Reconstruction of Ballynahatty Neolithic skull by Elizabeth Black. Her genes tell us she had black hair and brown eyes. (Photo : Barrie Hartwell/Trinity College Dublin)
Scientists have apparently successfully sequenced the first ever human genome in Ireland that can provide new insight about Celtic origins and culture.
Geneticists from the Trinity College Dublin and archaeologists from Queen's University in Belfast examined the genome of a Neolithic female farmer from 5,200 years ago and three males from the Bronze Age dating back to 4,000 years.
This new study revealed that early Irish settlers were almost similar to southern Europeans.
According to lead author of the study Dan Bradley from the Population Genetics at Trinity College in Dublin, this brought about a great change in the genome history of Europeans beginning from the Black Sea towards the Bronze Age of Europe where these ancient people also migrated to the western islands of Europe.
This degree of genetic change suggests there are other significant changes along with it, especially the introduction of ancestral language of western Celtic tongues.
Scientists have long debated how the transition of hunter gatherer lifestyles to the adoption of agriculture including stone to metal use of tools, were associated with the introduction of new people. In this new study, this genome analysis reveals how Irish genomes are suggesting a massive migration of populations from Europe to the British Isles.
According to Eileen Murphy from the Osteoarchaeology department in Queen's University, Belfast, this ancient DNA analysis is now a powerful tool in solving the origins of the Irish.
The female farmer's ancestry revealed that her ancestors were originally from the Middle East which is the birthplace of agriculture however, the genomes from the Bronze Age were of a different pattern. Scientists say that one third of their ancestry originate from Pontic Steppe which is a region that spans across Russia and the Ukraine.
According to Lara Cassidy from the Population Genetics at Trinity College in Dublin, the genetic affinity is strongest from the Bronze Age genomes for modern Irish, Scottish and Welsh, which suggests that these are the core attributes of the insular Celtic genome in the last 4,000 years.
The early female farmer looks like southern Europeans with black hair and brown eyes but the three Bronze Age males from Rathlin Island all had blue eyes and the hereditary disease known as haemochromatosis mutation, due to excess iron retention in the body.
This mutation is so prevalent in Irish people that it is also known as the Celtic disease that became the identifier for a prehistoric disease variant in history.
This new study is published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
