M223 Y-CLAN STUDY - Family Project Website

Project Results:

ENGLISH ISLES M284.

A recent result in the Study has revealed that a few families found in England have been indentified as positive for the M284+ mutation. This group was previously referred to as 'Isles I1c'.
The M284 mutation is a branch of old M223+ believed to be associated with Iron Age ca. 500 BCE to 1 CE or earlier migrations to the British Isles.
Accordingly this places the branch-group as being pre-Roman and members of the genetic admixture of those people identified as the 'Atlantic Celts'.

It is possible that the M284+ mutation arose in old Gaul {Spain/France} and represents the migration of Celts from that location. This fits the historical migration of Celtic tribes who are believed to have settled in Britain within this period and the movement of people at an earlier date after the last great ice melt.

These folk are cousins to the Scots-Irish M284+ families outlined below.

SCOTS-IRISH ISLES-M223 AND THE DAL’ARAIDE

Within the families recorded in the present M223 Y-Clan Study are found lineages whose STR values match those publish as being haplogroup-I [IxIb2] as recorded in the supplementary data of the recent Trinity College Dublin paper ‘Y-chromosomes and the extent of patrilineal ancestry in Irish surnames’ by Dr Brian McEvoy and Prof. Daniel G. Bradley [McEvoy and Bradley: 2006.]. The Trinity study highlights several native Gaelic surnames which record IxIb2 lineages associated with co. Down. Of note are those surnames and test results which reveal a concentrated IxIb2 enclave associated with the ancient Dal Araide tribe, a powerful territorial elite of the old kingdom of Ulidia in present day eastern Ulster.

In 2005 Dr Ken Nordtvedt provided evidence of a haplotype which when tested for its SNP status was typed M284+ and coined ‘Isles-M284’. The STR values of the Isles M284+ motif matched the marker values shared by families in this present study and those included in the Trinity data as mentioned above.

The Dal Araide were an ancient tribe also known as the Cruithne, thought to be Irish Picts.
Those families in this present study who match the 'Isles'-M284 motif are associated with southwest Scotland. This area has a recorded history of Cruithne migration from Ulster.

IRISH PICTS AND THE EARLY CELTIC CHURCH

The celebrated Irish Abbot, Saint Moluag was himself an Irish Pict from Bangor, co. Down, recorded to be of high birth within the Dal’Ariade {Cruithne}. St Moluag established his centre in Scotland on the Isle of Lismore, and became the patron saint of the Cenel Lorne. St Moluag’s pastoral work was amongst the Picts of Alban [Scotland].

The present Chiefs of the Highland Clan MacLea are the ‘Livingstone’s of Bachuil’, as Coarb’s of St Moluag, were the ancient inaugurators of the old Lords of Lorne and hereditary keepers of his pastoral crosier known as, 'the Bachuil', the relic and sign of their ancient sacral office. The MacLea/Livingstone Chiefs are known as the lineal heirs of the last MacDonnsliebe Kings of Ulidia, Chiefs of the Dal’Fiacha, whom are thought to be related to the royal line of the Dal’Araide, their direct neighbours in co. Down. The MacDonnsleibe Princes were forced to leave co. Down at the time of the Norman conquest of Ireland.

ABBEY LANDS/co.DOWN.

A new sub-group has been established for those families with direct names of association with the Dal Fiacha and the Dal Araide found in co. Down and their cousins found in the old Abbey lands of the Abbots of Lismore. This includes the area of the MacLeans and the Stewarts of Appin. Appin itself meaning Abbey lands.

The identification of M284+-folk with the ancient Cruithne naturally is of great interest to those families in the study.

This study would like to thank those researchers mentioned above, and the invaluable work and assistance of Dr Patrick Guinness, over the last four years.

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M223 AND THE ANCIENT BRITONS

Through the balance of a similar haplo-signature, and mutative variance, a unique kinship group has been identified with discernable associations to the Ancient British tribes of Scotland.

This I1c-group is found in the Clan Galbraith, whose Gaelic patronymic, ‘Clann a’ Bhreatannach’, translates as ‘Children of the Britons’.In looking at the Galbraith results estimates based on the measurement of STR mutative distance have been calculated using the Infinite Allele Model.

