Geopagan

IRELAND: There is nothing in the historical or archaeological record that would suggest that Ireland experienced any influx of people during the La Tene expansion. The few La Tene artifacts all appear to be locally made and there is nothing else in the record that would point to anything other than an indigenous population who adopted some of the La Tene cultural “package”, adapting it to fit within their own cultural framework (e.g., Raftery, 1991).

In the McEvoy et al. (2004) genetic study of the Celtic origins of Ireland and the Atlantic Façade of Europe, they state, archaeological evidence for large- scale Iron Age migrations into the British Isles has been singularly lacking. In Ireland, for example, La Tene artifacts are relatively rare and are almost always of indigenous manufacture rather than of external origin (Raftery 1994), leading archaeologists and historians to question the accepted idea of Celtic migration to Ireland (O´ ’Donnabha´ in 2000). More generally, Renfrew (1987), among others, proposed that the roots of insular Celtic identity lay within the region in which the Celtic languages were historically spoken, in the diffusion of Indo-European speakers into Britain and Ireland with the arrival of the Neolithic in 4000 B.C. They summarize the studies of both mtDNA and Y-DNA and conclude that there is little evidence of any Central European influence, but a shared ancestry across the, Atlantic zone, from Iberia to western Scandinavia, that dates back to the end of the last Ice Age (p.693). There is nothing in the genetic or archaeological data that would suggest any Hallstatt or La Tene immigration to Ireland and no support for the “Book of Invasions” relating to the Gaels and Fir Bolg (e.g., James, 1993). La Tene metalwork does not appear until about 250 BC, and this is in a distinctive Irish style, only showing a degree of stylistic influence, not pointing to any direct contact with the La Tene world.

R-M269 percentages in Ireland – Of all countries in Europe, Ireland has the largest R-M269 population (likely almost all being R-L21/S145), reaching the saturation point along the west coast. Ireland is over 90% R-M269.

R-U152 predictions – Myres et al. (2007) found 7% of their Irish sample were R-U 106. In the opinion of the present author all of these can be attributed to the known presence of English, Viking and Norman invaders. It will be interesting to compare this percentage to nearby England with an undisputed input from Anglo – Saxon and Viking sources. Some R-M167 has been observed in Ireland (perhaps 5% of the R-M269 total). The vast majority will be R-L21/S145 (including subtypes known as Irish Type III, and South Irish – each of which have very distinctive haplotypes), as well as the Ui Neill Northwest Irish R-M222. The prediction here is that most of the R-U152 is from Norwegian Viking sources, and from the English and Norman plantations. Considering that to date more Irish than any other group (with the possible exception of English) have been tested for R-U152, and only three with indisputable genealogical evidence of the Irish birth of the Y-line ancestor have been found U152 positive, it is expected that less than 5% of Irish will be R-U152.

R-U152 Findings - Two individuals from Ireland who are R-U152 have English
surnames; and one a Scottish surname.