The following article was first published in issue 81 of the Armstrong News. It is the second in a series, the first of which was published in issue 80 of the Armstrong News.
It is reproduced here, for the benefit of non-members who may be considering joining the Association or taking a Y-DNA test. The first article in the series is also available to non-members by clicking here.
It is reproduced here, for the benefit of non-members who may be considering joining the Association or taking a Y-DNA test. The first article in the series is also available to non-members by clicking here.
THE ARMSTRONGS: OUR ANCIENT ANCESTORS
By Bob Armstrong
In the last issue Dr Jim Wilson, the leading authority on British DNA, suggested a Pictish or pre-Pictish origin for the Armstrong mainstream descent cluster. That assessment dove-tailed neatly with his earlier prediction that our surname’s ancestors may have been Beaker Folk, or people of earlier, indigenous stock. The Beakers were named after a particular pottery style, whose culture first arose in Continental Europe some 4,800 years ago. The Beaker Folk arrived in Britain around 2,500BC and some of their earliest settlements were established in north-east Scotland.[i] Experts are divided on the origins of these particular Beaker People, but one theory is that they came from Central Europe.
Henri Hubert (1872-1927) was a Parisian archaeologist of great renown. Much of his research concerned the movement of tribes across Europe and their arrival in the British Isles. Although some of his theories have now been superseded, the bulk of his work is still worthy of consideration. Hubert believed that some Beaker Folk entered northern Britain by the Firth of Forth, and that, ‘In general they advanced from south to north and from east to west’.[ii] Some also crossed over to Ireland.
Sir John Rhys (1840-1915) and Heinrich Friedrich Zimmer (1851-1910) were esteemed Victorian Professors of Celtic Studies. They believed that the Picts’ ancestors were Neolithic inhabitants (4,000-2,500BC), while other scholars thought an admixture of later Beaker Folk was inevitable.[iii] The Iberian Peninsula was another major Beaker Culture centre.
Coincidentally, eminent philologist Vere Gordon Childe (1892-1957) claimed that many of the Neolithic colonists in Scotland also had Iberian roots. In his 1935 work ‘The Prehistory of Scotland’, Childe stated that small boat-loads of adventurers followed Atlantic maritime trade routes, transporting people and artefacts. He maintained that colonists ‘established primary settlements near suitable landing places in Galloway, around the mouth of the Clyde and Loch Fyne, on Skye and the Hebrides, in Caithness and Orkney.’[iv] Childe also pointed out the similarities between some Iberian tombs, tools and pottery and those found in Caithness and elsewhere in Scotland.
A fine example of ancient seaborne trade was recently discovered by scientists. Analysis of fifty Irish Bronze Age artefacts revealed they contained Cornish gold, proving that a healthy mineral trade thrived in the British Isles over 4,000 years ago.[v] Cornwall also had an abundance of tin and copper deposits – key components for the production of bronze. Cornish tin was used in metal production in Scotland. It is believed that some of the Beaker Folk, who had earlier migrated to Ireland, taught the Scottish tribes how to anneal copper and add tin to produce bronze. The Scottish Bronze Age (2300-700 BC) had arrived! [vi]
Evidence of Bronze Age settlements in Galloway, Dumfriesshire and Roxburghshire can still be seen today. Cists (stone-lined Bronze Age burial chambers), standing stones, stone circles, drinking vessels and weapons have all been found in the region. In 2012 a skeleton was discovered in Monreith, Dumfries and Galloway. Experts believe the remains were those of a young boy who died some 3,500 years ago.[vii]
Comparing the Monreith skeleton’s Y-DNA with extant Armstrongs would be a fascinating exercise. Warren Baillie, who excavated the site, informed me that the remains weren’t very well preserved, so extracting Y-DNA might be problematic. Dr Wilson also warned that it would be very costly, so a fund-raising campaign may be required!
