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Re: Picts in Ireland
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The earliest collective name for the Irish was the Scotti, this was a Roman Reference.The Greeks and Romans referred to the Islands of Britain and Ireland as The Pretanic Isles.

All that info about the prehistoric people of Ireland(Tuatha De Dannan, Fir Bolg , Formions Etc) comes from the Lebor Gabala written in the 12/13 c AD, over a 1000 years after some of these tribes proported to exist.The Lebor Gabala is a psudo history of Ireland.In other words Mythology, with possible grains of truth interspersed in it.

DNA studies show us that the ancestors of 80% of indigenous Irish people were in Ireland during the Bronze Age, as well as that there is nothing conclusive in the archaeological record to suggest that there was an invasion of Ireland in the Late Bronze Age/Iron Age.I n fact society regressed during the Iron Age according to the Pollen record, regeneration of forest and little in the archaeological record.The only thing Celtic about Ireland is the language, the most up to date thinking on the origins of the Irish Language comes from Prof Barry Cunliffe of Oxford, his views are highly thought of and push back the origins of the Gaelic Language to the early part of the 1st millinium BC(late Irish Bronze Age), his hypoteses is that it developed out of trading(archaeologically proven) between Ireland and Iberia prior to and including that period.It is a very convincing arguement. The link with the Lebor Gabala is the Sons of Mil connection(foundation myth says they came from Spain)Milespana in Lebor Gabala.That in itself may be one of the truths in tha book, who knows.As for evidence of Le Tene in Ireland, sparse , some in North & East , none in South. Also the examples found have insular influences, quiet different to those on the continent.Certainly not enough to suggest even a small scale invasion.


Reply | with quote		Posted by Fraoch
29th November 2009ce
17:41

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Re: Picts in Ireland (Fraoch)

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