Genetic links to the Vikings sought by Irish genetic researchers
Scientists seek to learn more about the Irish and Viking history
Published Monday, October 8, 2012, 7:32 AM
Updated Wednesday, October 24, 2012, 3:45 PM
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Searlit | Oct 10, 2012, 12:04 AM EDT
One thing is very clear. Everyone wants to be Irish. It wasn't just a saying "There are the Irish and then there are those who wish they were Irish." It was very common to hear that said around St. Patrick's day.
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ellenfromcork | Oct 09, 2012, 07:16 PM EDT
There's going to be many surprises in many families w/ all this genetic testing!!
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DrTBowes | Oct 09, 2012, 04:08 AM EDT
You can determine if your ancestors were of Viking origin with a simple commercial Y DNA test. What you get with that test are the names of people with whom you share a common male ancestor, if your closer genetic matches are to Irish surnames then your recent ancestry is associated with Ireland. If your more distant genetic matches are to Scandinavian surnames then your recent Irish ancestors were of Viking origin. It really is that simple. What is truly remarkable is that you can take it a step further and pinpoint precisely (to within a 5 mile radius) where they settled in Ireland!
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WoundedKnee | Oct 09, 2012, 02:45 AM EDT
rpbrown: What you write is ignorant nonsense. There have NOT been successive "waves of immigration" into Ireland. The last such wave was 400 years ago, and created the Plantation of Ulster. See how well Ireland is still dealing with that--it provoked a near civil war four centuries after it happened! Of course the "wave" of immigration that brought the Plantation of Ulster was actually numerically less than the current torrents of Mass Immigration. The Irish didn't get to vote on whether or not they wanted the Plantation of Ulster. And guess what--the Irish didn't get to vote on whether or not they wanted the current tsunami--not wave--of foreign settlers! I can't understand why you post on this site--you must hate Irish nationality. You want to see the Irish homeland replaced with something alien and ersatz.
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rpbrown | Oct 08, 2012, 07:25 PM EDT
Erm there's no such think as an "authentic" gael or celt. Ireland has had successive waves of immigration and emigration for about every 800 years for 10,000 years. There is a culture and a history, but that too always changes.
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seanomelb | Oct 08, 2012, 06:22 PM EDT
Wounded Brain will castigate the Brodericks as un-Irish as they are foreigners.
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aloistmartin | Oct 08, 2012, 04:21 PM EDT
When I. was a Kid, there was this tall stately, voluptuous, Malt Skinned, Blond Haired, Welsh/Irish/Scots Woman, who we called the Green Dragon, because she had these Big Oriental Emerald Green Eyes. I. always said she probably had rich grandparents, one of whom may have been of Immigrant Persian or Chinese Ancestry ? My Mom told me my Dads Great Grandmother ( Who was Welsh/Irish/Scots as well ) had lots of Relatives who looked like that, and that it probably had something to do with the Romans and the Awful Weather :):):)
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WoundedKnee | Oct 08, 2012, 03:21 PM EDT
It's good that they are doing these genetic tests now. In a generation it will no longer be possible to speak of an Irish genetic make-up, as there will be so many Poles, Pakistanis and Pilipinos in the country as to make all such studies impossible. I trust they will preserve the Irish genes for the future, so at some distant time, when the Gael is long forgotten and no longer to be seen on the banks of Corrib or Shannon, some researcher may say: "These were the Irish. I wonder what they were like." Ní fheicfear ár leithéid arís.
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CitizenWhy | Oct 08, 2012, 09:50 AM EDT
From my mother's large family in Clare only she and one brother came to the US. He was platinum blond, with ice blue eyes. She was very light skinned but with the black hair you'd see in a native American, with a sight purple tone, the eyes almost black. Both had very high cheekbones. Except for the coloring, they looked like twins. This area of Ireland, even though genetically Irish Type III, has a very mixed ancestry. When young, with my mother's features, I was often taken for Native American by Native Americans, and for Euro-Mexican by Mexicans. My brother, when living in Mexico, was taken to be Mexican.
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