Monreith lies a mere eight miles from Whithorn, where the missionary St Ninian (360-432),was buried. The historian Bede (673-735) wrote that Ninian converted the Southern Picts to Christianity.[viii] The Northern Picts also became converts, so it’s possible that some made the popular pilgrimage to St Ninian’s shrine at Whithorn, never to return home.[ix] The name Ninian, and its variant, Ringan, was used by Armstrongs in the medieval period: was this due to their ancestors’ conversion by the saint, or just coincidence?[x]
In his book ‘The Greatness and Decline of the Celts’, Hubert described the seventh century tribal composition of what we now call Scotland, thus:
‘The Dal Riada (Irish settlers) were confined to Argyll and the adjoining isles. In the east, the Picts extended southwards to the Firth of Forth. To the south, the Britons held the west coast to beyond Dumbarton, leaving a small group of Picts cut off from the rest in Galloway’.[xi]
Although many modern historians place the Southern Picts north of the Forth-Clyde isthmus, the term Pict was thought by some to mean all the tribes north of Hadrian’s Wall during the Roman occupation.[xii] Pictish symbols can be found on a rock outcrop at Trusty’s Hill, Anwoth in Galloway.
Trusty’s Hill was reputedly named in honour of Drust, a fifth century Pictish king. Drust’s name was recorded in many forms, including Drest, Drosten and Tristan.[xiii] Some maintain that Drust placed a fort in the region to protect his kingdom from seaborne invaders. However, fierce debate rages as to whether Anwoth was a permanent Pictish settlement or not. Archaeologist Craig Cessford believes that the symbol stone may have been the work of Pictish raiders.[xiv] The Picts were known to have raided south of Hadrian’s Wall, including one incursion that became known as ‘The Great Conspiracy’ of 367AD. That event saw the Wall’s Roman garrison rebel, allowing a confederation of tribes to breach the defences.
The great Scottish historian W. F. Skene (1809-1892) visited Netherby, Cumberland while searching for the site of the Battle of Arderyth (577 AD). Skene’s main interest was Carwinley, just north of Netherby. However, a local farmer told him about an earlier conflict. He claimed that ‘A great battle was fought here between the Romans and the Picts who held the camp.’ The farmer said that the Picts numbered three hundred men.[xv] The story has never been verified, but if true, it may have led to the Picts leaving their DNA in the region!
The Kirkpatricks are a predominantly Dumfriesshire clan; many of whom share the same Y-DNA S389/L624 haplogroup as the Armstrongs. The majority of the testees from this category have links to the Pictish heartlands of central and north-east Scotland. Drust’s Pictish capital is thought to have been based in Abernethy, Perthshire. Interestingly, over twelve per cent of Scottish S389/L624 samples are from that county. Richard Godman Kirkpatrick’s 1858 memoir stated that ‘the (Kirkpatrick) family possessed estates in Nithsdale and Annandale as early as the 8th century’, but offered no proof. [xvi] Another feature, supposedly named after Drust, is Troston’s Hill which lies a mere fifteen miles south of the Kirkpatrick’s Closeburn, Dumfriesshire seat.
In Scotland, the Bronze Age gave way to the Iron Age in 700BC. The Picts were first recorded in the year 297AD, during the Late Iron Age. Dr Gordon Noble is a Senior Lecturer in Archaeology at the University of Aberdeen. He has written a number of books, including ‘Neolithic Scotland: Timber, Stone, Earth and Fire’, published in 2006. I recently asked him for his current opinion regarding the Picts’ origins. He replied : ‘The Picts are almost certainly indigenous to Scotland, and closely related to the Iron Age tribes’.
Reiving was a tradition amongst the Picts and the Brythonic Celts, (Britons). The Brythonic Celts once dominated the island of Britain, but by the 7th century their northern holdings had contracted to an area which ran from Loch Lomond, Scotland in the north down to Penrith, Cumbria, England in the south. Aneirin, thought to be a Brythonic Dark Age poet from Edinburgh, wrote ‘Y Gododdin’, a work which lauded Beli, King of the Alt Clut (Strathclyde) Britons, for ‘his success as a raider of the cattle-herds of the enemy’.[xvii] Beli’s son Brude became king of the Picts from 672-693AD.
By 750AD, Anglo-Saxons from Northumbria had commandeered much of the Britons’ northern homeland, taking control of vast swathes of land on both sides of Hadrian’s Wall. However, further Northumbrian expansion was halted by retaliatory strikes from north of the Wall. The Northumbrians eventually retired to their previous boundaries, which meant that by the start of the tenth century the Britons had recovered much of their lost territory.[xviii] It’s possible that Picts were among those who took advantage of the vacuum left by the Northumbrians’ departure and occupied lands adjacent to Hadrian’s Wall.
