The problem with using modern DNA to understand ancient history | Bretton DNA

[@AlexIlesUK]

Hello all, I made a mistake, the paper is 2023. Hope that clarified some questions.

[@bjornsmith9431]

Thank Alex lles, you not DNA man, but a true historian bringing understand of the past.

[@greggoodson9082]

Thanks again Alex. Another great presentation, and a fair and even handed critique

[@AlexIlesUK]

Thank you Greg!

[@ScottOsborne]

I had a little chuckle when you buried your head in your hands after mentioning “Viking DNA”.

[@AlexIlesUK]

I felt it physically

[@letsdothis9063]

​@@AlexIlesUK but I have Viking DNA! 😂😂

[@AlexIlesUK]

@letsdothis9063 SKALL BRÜDËRRRR

[@brennanmacdowell284]

DNA paper from 2003 is worthless. In fact just about anything on population genetics earlier than 2015 is worthless - modern or ancient. Big fan of the channel! Keep up the good work!

[@AlexIlesUK]

I made a mistake - its 2023! doi.org/10.1101/2022.02.03.478491 Sorry about that!

[@debjordan4399]

Thank you. I think you are spot on in your analysis.

[@AlexIlesUK]

Thank you!!

[@matthewgilmore4307]

I know you don't want to be the "DNA guy" but would love to hear more about Ulster/Western Scotland DNA

[@AlexIlesUK]

I will put it on my list of things to do! I do have another DNA episode coming up that I filmed a couple of days ago, but I am always looking for more information to be inspired by!

[@laurentdavid2147]

Point is there are historic evidences about political troubles / civil wars in Ireland between AD #800 and #1500, and about a continuous influx of Irish refugee in Britanny. Political debate between Irish people was violent in those days, and for a long time, Irishmen who lost those debates often took refuge in Britanny to avoid punishment by fellow Irishmen. I guess the number of people who migrated for that reason could have been quite significant over time. DNA studies sometimes show dubious results, but, here it looks rather consistent with classic historical knowledge.

[@AlexIlesUK]

Thank you for that, these are little bits of knowledge that really makes the difference!

[@kubhlaikhan2015]

I'm sure that's true, but the likelihood is that migration and intermarriage between Ireland, Britain and the near continent have been going on for thousands of years, and in all directions. Trying to construct "national identities" out of that stew is a political rather than a scientific activity.

[@laurentdavid2147]

@@kubhlaikhan2015 I don't think so. Most European "modern" states before mid XIXth century were opposed to population movements, and, at least in France, they were rather successful at preventing that. They were not opposed to ruling-class' intermarriages with inhabitants of other region, or even sometimes with foreigners, but but those intermarriage concerned few people and had no real consequences on the population. Significant European population movements between #800 and #1850 are rare, especially in France. Brittany played a special part in that story, because it was much less controlled by French central authorities, because it allied with the UK during the 100 years war and because, until the XVIth century, Brittons had a tradition of enrolling as mercenaries in the British army or navy. It is well known that during the Kalmar Wars, many Norwegian economic refugee settled in Brittany, while it was much more difficult for them to settle in Normandy, which was much more controlled by French central authorities. I guess that you had more population movements in London, for instance, because British governments had no special prevention against foreign seamen, but french governments had such prevention, at least until mid XIXth. cent.

[@kubhlaikhan2015]

@@laurentdavid2147 I think you underestimate population movement between France and Britain in the medieval period, given the complex political interactions and the strong evidence for French being spoken widely in southern Britain before the 11th century (which is why half the vocabulary of Middle English is French). However that wasn't my point - I'm saying the long proximity of the British Isles with the near continent is all that is needed for crossovers of DNA, language, ideas and fashions to occur. The volume of travel or migration doesn't need to be large given a long period of time. It doesn't matter if only lords travelled either (although I'm sure they didn't row their own boats). Migrations and intermarriage between the inhabitants of Ireland, Britain and France have been going on for at least ten thousand years, if not longer and consequently trying to distinguish them genetically is splitting hairs at best and believing you can identify specific mass migrations or invasions is dubious without strong archaelogical or documentary support. Perhaps an arrival of Irish in Brittany is sufficiently documented I don't know but many bolder claims - like "the anglosaxon invasion of Britain" - certainly aren't. Which begs the question - where do these stories come from? why do people want to believe in them - often passionately (even murderously)? I think the answer is very sad - that they are often the figleaf for political tyranny and racism.

[@laurentdavid2147]

@@kubhlaikhan2015 I understand that before mid XIXth century, peasant population typically stayed where they were born and never traveled more than 20km from this place during their whole life. I understand that in France, you had mass migration at the end of the Roman-Empire, when Germanic tribes moved west, and as I understand in the 8th century when a significant number of Englishmen moved to Brittany to flee Danish invaders. Apart from that, modern DNA studies seem to show that "Viking invasion" of Normandy resulted in local population changes of less than 5%, bar two very small parts of Normandy where population change was about 40%. Concerning Brittany, I understand that this region was mainly rural, with very limited interest in maritime economy until the en of the XVth century (very little fishing...), and that everything had changed at the beginning of the XVIIth century, where you can see seafaring brittons and serious fishing activities. In between you had the Kalmar Wars in Scandinavia, who constrained many Norwegians to exile, and they very often settled in Brittany where they brought their technical culture, but were often exploited by local feudal landowners. For instance you have a port in Brittany, name is Douarnenez, that nearly didn't exist in 1500, that was quite large in 1600, and whose industry between 1600 and 1950 was sardine fishing using cod's eggs imported from Norway as bait. Douarnenez maritime population is generally considered as different from local peasant population, with a long tradition of socially strained relations between local peasants and local seamen. It seems extremely likely that Douarnenez benefited from a large influx of Norwegian migrants during the Kalmar Wars, that those migrants were in a way "exploited" by local authorities, and that, in return, they had a tradition of not treating well impoverished peasant's sons who were economically compelled to work as unqualified seamen on Douarnenez's fishing boats. But, this kind of idea has been considered as "politically incorrect" for a long time, and you will not find it in any book. Concerning marriages between Frenchmen and Englishmen before 1066, I guess that it did exist in maritime communities, but not in rural communities that had no interest in seafaring, and that in the XIth century, maritime communities were very different from rural communities and were much less numerous, at least in France and in the UK. as bait

[@psilocyberspaceman]

I like your analysis and how detailed you are.

