I’m “not from the Celt parts” but one of my great-grandmothers was from Asturias (Celt, yeah, we’ve got Celt). Mom and me are both very much into “legends” in general, I’ve been to Galicia, I have friends from Galicia (gallegos come in two basic models, “Celt” and “Iberian”), so I’m familiar with that one.
Dad’s side is Basque, and while the Spanish version I’d heard of the Canción doesn’t mention our area at all (the wiki article you linked does), our own “origin story” talks about coming from the East and settling down here and so forth and so weise; this prompted in me a general interest on “old legends about the origins of different peoples”. La Canción was first put in paper about the same time our own legends about Aitor were, XIX century with the nationalist movement.
See? Getting your family history traced is edumacational!
Just don’t take it any too serious. I think I’ve posted how I can literally trace my family history back to Adam now, thanks to some loonies in the 18th century making up a geneology pre-Golam. My last name does mean ‘of Ir’, and I am, supposedly, descended from Ir’s 100th son.
The part where it’s handy has come from sorting out people who share my name or variants… uncommon name, but many variants… and figuring out which of them are related to us, which just have another name that has variants that overlap, and so on and so forth.
We literally have traced the family back to around 1000 AD now, and possibly further. Once you break a certain distance, it becomes easier, thanks to converging ancestors and other people making the same effort.
**(Note: The book has nada to do with Atlantis!) **
The best review is attached to the Amazon entry for the earlier, long out of print edition. Here it is.
Quinn is more an inspired amateur scholar than academic. However, Barry Cunliffe wrote the preface to the latest edition; the recently knighted Oxford professor wrote the quite scholarly Facing the Ocean: The Atlantic & Its Peoples, 8000 BC-1500 AD
My father’s parents came from East Galway. My maternal grandfather’s people came over earlier & his widow (who helped raise me) called herself “Scotch Irish.” So I’m considering shelling out to find more about my Atlantic Fringe background. And I may even pay for my brother’s testing, to get more data.
It sounds like some people have used tests other then the National Geographic one. I’ve planned on getting my father the NG test kit as a present, but I’m interested in what others people have used, and what you thought of them. Links would be nifty.
Family Tree DNA seems to be handling the genetic testing for the Genographic Project. Anyone doing testing with one can join the other without having to recollect specimens. And it appears that Genographic Project participants get a reduced rate from Family Tree for additional DNA testing. Neat.
Isn’t Affirmative Action intended to make up for past & present problems due to one’s perceived race/ethnicity? If the “victimhood” can only be proved by DNA testing, how could it have affected anything?
Have no fear: Here’s the application for the “Caucasion Achievement & Recognition Scholarship.”
Applicants need only be 25% Caucasian. Guessing this means “white”–since “Caucasian” is a bit old fashioned, anthropologically speaking. Surely, the Chechens, Avars & Georgians are lining up. I’ll bet that many of the applications are interesting reading.