During the ninth century, the indigenous folk of Galloway had the arrival of the fearsome Hiberno-Norse Gall-Gaidheal warriors to contend with.[xix] The presence of the Gall-Gaidheal may have caused many to move eastwards to escape the turmoil. Perhaps some of Hubert’s ‘Picts cut off from the rest in Galloway’ were part of any exodus? Although the Picts had frequently fought against the Britons, they also co-operated with them – particularly when Anglo-Saxons, Norse and other invaders threatened their territories.
In 927AD, the West Saxon king Athelstan sought to bring peace to the region and held a conference in Penrith to which several powerful northern rulers were invited.[xx] Perhaps our ancient ancestors were involved in some way? Penrith is a mere eight miles from Ousby, where our surname was first recorded in 1223.
The recent ‘People of the British Isles’ (PoBI) project studied the genetic make-up of the UK population. [xxi] The project, headed by teams from Oxford University and University College London, revealed that the Roman, Viking and Norman invaders had scarcely any impact on our DNA. The only people to have had a major effect were the Anglo-Saxons. Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland showed more evidence of ancient British DNA than England, largely due to the heavy Anglo-Saxon influence in the south and east of the country. DNA results from Aberdeenshire revealed what PoBI predicted to be evidence of Pictish ancestry.
Interestingly, there is an S389/L624 testee from the Orkney Islands, where Neolithic man built breathtaking stone structures some 5,000 years ago.
Many historians have claimed that the 9th century Norse Viking occupation of the Orkney and Shetland Islands led to the indigenous population being largely supplanted. However, the PoBI study found that a mere 25% of Orcadian DNA was of Norwegian origin, so the testee may well be a descendant of indigenous stock.[xxii]
Tim Clarkson, in his fine 2008 work ‘The Picts A History’, stated: ‘There is no doubt that the Orcadians regarded themselves as Picts. At the Brough of Birsay, a high-status site on the largest island in the group, a carved stone with four Pictish symbols and three spear-bearing warriors once stood in an old graveyard.’[xxiii] Clarkson also quoted a Scandinavian thirteenth century text, ‘Historia Norwegiae’, which stated that the Orkneys were ‘at first inhabited by the Picts and Papae.’[xxiv] The ‘Papae’ were Celtic monks who relished the solitary island life.
Claudius Claudianus (370-404AD) was an Alexandria-born Latin poet who described the neighbouring Shetland Islands as Pictish when he wrote: ‘Thyle (Shetland) glowed hot with the blood of the Picts and icy Hibernia (Ireland) lamented the heaps of Scotsmen.’[xxv] Although the Shetland Islands lie over fifty miles north-east of the Orkneys, Norse Viking DNA is present in barely a third of the current population.
Expert analyst Alex Williamson has compiled a draft phylogenetic tree for the R-P312 haplogroup that includes the Armstrong mainstream. The Armstrong surname is listed under ZZ37 as S389/L624. Recently acquired data from Argyll revealed S389/L624 testees with links to Bute, Mull and villages near Loch Fyne. Inevitably, traditionalists will suggest this indicates an ancient link to the Scotti, who were Gaelic speakers from the Dal Riata tribe in nearby Antrim, north-east Ireland. However, many modern researchers will disagree…
One of Scotland’s foundation myths claims that large numbers of Scotti left Antrim in 500AD to colonise Argyll and other easily accessible parts of the country, thereby displacing the indigenous Pictish population. However, in 2001 archaeologist and author Dr Ewan Campbell wrote that ‘there was no basis for suggesting any significant population movement between Antrim and Argyll in the 1st millenium AD.’ He went further when he claimed that ‘Any cultural influences could be argued as likely to have been going from Scotland to Ireland rather than vice versa’.[xxvi]
Campbell and others believe 7th century documents were altered in the 10th century to legitimize various individuals’ right to rule. Tim Clarkson holds similar views. He maintains that the Scotti of Argyll, like the Picts, were therefore indigenous. He supports the notion that the population of Argyll and elsewhere in the west spoke Gaelic simply because it was the language of the sea traders who traversed the region, and not due to colonization. [xxvii] Had the Druim Alban mountain barrier not separated the Picts in the north from their south-west ‘cousins’, then it’s likely the Gaelic Q-Celtic language would not have eventually supplanted the Picts’ own tongue.
