If it wasn't for my paranoia about genetic databases and conspiracies etc I'd have it done in a flash.

brother_in_magic

there was never any huge migration of european celts into Ireland--ask any archaeologist! Dna testing has shown the greatest affinities of the Irish and Welsh in particular (but also scots, yes, and even the English) is to the Basques of Spain.
People from this region populated the British Isles and Ireland after the ice receded after the last Ice Age.(and here's the REAL reason for the 'black Irish'!) The other group with common dna in this area arrived in the neolithic-their ultimate origins were in the near east, Anatolia and Mesopotamia, although of course some of these groups had been travelling through Europe for centuries before reaching Ireland.
The most common male dna is Ireland is R1b (if you have a Gaelic surname you have over 90% chance of having it), and for mtdna H1 (H isv ery common all over Europe but H1 shows very different ancestral migrations to say H3.) there are also little pockets of X,U, and V which are quite unusual (U is oldest of all).K is also not infrequent. J & T are the neolithic clans,though T2 may have entered Europe much earlier than that.
I had my mtdna done (from the Irish side of the family) and I am T2, known as Clan Tara because it's frequent in Ireland (and also cornwall.)
There is some viking ancestry too, but you will find they have different markers again in the dna.remember though they were only in Ireland about 400 years-a mere drop in the sea. interestingly, they took a lot of irish and British women up to Iceland when they settled there, so the modern population of Iceland has Norse male ancestry but primarily British and Irish maternal dna.

AnteK

well you'd want to know what features come about as a result of Celtic blood. like would it be ginger and blue eyes, brown and blue eyes?

i'm only guessing, but i'd say it is. that's why there's a load of O's and Mac's when people's names are put into Gaeilge.

Penguin

I hope so I love Celtic Music

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