Am I a backdoor Scot?

[Charlie]

The Scots certainly went to Scandinavia - Edvard Grieg amongst others. So you may well have some Scottish ancestry. Having said that it was usually the other way round........... the Vikings came to England and stayed! I am grateful as the British are desended from all kinds of ethnic origins. We dont care

[room2ndfloor]

My Jamaican friend's last name is Buchanan. He's not brown; he's BLACK! I asked him once how a fellow with a factory-installed suntan like his got a good Scottish name like Buchanan. With his perfect, musical island lilt he said, "Well, Bill - it is like this: there was a Scotsman in the woodpile."

I love him for many reasons, but his sense of humour is fabulous.

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That is just darling!

When my brother was about six years old, he found a photo in the Stars and Stripes (newspaper for US military overseas). The caption: "Fighting Irish Win Again!" Pointing to the African-American members of the Notre Dame team, he said, "Dad, here they are, 'Black Irish'! Just like in your family!"

Fr. Bill, you are quite the raconteur.

[Joshua]

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That is just darling!

When my brother was about six years old, he found a photo in the Stars and Stripes (newspaper for US military overseas). The caption: "Fighting Irish Win Again!" Pointing to the African-American members of the Notre Dame team, he said, "Dad, here they are, 'Black Irish'! Just like in your family!"

Fr. Bill, you are quite the raconteur.

A black friend of mine in highschool, on Saint Patrick's Day, used to walk down the halls shouting, in his best "Lucky Charms" accent, "Say it loooud... yer black an' prrroud!". When asked, he told everyone he was "Black Irish".

[Piipriker]

As a 2nd generation American and obsessive student of history, the concept of ethnic purity in Europe never ceases to amuse this soul.

From Ireland to Ukraine, from Malta to Murmansk (draw an imaginary box) is about half the continental USA's area. Given that there was "quite a bit" of "stuff" which happened in Europe in the last, say, 2500 years (read, the Romans in Britain, Alexander and Atilla, the Vikings, Crusades, Mongols, Napoleon, two world wars)...

...the concepts of the Euro bloodlines in that "little box" maintaining any credible degree of reagent grade purity is to this observer, just a few nano-millimeters short of hilariously ludicrous.

Just saying. "We're all in this together," sounds more convincing to these ears.

Definitely true. The german writer Carl Zuckmayer let General Harras in his play "The devil's general" say just that. Well with more words, but the same meaning.

[Morris at Heathfield]

They did find a few red headed mummy in China who was wearing Celtic military gear.

Some of the mummies were wearing tartan, which proves very little except that tartan was reasonably widespread during the Bronze Age. It is generally assumed that the mummies spoke an Indo-European language (or languages), but it's not likely to have been a Celtic language. More likely the language they spoke was from the now extinct Tocharian branch of the Indo-European language family. Some of them may have been Sakas (AKA Scythians), who spoke an Eastern Iranian language. Then again, they may have spoken a (non-Indo-European) Turkic language, for all we know.

Not to dispute your point that people got around a bit back then; they did. However, I am unaware of any large populations of Celtic-speaking peoples that got any further east than Anatolia (central Turkey) in ancient times.

It's probably also worth noting that the places where these mummies were found may be present-day China, but they weren't living in "China" when they died.

[CopperNGold]

As a 2nd generation American and obsessive student of history, the concept of ethnic purity in Europe never ceases to amuse this soul.

From Ireland to Ukraine, from Malta to Murmansk (draw an imaginary box) is about half the continental USA's area. Given that there was "quite a bit" of "stuff" which happened in Europe in the last, say, 2500 years (read, the Romans in Britain, Alexander and Atilla, the Vikings, Crusades, Mongols, Napoleon, two world wars)...

...the concepts of the Euro bloodlines in that "little box" maintaining any credible degree of reagent grade purity is to this observer, just a few nano-millimeters short of hilariously ludicrous.

Just saying. "We're all in this together," sounds more convincing to these ears.

Wouldn't the world be a better and more peaceful place if more people realized the truth in your statement. Well said!

[MeghanWalker]

Some of the mummies were wearing tartan, which proves very little except that tartan was reasonably widespread during the Bronze Age. It is generally assumed that the mummies spoke an Indo-European language (or languages), but it's not likely to have been a Celtic language. More likely the language they spoke was from the now extinct Tocharian branch of the Indo-European language family. Some of them may have been Sakas (AKA Scythians), who spoke an Eastern Iranian language. Then again, they may have spoken a (non-Indo-European) Turkic language, for all we know.

Not to dispute your point that people got around a bit back then; they did. However, I am unaware of any large populations of Celtic-speaking peoples that got any further east than Anatolia (central Turkey) in ancient times.

It's probably also worth noting that the places where these mummies were found may be present-day China, but they weren't living in "China" when they died.

One thing that I should have made specific as well was the fact that the fact that the mummy had red hair is insignificant to them being possibly Celtic. Hair pigments, when lost in time, can turn red which could mean that this man had any hair color.

And I definitely know the bit about them not living in "China" lol