Showing posts with label celt. Show all posts
Showing posts with label celt. Show all posts
Sunday, 2 January 2022
Friday, 28 September 2018
Where Did Celts Come From?
While Germanic language is widely agreed to have emerged around 3000 years ago in Northern Denmark, amongst a people who were genetically like modern Danes, and then to have spread from 750BC as neighbouring peoples adopted the language for some reason, it is harder to pin point who the first Celtic speakers were or explain how their languages got to Britain.
As I have said in videos, the modern British genetic profile emerged 4500 years ago with the arrival of the beaker folk from Holland, but these people did NOT speak a Celtic language, as linguists agree Proto-Celtic isn't that old (maybe 3000 or 3500 years old). This means that either:
a) The peoples of the British Isles adopted a Celtic language due to trade with continental Celts
b) A small Celtic elite took over Britain and Ireland and somehow changed the culture and language but not the genetics
c) A continental population of Celts took over Britain and Ireland and did change the genetics, but this change is only very slight because they were already closely related to the people of the British Isles.
Archeologically, the Hallstatt culture of the 8th to 6th centuries BC, is seen as the first proper Celtic material culture. The two black stars on the PCA chart above, made by Eurogenes, represent two skeletons from the Hallstatt culture, and it can clearly be seen that one plots among the Dutch and one among the Northern French, but neither among modern "Celtic" areas. However, the purple Iron Age Celts on the chart are between the older Bronze age British samples and the Halstatt samples indicating there WAS an invasion of continental Celts to Britain who were related to these Halstatt samples and that they changed the DNA of Britain and Ireland.
Modern English people plot between these purple Iron Age Celts and the red Anglo-Saxon samples, but there is always the possibility that other 5th century Anglo-Saxon invaders from Frisia, Holland etc would have plotted like modern Dutch people just as the much older Halstatt sample does - thus making the job of distinguishing "Celtic and Germanic DNA" very complicated! Especially when you also see that the Anglo-Saxon samples are closer to the Bronze Age Britons than the Halstatt Celts are.
EDIT: Eurogenes actually said there may have been as much as 10% admixture from a Celtic source in the iron age.
EDIT: Eurogenes actually said there may have been as much as 10% admixture from a Celtic source in the iron age.
Thursday, 21 June 2012
History of the Moustache
The moustache is no longer the face of the Western man. It is more commonly associated with Turks and Hindus than with Europeans these days. Its history is hard to trace through Western culture. The earliest depiction is this one below, showing a Scythian Pazyrik horseman from around 300 BC. An Indo-European people of the steppes.
The Hindu gods are sometimes depicted with moustaches, like Indra in the image below from 1820, as this is a sign of masculinity in Hindu culture. It is uncertain when the moustache became popular in India but it is possible it derives from Aryan fashions since Aryans were related to Scythians. However it is also likely that the more recent Western moustache was revived by influence from the Hindu tradition.
Romans, Greeks, Jews and later Christians and Muslims all favoured a full beard rather than a moustache. But the moustache was popular among the "barbarian" cultures of Northern and Eastern Europe. This Celtic stone head from Mšecké Žehrovice, Czech Republic, is from the late La Tène culture. This head was probably made around the time of the birth of Christ.
As well as the Celts, the Norse sometimes favoured moustaches as demonstrated by this carving which may be a depiction of the god of mischief, Loki.
The Anglo-Saxons certainly favoured moustaches rather than beards, both before and after they converted to Christianity. This is clearly shown in the Bayeaux tapestry in which all the Saxons wear moustaches including King Harold Godwinson as shown in the image below.
In fact, the tash was so important to them, that it is even depicted on the Sutton hoo helmet, lest the enemy mistakenly believe the Anglo-Saxon was clean shaven beneath the mask.
The moustache went out of fashion over the centuries though, being replaced by the proud beard or more commonly the clean shaven Christian of the West. It was not until the days of British Imperialism that we once again donned the soup strainers. The catalyst was caused by influence from India where the British had usurped the roles of the higher caste of the Hindus and had taken to growing moustaches following the Indian custom. The custom was encouraged because Indians were inclined to view clean shaven men as effeminate and in order to maintain an image of power in the eyes of the Hindus, British men needed to maintain whiskers on the upper lip.
You can read more about the importance of the moustache to the British Empire in the following article.
How the moustache won an empire.
The rise of communist dictators such as Stalin, Lenin and Trotsky, who sullied the image of the Western moustache, may have caused its demise until the more recent revival in which it was worn ironically by hipsters in Dalston and Williamsburg.
This cannot go on, I am doing my bit to bring back the Western moustache, without irony or apology, for neither charity nor humour. A tash is for life not just for Movember.
The Hindu gods are sometimes depicted with moustaches, like Indra in the image below from 1820, as this is a sign of masculinity in Hindu culture. It is uncertain when the moustache became popular in India but it is possible it derives from Aryan fashions since Aryans were related to Scythians. However it is also likely that the more recent Western moustache was revived by influence from the Hindu tradition.
Romans, Greeks, Jews and later Christians and Muslims all favoured a full beard rather than a moustache. But the moustache was popular among the "barbarian" cultures of Northern and Eastern Europe. This Celtic stone head from Mšecké Žehrovice, Czech Republic, is from the late La Tène culture. This head was probably made around the time of the birth of Christ.
As well as the Celts, the Norse sometimes favoured moustaches as demonstrated by this carving which may be a depiction of the god of mischief, Loki.
The Anglo-Saxons certainly favoured moustaches rather than beards, both before and after they converted to Christianity. This is clearly shown in the Bayeaux tapestry in which all the Saxons wear moustaches including King Harold Godwinson as shown in the image below.
In fact, the tash was so important to them, that it is even depicted on the Sutton hoo helmet, lest the enemy mistakenly believe the Anglo-Saxon was clean shaven beneath the mask.
The moustache went out of fashion over the centuries though, being replaced by the proud beard or more commonly the clean shaven Christian of the West. It was not until the days of British Imperialism that we once again donned the soup strainers. The catalyst was caused by influence from India where the British had usurped the roles of the higher caste of the Hindus and had taken to growing moustaches following the Indian custom. The custom was encouraged because Indians were inclined to view clean shaven men as effeminate and in order to maintain an image of power in the eyes of the Hindus, British men needed to maintain whiskers on the upper lip.
You can read more about the importance of the moustache to the British Empire in the following article.
How the moustache won an empire.
The rise of communist dictators such as Stalin, Lenin and Trotsky, who sullied the image of the Western moustache, may have caused its demise until the more recent revival in which it was worn ironically by hipsters in Dalston and Williamsburg.
This cannot go on, I am doing my bit to bring back the Western moustache, without irony or apology, for neither charity nor humour. A tash is for life not just for Movember.
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