A testee with the surname Price appears alongside the mainstream Armstrong testees under ZZ37, but in the neighbouring Z29644 category. I compared the Price testee’s Y-DNA with others to see whom he most closely matched. His surname is thought to have derived from the Welsh ‘ap Rhys’ (‘ap’ means son of), so it came as no surprise to see his matches contained a large number of very obvious Welsh surnames. The Z29644 sub-type also has a Shetland Islands’ testee. The Shetlands, like the Orkneys, feature ancient stone buildings that are amongst the most sophisticated of their time.
Of the UK’s current population, Welsh DNA is thought to most closely resemble that of the earliest post-Ice Age settlers in Britain.[xxviii] S389/L624 is largely found in regions where the descendants of the aboriginal tribes of Britain still dominate and, as Dr Jim Wilson previously stated, has a strong central and north-east Scottish bias. Is it too great a leap of faith to suggest that the presence of S389/L624 testees found near Loch Fyne and on Orkney represent descendants of Childe’s Neolithic settlers, mentioned earlier? The shared common ancestor for a number of the S389/L624 testees seems likely to have lived during, or pre, the Iron Age.
The origin myths and legends of several surnames are currently being challenged by genealogists using a combination of science and more rigorous research methods. It appears that the ancient tribes of Scotland were far more resilient than many historians realised. All the available data gives credence to the theory that our clans’ ancestors were of ancient, indigenous stock.
Henri Hubert (1872-1927) was a Parisian archaeologist of great renown. Much of his research concerned the movement of tribes across Europe and their arrival in the British Isles. Although some of his theories have now been superseded, the bulk of his work is still worthy of consideration. Hubert believed that some Beaker Folk entered northern Britain by the Firth of Forth, and that, ‘In general they advanced from south to north and from east to west’.[ii] Some also crossed over to Ireland.
Sir John Rhys (1840-1915) and Heinrich Friedrich Zimmer (1851-1910) were esteemed Victorian Professors of Celtic Studies. They believed that the Picts’ ancestors were Neolithic inhabitants (4,000-2,500BC), while other scholars thought an admixture of later Beaker Folk was inevitable.[iii] The Iberian Peninsula was another major Beaker Culture centre.
Coincidentally, eminent philologist Vere Gordon Childe (1892-1957) claimed that many of the Neolithic colonists in Scotland also had Iberian roots. In his 1935 work ‘The Prehistory of Scotland’, Childe stated that small boat-loads of adventurers followed Atlantic maritime trade routes, transporting people and artefacts. He maintained that colonists ‘established primary settlements near suitable landing places in Galloway, around the mouth of the Clyde and Loch Fyne, on Skye and the Hebrides, in Caithness and Orkney.’[iv] Childe also pointed out the similarities between some Iberian tombs, tools and pottery and those found in Caithness and elsewhere in Scotland.
A fine example of ancient seaborne trade was recently discovered by scientists. Analysis of fifty Irish Bronze Age artefacts revealed they contained Cornish gold, proving that a healthy mineral trade thrived in the British Isles over 4,000 years ago.[v] Cornwall also had an abundance of tin and copper deposits – key components for the production of bronze. Cornish tin was used in metal production in Scotland. It is believed that some of the Beaker Folk, who had earlier migrated to Ireland, taught the Scottish tribes how to anneal copper and add tin to produce bronze. The Scottish Bronze Age (2300-700 BC) had arrived! [vi]
Evidence of Bronze Age settlements in Galloway, Dumfriesshire and Roxburghshire can still be seen today. Cists (stone-lined Bronze Age burial chambers), standing stones, stone circles, drinking vessels and weapons have all been found in the region. In 2012 a skeleton was discovered in Monreith, Dumfries and Galloway. Experts believe the remains were those of a young boy who died some 3,500 years ago.[vii]
Comparing the Monreith skeleton’s Y-DNA with extant Armstrongs would be a fascinating exercise. Warren Baillie, who excavated the site, informed me that the remains weren’t very well preserved, so extracting Y-DNA might be problematic. Dr Wilson also warned that it would be very costly, so a fund-raising campaign may be required!