Differing views surround the appropriate years per generation. Commonly 30 years is approximated in genealogical estimates. Others have argued that 25 years is an approximate which should also be considered.

Below is presented various results derived from the balance of these views. At a confidence level of 95% over 30 years per generation an estimate of 1860 BP {years Before Present} is reached.

The same calculation at 27.5 years per generation, an estimated time frame of 1706 BP is suggested.
Further comparison over 25 years pre generation reveals an estimate of 1550 BP. At this conservative calculation an approximate TMRCA {Time to Most Recent Common Ancestor} is placed at living in 456 CE.

The settlement of the Angles in Scotland has been identified as a source population for M223 in the ‘Isles’ {Britain and Ireland}. And this date of 456 CE is certainly within the correct time frame for the Anglians north of the Anglo-Scottish border.

In support of Briton claims. The Galbraiths are a clan, found on the southern shores of Loch Lomond. This area, north of Glasgow, is the start of the Scottish Highlands and is both well north and west of recorded Anglian settlement. The Galbraiths are associated with the old Royal House of the Strathclyde Britons, whose capital was Dumbarton. This area is not recorded to have had contact with Angles or any other Scandinavians until the beginning of the Viking Age in Scotland. It was not until 870 CE that the Vikings laid siege to Dumbarton and the kingdom of Strathclyde ended its role as an independent political unit shortly afterwards in around 900 CE.

It is noted that these calculations are based on only 8 family lines, and we are hopeful that more families will be identified through further testing, where a greater sense of the true depth of their respective time fame in situ will be revealed.

In terms of a conservative reading of their results, 1550 BP is a rather long time to have remained together. Surname practices were not widely established until the recording of the old parochial registers in Scotland in the late 1550’s CE. Further many other Clans in Scotland record their beginnings from progenitors of the 10thc century onwards.
This Galbraith group with a 1550 BP {at 25 years per generation} represents an older consanguineous kinship group, which remained intact for over a 1000 years before the assumption of tribal surnames.

A supplementary observation is made. Another Galbraith family line in the study matches the Cruithne families outlined above. This may suggest that on the west coast of Scotland the Picts and Britons of Strathclyde, who shared borders in common, became associated.

This brings to mind the long held argument that the Roman word Picti is derived from the word Prettanike, first mentioned by the famed Greek explorer Pytheas [380-310 BCE] who circumnavigated Britain and the northern Isles. It is held that later the Greek historian Diodorus Silculus [90-30 CBE] rendered Prettanike as Pretanni. This suggests that the pre-Romanised population of Britain were already known as the ‘Painted’ or ‘Tattooed’ people. Certainly it is known the early practice of painting the body with the blue dye from woad was an established element of cultural practice throughout early Britain. The Romans later latinised the term to Picti. Diodorus is quoted to have called the British Isles the “Isles of the Pretani”.

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M223 AND SCANDINAVIA.

It has been shown in such studies as the BBC ‘Blood of the Vikings Series’, that the source populations for the Anglo-Saxons and the Danish Vikings revealed a very similar genetic heritage. This is not surprising given that the Jutes, Angles and Saxons, were folk whose homelands were northern, mid and southern Jutland respectively to the river Elbe. These areas are also the later lands of the Danish Vikings. Further it is known that these ancient folk also settled the north west coast of Germany to the mouth of the Rhine, being the old lands of Frisia and her many islands. These are the ancient sea-going people of the north-western Atlantic facade.

Two source populations were identified as being representative of Viking populations, Norway and Denmark. Further samples were collected at test cites in each of these cultural areas. Bergen and Trondheim for Norway, Danes were represented in general from Denmark and the Schleswig-Holstein region, of Jutland in far Northern Germany, near the present Danish border, were identified as the source population of the Anglo-Saxons. Of interest is that the old Duchy of Schleswig-Holstein was long held as a possession of the Danish Crown.

In ‘A Y Chromosome Census of the British Isles’ {Capelli et al. 2003}, the background genetic study to the BBC series, two haplotypes {which have become known as Continental I1c; Nordtvedt 2005} were found and tested to be within Hg-I {IxI1b2}.

