Were Celts once 30-40% of Europe's population?

[Peterski]

This article estimates the number of Celts in year 200 BCE as around 10 million people:

https://periklisdeligiannis.wordpres...ancient-celts/

The total population of Europe at that time, is estimated as ca. 25-30 million people:

http://www.arabgeographers.net/up/up...4299936761.pdf

https://books.google.pl/books?id=gcG...page&q&f=false

http://www.ggdc.net/maddison/oriindex.htm

Do you think it is possible that Celtic-speakers were once 30-40% of all Europeans?

What happened to those people, are their descendants still with us in your opinion?

[Brás Garcia de Mascarenhas]

What happened to those people, are their descendants still with us in your opinion?

Yes, you and I are descendants muh R1b-DF27 Celtiberian brother.

[Gwydion]

I believe that the people of what was once the Celtic core (British Isles, France minus Aquitaine, Belgium, Southern and Western Germany, Switzerland, Northern Italy, etc.) still are largely Celts by blood. Thus the true Germanics are the people of the Netherlands, Northern Germany, and Scandinavia, though it seems that Eastern England and Belgium and Southeastern Germany may have received more Germanic input as time has gone on.

From what I understand while R1b P312 may have be present in the early proto-Germanics or other populations, it largely represents Celtic paternal lineages. Thus Western Europe:

[Ouistreham]

Do you think it is possible that Celtic-speakers were once 30-40% of all Europeans?
What happened to those people, are their descendants still with us in your opinion?

No. I can't think they ever were that many.
Even in present day France, only a big half of the country was called "Gallia Celtica", roughly between Paris and Lyon.
In the North they were "Belgians", a Celtic/Germanic mix.
In the South (let alone in Italy or Iberia) they just were a tiny aristocracy of warriors reigning over pre-IE populations (Basques, Iberians, Ligurians).
The Celts had their window of opportunity, their short lapse of glory as long as they didn't face any serious contender. But as soon as they faced Romans or Germanics, they were overrrun and culturally assimilated.

From what I understand while R1b P312 may have be present in the early proto-Germanics or other populations, it largely represents Celtic paternal lineages. Thus Western Europe:

Hey, this map rather shows the pre-IE remnants in Western Europe (including especially the Basques)...

[Aren]

Most of those were proably celtizised. As it's shown genetically North Italy/Iberia and Ireland are not particularly close.

[Peterski]

There were also some Celts outside of Europe: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galatians

The famous "Dying Gaul" sculpture, actually shows a dying Galatian from Anatolia:





^^^
To me he doesn't look Anatolian, so I suppose Galatians did not assimilate many locals.

[Gwydion]

The Celts had their window of opportunity, their short lapse of glory as long as they didn't face any serious contender. But as soon as they faced Romans or Germanics, they were overrrun and culturally assimilated.

The Celts dominated Europe from Hallstatt times down to Caesar's conquests. They were the only ancient people to capture and sack Rome until the end of the Western Empire, they defeated the Etruscans and made a permanent settlement in Northern Italy, they defeated the Macedonians in battle, they were a core element of Hannibal's armies at Trebia and Cannae, etc. They were no slouches. Their problem was lack of unity and being squeezed between the expansions of two other people, the Germanics and Romans (the latter who defeated basically everyone back then.) I have no doubt that if the Germanic people lived in Gaul and the Celts in Scandinavia, faced with the expanding superpower of Rome it would have been they who were assimilated rather than the other way around.

Of course this doesn't say anything in regards to whether the Celts still survive to this day in blood. Culturally and linguistically they now only exist at the Western fringes of Europe, but genetically they are still with us in their old territories.

Hey, this map rather shows the pre-IE remnants in Western Europe (including especially the Basques)...

From what I've read R1b is Indo-European and P312 was largely Celtic.

[Damião de Góis]

I also think most people were celticized. I find difficult that these tribes were all the same people:



I doubt they even spoke the same language. The "celtic umbrella" is very dubious in my opinion. So i would say no to your question.

[Peterski]

I also think most people were celticized. I find difficult that these tribes were all the same people

Why not?

Why do you think that Proto-Celtic demographic expansion over vast territories was impossible? Would you say the same about Proto-Germanic and Proto-Slavic populations? Are modern Germanic-speaking and Slavic-speaking populations just Germanized and Slavicized, respectively? Don't they share common blood and ancestry? Sure, Germanic and Slavic nations are all mixed with other ethnic groups, but all of them also share some percent of original Germanic and Slavic DNA.

I think it was the same with Celts - all were mixed with other Non-Celtic populations, but all also carried some original Proto-Celtic DNA.

[Peterski]

Most of those were proably celtizised. As it's shown genetically North Italy/Iberia and Ireland are not particularly close.

By "Celticized" do you mean that they were autosomally 0% Proto-Celtic? Or something between 1% and 99%?

Are Mestizo populations in Latin America "Hispanized" Native Americans? Well, not exactly.