Monreith lies a mere eight miles from Whithorn, where the missionary St Ninian (360-432),was buried. The historian Bede (673-735) wrote that Ninian converted the Southern Picts to Christianity.[viii] The Northern Picts also became converts, so it’s possible that some made the popular pilgrimage to St Ninian’s shrine at Whithorn, never to return home.[ix] The name Ninian, and its variant, Ringan, was used by Armstrongs in the medieval period: was this due to their ancestors’ conversion by the saint, or just coincidence?[x]
In his book ‘The Greatness and Decline of the Celts’, Hubert described the seventh century tribal composition of what we now call Scotland, thus:
‘The Dal Riada (Irish settlers) were confined to Argyll and the adjoining isles. In the east, the Picts extended southwards to the Firth of Forth. To the south, the Britons held the west coast to beyond Dumbarton, leaving a small group of Picts cut off from the rest in Galloway’.[xi]
Although many modern historians place the Southern Picts north of the Forth-Clyde isthmus, the term Pict was thought by some to mean all the tribes north of Hadrian’s Wall during the Roman occupation.[xii] Pictish symbols can be found on a rock outcrop at Trusty’s Hill, Anwoth in Galloway.
Trusty’s Hill was reputedly named in honour of Drust, a fifth century Pictish king. Drust’s name was recorded in many forms, including Drest, Drosten and Tristan.[xiii] Some maintain that Drust placed a fort in the region to protect his kingdom from seaborne invaders. However, fierce debate rages as to whether Anwoth was a permanent Pictish settlement or not. Archaeologist Craig Cessford believes that the symbol stone may have been the work of Pictish raiders.[xiv] The Picts were known to have raided south of Hadrian’s Wall, including one incursion that became known as ‘The Great Conspiracy’ of 367AD. That event saw the Wall’s Roman garrison rebel, allowing a confederation of tribes to breach the defences.
The great Scottish historian W. F. Skene (1809-1892) visited Netherby, Cumberland while searching for the site of the Battle of Arderyth (577 AD). Skene’s main interest was Carwinley, just north of Netherby. However, a local farmer told him about an earlier conflict. He claimed that ‘A great battle was fought here between the Romans and the Picts who held the camp.’ The farmer said that the Picts numbered three hundred men.[xv] The story has never been verified, but if true, it may have led to the Picts leaving their DNA in the region!
The Kirkpatricks are a predominantly Dumfriesshire clan; many of whom share the same Y-DNA S389/L624 haplogroup as the Armstrongs. The majority of the testees from this category have links to the Pictish heartlands of central and north-east Scotland. Drust’s Pictish capital is thought to have been based in Abernethy, Perthshire. Interestingly, over twelve per cent of Scottish S389/L624 samples are from that county. Richard Godman Kirkpatrick’s 1858 memoir stated that ‘the (Kirkpatrick) family possessed estates in Nithsdale and Annandale as early as the 8th century’, but offered no proof. [xvi] Another feature, supposedly named after Drust, is Troston’s Hill which lies a mere fifteen miles south of the Kirkpatrick’s Closeburn, Dumfriesshire seat.
In Scotland, the Bronze Age gave way to the Iron Age in 700BC. The Picts were first recorded in the year 297AD, during the Late Iron Age. Dr Gordon Noble is a Senior Lecturer in Archaeology at the University of Aberdeen. He has written a number of books, including ‘Neolithic Scotland: Timber, Stone, Earth and Fire’, published in 2006. I recently asked him for his current opinion regarding the Picts’ origins. He replied : ‘The Picts are almost certainly indigenous to Scotland, and closely related to the Iron Age tribes’.
Reiving was a tradition amongst the Picts and the Brythonic Celts, (Britons). The Brythonic Celts once dominated the island of Britain, but by the 7th century their northern holdings had contracted to an area which ran from Loch Lomond, Scotland in the north down to Penrith, Cumbria, England in the south. Aneirin, thought to be a Brythonic Dark Age poet from Edinburgh, wrote ‘Y Gododdin’, a work which lauded Beli, King of the Alt Clut (Strathclyde) Britons, for ‘his success as a raider of the cattle-herds of the enemy’.[xvii] Beli’s son Brude became king of the Picts from 672-693AD.
By 750AD, Anglo-Saxons from Northumbria had commandeered much of the Britons’ northern homeland, taking control of vast swathes of land on both sides of Hadrian’s Wall. However, further Northumbrian expansion was halted by retaliatory strikes from north of the Wall. The Northumbrians eventually retired to their previous boundaries, which meant that by the start of the tenth century the Britons had recovered much of their lost territory.[xviii] It’s possible that Picts were among those who took advantage of the vacuum left by the Northumbrians’ departure and occupied lands adjacent to Hadrian’s Wall.
