GENEALOGY-DNA-L Archives

Archiver > GENEALOGY-DNA > 2006-09 > 1158886392


From: "Dora Smith" <>
Subject: Re: [DNA] Celts descended from Spanish fishermen, study finds
Date: Thu, 21 Sep 2006 19:53:12 -0500
References: <a06110407c1387adc2f1f@[216.187.1.203]><004d01c6dddc$4321a5a0$640fa8c0@Villandra2><CB03CFEC-0EE8-4D4C-8568-9E068AA982C1@vizachero.com>


THe notion that the dark skinned peoples of western Europe were teh Celts is
very old. Probably one of the oldest anthropological myths in existence.
The Celts were thought to be the small, dark skinned, weird people who
originally inhabited these areas, especially Britain. Never mind that they
weren't particularly small nor weird... I don't know how much of this
notion dates from teh Germanic invasions of England, and how much of it is
19th century. It was sure common by the time of my parents' history books
published in the early twentieth century. I know I've seen it cited in
19th century texts.

The idea developed from the historical association of the British Isles and
parts of WEstern Europe with the regions the Celts inhabited at teh end of
their historical period.

I've been working some more on my mothe rin law's genealogy, and teh people
who said that relatively few French Canadians came from Brittany are right.
A substantial number did come from Brittany, but far more of my mother in
law's ancestors came from Normandy. Second from the New Rochelle area,
Poitou, and Anjou, and then Brittany and Paris.

Now, my coworker's husband's mother has simlar ancestry. He has fair skin
and hair, but his siblings all inherited their mother's dark skin and hair,
and he says it's because of all the Celtic blood in the part of France they
came from. The myth lives. I haven't yet told them that no, that was
Old European and Neolithic Middle Eastern blood. If they were really all
that interested, they'd think his mother has more than one emigrant
ancestor.

Yours,
Dora Smith
Austin, TX

----- Original Message -----
From: "Vincent Vizachero" <>
To: <>
Sent: Thursday, September 21, 2006 7:21 PM
Subject: Re: [DNA] Celts descended from Spanish fishermen, study finds


>
> On Sep 21, 2006, at 7:15 PM, Dora Smith wrote:
>
>> Well, the genes clearly show most people of the British Isles and
>> western
>> Europe are descended from people who lived in Spain during the ice
>> age.
>> Don't know about the part where they fished, don't know about the
>> Bay of -
>> What?, and association with Celts is purely historical.
>
> Historical or hysterical?
>



--
Internal Virus Database is out-of-date.
Checked by AVG Anti-Virus.
Version: 7.1.394 / Virus Database: 268.10.3/395 - Release Date: 7/21/2006

This thread: