WERE THE IRISH IN IRELAND BEFORE ANY CELT INVASION?

WERE THE IRISH IN IRELAND BEFORE ANY CELT INVASION? This article by Peter Whoriskey in the Independent for Saint Patrick’s Day reports on new findings about the settlement of Ireland based on the analysis of three skeletons that have been found in Northern Ireland. The skeletons have been dated as being from about 2000 B.C. It had been thought for a long time “that the Irish are the descendants of the Celts, an Iron Age people who originated in the middle of Europe and invaded Ireland somewhere between 1000 B.C. and 500 B.C.” Now, DNA research indicates that the three skeletons are genetically similar to modern Irish people. That is, they are the ancestors of the modern Irish and they predate the Celts and their purported arrival by 1,000 years or more. The genetic roots of today’s Irish, in other words, existed in Ireland before the Celts arrived. The Irish people are not descended from Iron Age Celts.