During the ninth century, the indigenous folk of Galloway had the arrival of the fearsome Hiberno-Norse Gall-Gaidheal warriors to contend with.[xix] The presence of the Gall-Gaidheal may have caused many to move eastwards to escape the turmoil. Perhaps some of Hubert’s ‘Picts cut off from the rest in Galloway’ were part of any exodus? Although the Picts had frequently fought against the Britons, they also co-operated with them – particularly when Anglo-Saxons, Norse and other invaders threatened their territories.
In 927AD, the West Saxon king Athelstan sought to bring peace to the region and held a conference in Penrith to which several powerful northern rulers were invited.[xx] Perhaps our ancient ancestors were involved in some way? Penrith is a mere eight miles from Ousby, where our surname was first recorded in 1223.
The recent ‘People of the British Isles’ (PoBI) project studied the genetic make-up of the UK population. [xxi] The project, headed by teams from Oxford University and University College London, revealed that the Roman, Viking and Norman invaders had scarcely any impact on our DNA. The only people to have had a major effect were the Anglo-Saxons. Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland showed more evidence of ancient British DNA than England, largely due to the heavy Anglo-Saxon influence in the south and east of the country. DNA results from Aberdeenshire revealed what PoBI predicted to be evidence of Pictish ancestry.
Interestingly, there is an S389/L624 testee from the Orkney Islands, where Neolithic man built breathtaking stone structures some 5,000 years ago.
Many historians have claimed that the 9th century Norse Viking occupation of the Orkney and Shetland Islands led to the indigenous population being largely supplanted. However, the PoBI study found that a mere 25% of Orcadian DNA was of Norwegian origin, so the testee may well be a descendant of indigenous stock.[xxii]
Tim Clarkson, in his fine 2008 work ‘The Picts A History’, stated: ‘There is no doubt that the Orcadians regarded themselves as Picts. At the Brough of Birsay, a high-status site on the largest island in the group, a carved stone with four Pictish symbols and three spear-bearing warriors once stood in an old graveyard.’[xxiii] Clarkson also quoted a Scandinavian thirteenth century text, ‘Historia Norwegiae’, which stated that the Orkneys were ‘at first inhabited by the Picts and Papae.’[xxiv] The ‘Papae’ were Celtic monks who relished the solitary island life.
Claudius Claudianus (370-404AD) was an Alexandria-born Latin poet who described the neighbouring Shetland Islands as Pictish when he wrote: ‘Thyle (Shetland) glowed hot with the blood of the Picts and icy Hibernia (Ireland) lamented the heaps of Scotsmen.’[xxv] Although the Shetland Islands lie over fifty miles north-east of the Orkneys, Norse Viking DNA is present in barely a third of the current population.
Expert analyst Alex Williamson has compiled a draft phylogenetic tree for the R-P312 haplogroup that includes the Armstrong mainstream. The Armstrong surname is listed under ZZ37 as S389/L624. Recently acquired data from Argyll revealed S389/L624 testees with links to Bute, Mull and villages near Loch Fyne. Inevitably, traditionalists will suggest this indicates an ancient link to the Scotti, who were Gaelic speakers from the Dal Riata tribe in nearby Antrim, north-east Ireland. However, many modern researchers will disagree…
One of Scotland’s foundation myths claims that large numbers of Scotti left Antrim in 500AD to colonise Argyll and other easily accessible parts of the country, thereby displacing the indigenous Pictish population. However, in 2001 archaeologist and author Dr Ewan Campbell wrote that ‘there was no basis for suggesting any significant population movement between Antrim and Argyll in the 1st millenium AD.’ He went further when he claimed that ‘Any cultural influences could be argued as likely to have been going from Scotland to Ireland rather than vice versa’.[xxvi]
Campbell and others believe 7th century documents were altered in the 10th century to legitimize various individuals’ right to rule. Tim Clarkson holds similar views. He maintains that the Scotti of Argyll, like the Picts, were therefore indigenous. He supports the notion that the population of Argyll and elsewhere in the west spoke Gaelic simply because it was the language of the sea traders who traversed the region, and not due to colonization. [xxvii] Had the Druim Alban mountain barrier not separated the Picts in the north from their south-west ‘cousins’, then it’s likely the Gaelic Q-Celtic language would not have eventually supplanted the Picts’ own tongue.