In addition to SNP testing six STR markers were used in the study. I have arranged them in an order which is similar to the order of markers used by FTDNA, DYS; 393, 390, 19, 391, 388, 392.
The haplotypes of note are;

I.] 14, 23, 15, 10, 13, 12.
II.] 15, 23, 15, 10, 13, 12.

Haplotype 14, 23, 15, 10, 13, 12 was found present in 16 families from a total 2205 samples. These are here presented below running from north to south;

Norway-1
Denmark/Schleswig-Holstein-6
Shetland-1
Orkney-1
York-3
Southwell, Nottinghamshire-1
Norfolk-2
Midhurst, Sussex-1

Haplotype: 15, 23, 15, 10, 13, 12; was found present in 10 families, from the same data set in total, whose locations were;

Norway-1
Denmark/Schleswig-Holstein-1
Shetland-1
Penrith, Cumberland-1
Isle of Man-1
Southwell, Nottinghamshire -2
Norfolk-1
Faversham, Kent-1
Midhurst, Sussex-1

Both haplotypes fit the migratory profile of the source populations mentioned above, favouring Viking expansion over Anglo-Saxon, due to a greater northern occurrence in Britain. This may naturally include both northern and southern Scandinavian points of embarkation form the north-western Atlantic façade.

In looking at the regions of settlement immediately four zones are revealed.

1. The Northern Isles- Shetland and Orkney. Both Norwegian and Danish Vikings.
2. The Isle of Man, Cumbria and York. Both Norwegian and Danish Vikings.
3. The old Kingdom of East Anglia. Angles and Danish Vikings.
4. South of the Thames. Jutes, Saxons and Danish Vikings.

Region 1. The Northern Isles are well known as a region of Viking dominance in the far north of Scotland. These folk are believed to represent a Viking-Pict admixture.

Region 2. The Isle of Man, Cumbria and York. This area once a unified kingdom of the Dublin & York {Jorvik} Vikings was established by the Danish Viking Ivarr the Boneless, King of Dublin. The Isle of Man was a member of the Hebridean Viking kingdom, and Cumbria was an area of settlement for both the Dublin and Man Vikings.
In 876 CE Halfdan, brother of Ivarr the Boneless, became King of York.

Region 3. Ivarr the Boneless, King of Dublin, and his brother Halfdan, land in East Anglia, 865 CE at the head of the ‘Great Army’. Ivarr and his host winter in East Anglia. In 866 CE Ivarr the Boneless takes York from the Angles of Northumbria. In 867 they take Nottinghamshire and establish this as a Viking possession. In 869 they return to East Anglia to stay. Edmund, king of the East Anglians is killed in battle. This new Viking kingdom includes Colchester, now in north-eastern Essex and some of eastern Cambridgeshire.

Regions 2 & 3 saw the heaviest settlement of Vikings, many place names reveal Viking influences which suggests that Viking culture and langugage may have predominated in those areas well after the end of the Viking Age. The areas were culturally united for the next 250 years as new Viking lands. The early settlements of Region 2 & 3 possessed a degree of Viking-Gael admixture and cultural influences from Ireland, the Hebrides and the Isle of Man.

Region 4. South of the Thames was a traditional area of settlement of both the Jutes, a northern Danish tribe and the Saxon’s being from the Schleswig-Holstein to the Elbe. The Danish Vikings made repeated coastal raids on the southern coast of England in the attempt to take control. This was never successfully achieved. It is probable that families traditionally from this area descend from the earlier Scandinavian migrations.

The two haplogroups mentioned above represent the largest sample group in this present study. This suggests that most I1c families in the British Isles may descend from these founder-lineages originating within the coastal communities of the Atlantic facade.

Archaeological evidence suggests that sea-going craft found in the Humber from two separate sites have been dated to the Bronze Age, and are the oldest boats found in Europe. This suggests that it was probable that contacts with the Frisian Islands and Atlantic façade to Jutland and beyond may have indeed occurred.

M223: CELTIC OR PROTO-GERMANIC ?