A testee with the surname Price appears alongside the mainstream Armstrong testees under ZZ37, but in the neighbouring Z29644 category. I compared the Price testee’s Y-DNA with others to see whom he most closely matched. His surname is thought to have derived from the Welsh ‘ap Rhys’ (‘ap’ means son of), so it came as no surprise to see his matches contained a large number of very obvious Welsh surnames. The Z29644 sub-type also has a Shetland Islands’ testee. The Shetlands, like the Orkneys, feature ancient stone buildings that are amongst the most sophisticated of their time.
Of the UK’s current population, Welsh DNA is thought to most closely resemble that of the earliest post-Ice Age settlers in Britain.[xxviii] S389/L624 is largely found in regions where the descendants of the aboriginal tribes of Britain still dominate and, as Dr Jim Wilson previously stated, has a strong central and north-east Scottish bias. Is it too great a leap of faith to suggest that the presence of S389/L624 testees found near Loch Fyne and on Orkney represent descendants of Childe’s Neolithic settlers, mentioned earlier? The shared common ancestor for a number of the S389/L624 testees seems likely to have lived during, or pre, the Iron Age.
The origin myths and legends of several surnames are currently being challenged by genealogists using a combination of science and more rigorous research methods. It appears that the ancient tribes of Scotland were far more resilient than many historians realised. All the available data gives credence to the theory that our clans’ ancestors were of ancient, indigenous stock.
[i] Fry, P.S. and Mitchison, R 1982 ‘The History of Scotland’ Routledge and Kegan Paul Ltd p10
[ii] Hubert, H 1934 ‘The Rise of the Celts and the Greatness and Decline of the Celts’ One volume edition,
London Bracken Books ,Book I p172
[iii] Rhys, J & Brynmor-Jones, D 1900 ‘The Welsh People’ London T. Fisher Unwin pp 13-14
[iv] Childe,V.G.1935 ‘The Prehistory of Scotland’ Kegan Paul Ltd pp77-78
[v] http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-3112138/The-prehistoric-gold-rush-CORNWALL-Precious-metal-Cornish-rivers-traded-Ireland-Early-Bronze-Age.html
[vi] Fry, P.S. and Mitchison, R 1982 ‘The History of Scotland’ Routledge and Kegan Paul Ltd p10
[vii] http://www.archaeologyreportsonline.com/PDF/ARO6_Blairbuy.pdf
[viii] Clarkson, T 2013 ‘The Picts A History’ Edinburgh Birlinn Ltd pp 61-62
[ix] Ibid., pp62-63
[x] Pitcairn, R ‘Books of Adjournal MS Justiciary Office’ vol 1493-1504 f66 p2
[xi] Hubert, H 1934 ‘The Rise of the Celts and The Greatness and Decline of the Celts’ One volume edition,
London Bracken Books, Book II p174
[xii] McHardy, S 2010 ‘A New History of the Picts’ Edinburgh Luath Press Ltd p90
[xiii] Cummins, W.A. 1995 ‘The Age of the Picts’ Stroud The History Press p87
[xiv] Cessford, C 1994 ‘Pictish Raiders at Trusty’s Hill?’ Trans Dumfries & Galloway Nat Hist Antiq Soc 69, p86
[xv] Skene, W. F. 1876 ‘Notice of the Site of the Battle of Ardderyd or Arderyth’ Proceedings of the Society of
Antiquaries of Scotland 6: pp 91-98
[xvi] Kirkpatrick, R.G. 1858 ‘Kirkpatrick of Closeburn’ London, George Norman p1
[xvii] Aneirin ‘Y Gododdin’ (1988) vol 3 of Welsh Classics E.A.O.H. Jarman (ed.), Gomer pxxxvii
[xviii] Clarkson, T 2014 ‘Strathclyde and the Anglo-Saxons in the Viking Age’ Edinburgh Birlinn Ltd p65
[xix] Clarkson, T 2013 ‘The Picts A History’ Edinburgh Birlinn Ltd p197
[xx] Savage, A (ed.), 1983 ‘The Anglo-Saxon Chronicles’ London Guild Publishing p119
[xxi] www.peopleofthebritishisles.org/
[xxii] http://www.orcadian.co.uk/2015/03/vikings-did-not-replace-orkney-population-concludes-dna-study/
[xxiii] Clarkson, T 2013 ‘The Picts A History’ Edinburgh Birlinn Ltd p82
[xxiv] Ibid., p199
[xxv] Crees, J.H.E., 1906 ‘Claudian as an Historical Authority’ Cambridge University Press p36
[xxvi] Campbell, E 2001 ‘Were the Scots Irish?’ Antiquity No.75, pp 285-293
[xxvii] Clarkson, T 2013 ‘The Picts A History’ Edinburgh Birlinn Ltd pp 74-76
[xxviii] https://www.ucl.ac.uk/news/news-articles/0315/180315-fine-scale-british-isle-genetic-map
[ii] Hubert, H 1934 ‘The Rise of the Celts and the Greatness and Decline of the Celts’ One volume edition,
London Bracken Books ,Book I p172
[iii] Rhys, J & Brynmor-Jones, D 1900 ‘The Welsh People’ London T. Fisher Unwin pp 13-14
[iv] Childe,V.G.1935 ‘The Prehistory of Scotland’ Kegan Paul Ltd pp77-78
[v] http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-3112138/The-prehistoric-gold-rush-CORNWALL-Precious-metal-Cornish-rivers-traded-Ireland-Early-Bronze-Age.html
[vi] Fry, P.S. and Mitchison, R 1982 ‘The History of Scotland’ Routledge and Kegan Paul Ltd p10
[vii] http://www.archaeologyreportsonline.com/PDF/ARO6_Blairbuy.pdf
[viii] Clarkson, T 2013 ‘The Picts A History’ Edinburgh Birlinn Ltd pp 61-62
[ix] Ibid., pp62-63
[x] Pitcairn, R ‘Books of Adjournal MS Justiciary Office’ vol 1493-1504 f66 p2
[xi] Hubert, H 1934 ‘The Rise of the Celts and The Greatness and Decline of the Celts’ One volume edition,
London Bracken Books, Book II p174
[xii] McHardy, S 2010 ‘A New History of the Picts’ Edinburgh Luath Press Ltd p90
[xiii] Cummins, W.A. 1995 ‘The Age of the Picts’ Stroud The History Press p87
[xiv] Cessford, C 1994 ‘Pictish Raiders at Trusty’s Hill?’ Trans Dumfries & Galloway Nat Hist Antiq Soc 69, p86
[xv] Skene, W. F. 1876 ‘Notice of the Site of the Battle of Ardderyd or Arderyth’ Proceedings of the Society of
Antiquaries of Scotland 6: pp 91-98
[xvi] Kirkpatrick, R.G. 1858 ‘Kirkpatrick of Closeburn’ London, George Norman p1
[xvii] Aneirin ‘Y Gododdin’ (1988) vol 3 of Welsh Classics E.A.O.H. Jarman (ed.), Gomer pxxxvii
[xviii] Clarkson, T 2014 ‘Strathclyde and the Anglo-Saxons in the Viking Age’ Edinburgh Birlinn Ltd p65
[xix] Clarkson, T 2013 ‘The Picts A History’ Edinburgh Birlinn Ltd p197
[xx] Savage, A (ed.), 1983 ‘The Anglo-Saxon Chronicles’ London Guild Publishing p119
[xxi] www.peopleofthebritishisles.org/
[xxii] http://www.orcadian.co.uk/2015/03/vikings-did-not-replace-orkney-population-concludes-dna-study/
[xxiii] Clarkson, T 2013 ‘The Picts A History’ Edinburgh Birlinn Ltd p82
[xxiv] Ibid., p199
[xxv] Crees, J.H.E., 1906 ‘Claudian as an Historical Authority’ Cambridge University Press p36
[xxvi] Campbell, E 2001 ‘Were the Scots Irish?’ Antiquity No.75, pp 285-293
[xxvii] Clarkson, T 2013 ‘The Picts A History’ Edinburgh Birlinn Ltd pp 74-76
[xxviii] https://www.ucl.ac.uk/news/news-articles/0315/180315-fine-scale-british-isle-genetic-map
© Bob Armstrong - 23rd February 2015