Looking at this coastal area of north-western Europe, at the time of the Iron Age, two groups are of unique interest, the Cimbri and their branch tribe, the Ambrones.

The age and spread of M223, suggests that it was an early member of the migrations north from its southern winter refugia in France.

I1c is found at its highest concentration in north-western Europe within present day Denmark and along the Atlantic coast includng the many islands of old Frisia.

This is also the recorded home of the Cimbric tribes. Three historical details regarding these people suggest they may not have been as Germanic as their neighbours.

Cimbri as a tribal name is considered to be Celtic in origin and to have linguistic links to the Brythonic word Cymru, the Welsh name for Wales. The name of the Ambrones, a branch of the Cimbri is also considered Celtic in origin. Amb is a common Celtic element found amongst other recorded Celtic tribes.

Further the Cimbri were led by their king whose name was 'Boiorix', this translates as ‘King of the Boii’. The Boii were a dominate Celtic tribe of Bohemia, whom they gave their name.

M223 AND THE PICTS?

Various historic writers from the Roman period to the 12thc, have commented on the origins of the Picts of Scotland which in general are believed to have originally been from Scandinavia, and similar to the 'Germans'. Certainly sea travel has been available from the early Bronze Age. And we have good evidence that a branch of I1c is connected with the Ulster/Galloway Cruithne, the so-called Irish Picts {please refer above}. The STR values of the Cruithne group suggest that they are a branching of the parental Continental M223, being closer in values to the second haplotype than the first. The Cimbri and Ambrones, amongst others may well have represented an earlier proto-Celtic people of the Atlantic façade, and this would certainly fit the profile of what is known regarding the Picts. Further supporting this observation regarding the M223 of Jutland is the record of Geoffrey of Monmouth, in his Historia Regum Britanniae {completed in 1138} describes the Picts as from Scandinavia. And it has been put forward by scholars that the Picts spoke a branch of the Brythonic Celtic family. Pictish place names in Scotland certainly share common elements with Brythonic speakers. There has been much debate as to whether the Picts spoke a Proto-Celtic or Brythonic Celtic language. Most scholars agree that the surviving names of their leaders and evidence provided by place-names suggest they spoke a language closer to the known Brythonic group.

If this is the case and the Picts had a northern migration route to Britain, as suggested by historical record, then the Picts may well have been a Celto-Germanic tribe who sailed from the Atlantic façade to Scotland. Further their 'Art' is also classified as being ‘Celtic’.

The northern coastal folk of Jutland were influenced and shared cultural ties to Celtic elites of both the Hallstatt and later La Tene movements, this is revealed in the material record. The Belgic tribes of northern Gaul are known to have lived as far north as the delta mouth of the Rhine. This is the area which was also within the orbit of the Cimbric tribes such as the Ambrones. Later the Cimbric were exposed to the influence and assimilation within emerging Germanic tribal cultures such as the Teutones who in time became dominate. Accordingly it is likely that M223 lineages and their clusters were present as members of both pre-1 CE {Common Era} and later post-1 CE. historical migrations from Scandinavia outlined above.

If taking into account that which is now known of M223, and shaping a view on the balance of the observations made by historical writers of the early period. An organic approach in resolution to the question surrounding their origins is to suggest that they were a small early migrating Celto-Germanic group, whose various members may possibly have arrived at different times and at different places. This may have been due to Teutonic expansion in Scandinavia. They are agreed by most scholars to have spoken a Brythonic derived dialect with some degree of proto-Norse and Gaelic loan words. This Brythonic inclusion may have arose from the earlier spread north along the coast to Jutland of Belgic people/cultures. All of these people along the northern Atlantic facade, were of probable M223 admixture.

The Picts were a collection of tribal communities in northern Scotland who had continuing interaction with their neighbours until they disappeared from the historic record in the 10thc. This we do know was due to the socio-political re-organisation of Scotland by the Royal House of Mac'Alpin itself a known Picto-Scot admixture.

It is without doubt that the deep cultural links shared by the sea-faring people of the northern Atlantic façade is also one of clear genetic kinship over several millennia.

Peer review and comments are welcome.

Email the author;
Grant South
southness@austarnet.com.au

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