[@AlexIlesUK]

Thank you!

[@kudjoeadkins-battle2502]

Ancient DNA is not necessarily corespondent with modern classifications of people. Very interesting.

[@AlexIlesUK]

I'm so glad you got that as a takeaway from the episode, so often people don't understand that.

[@tobyplumlee7602]

My male line (Plumley) is of English ancestry from Somerset and is R1b L21...so I assume my English male line is from earlier bell beaker folk or "Celt" and not Anglo-Saxon. Mother's side is Haplogroup J2 Montgomery's of Scottish ancestry. I'm actually a 9th generation American of entirely British ancestry.

[@sophiabee8924]

Apart from the whole DNA thing, there's the connection between the Bretons and other "Celtic" countries in the similarities and commonalities of the culture that still exist today. I spent three very happy years as a student at the University of Rennes almost 50 years ago. In my second year I did an option in Breton studies including the language (much of the graffiti at our campus was in Breton!) It's a very interesting part of world.

[@vague57]

The impulse for interrogating the 'celtic connection' is of course the Breton membership of the p-Celtic language family group along with Cornish & Welsh. Irish as a language is of course in the q-Celtic family. Do you think that the DNA study has any implications for the historical 'fact' of Cornish migration to Brittany?

[@AlexIlesUK]

I am not sure. It is something I am keeping a eye on for future publications as its very intresting

[@mattpotter8725]

I totally agree with all your skepticism and criticism of basically transposing ancient DNA onto modern day populations and I'm the same. Having taken a DNA test for genealogical purposes to try and build back my family tree it astounds me how so many people use these to misinterpret their ancestry, part of which i put down to his these tests have been advertised. What i would say is that the grandparent criteria, whilst i agree won't mean every person is an ideal candidate with my analysis of my test results, and having done this for close relatives as well, is that DNA analysis is a lot more statistical then you would think, or at least a lot of people think, and looking at probabilities and finding what is most likely is what is going on a lot of the time here but this is hard to explain to the non mathematical, non scientific population, who like to see these broad conclusions when what is going on is a lot more nuanced. I don't think I've watched any of your videos before and found it odd that you said you didn't want to be the "DNA guy" since you didn't really talk a huge amount about the history of Brittany as a whole but mentioned some very valid points about early bronze age migrations, later migrations, and some other very valid points about viking DNA. I'm sure the writers of this paper are right that rivers play a large part in defining population groups, maybe more in terms of creating group identity, friendly relations, and inter breeding, but history will as well, and it comes as no surprise to me that Irish and Cornish DNA is shared with the DNA of people living in Brittany today, after all until not too long ago the sea was the quickest and easiest way to travel large distances and all these places were of Celtic origin and will have traded with each other, the rulers will have formed alliances by intermarrying their children, which will have eventually fed into the gene pool of the area over thousands of years, as well as other peoples migrating into the area over the past few centuries. So great video, but i think more history to put this study into context, a better description of the distinct areas deliminated by the study, but other than that great job, very informative.

[@AlexIlesUK]

I'm very glad you enjoyed it, I'll take the points about detail and look to try to work that in more in the future!

[@JungleJargon]

People are ignoring known human history. The actual historical records and DNA migrations show that everyone spread out from Mesopotamia. Ancient history is essential for everyone to know, especially the sixteen original civilizations… from the sixteen grandsons of Noah. Learn ancient history before trying to learn science. 1. The first inhabitants of Italy (K) Tubal 2. Thracians (L) Tiras 3. Mediterranean Greek sea people (T) Javan 4. Siberians (N) Meshek 5. East Asians (O) Magog 6. Medes (PQ) Madai 7. Western Europeans (R) Gomer 8. Hebrews and Arabic (IJ) Arphaxad 9. Elamites (H) Elam 10. Assyrians (G) Asshur 11. Arameans (F1) Aram 12. Lydians (F2) Lud 13. Cushites (AB, C) Cush 14. Egyptians (E3) Mitzrayim 15. Canaanites (E2, D) Canaan 16. Original North African Phoenicians (E1) Phut The D paternal haplogroup Sino descendants of Canaan migrated from Canaan east to China all the way to Japan and Tibet. The C paternal haplogroup descendants of Nimrod migrated as far as South Asia, the Pacific, Mongolia and all the way to the Americas accounting for the Olmec civilization as well as the Q haplogroup descendants of Madai ancestor of the Medes that crossed the Atlantic to Central America. The A maternal mtDNA haplogroup belonging to the Semitic N lineage accompanied the Eurasian Q paternal haplogroup to Central America. The C&D maternal haplogroups belonging to the Eurasian M lineage also accompanied the Atlantic crossing of the Q paternal haplogroup Medes and probably the C paternal haplogroup to Central America. The Semitic B maternal mtDNA haplogroup seems to have crossed the Pacific Ocean to South America. The Mediterranean paternal R1b and the maternal X2a also found in Galilee represent another Atlantic crossing of the Phoenicians in the days of King Solomon considering also the Mediterranean paternal haplogroups of T, G, I1, I2, J1, J2, E and B in addition to the R1b in Native American Populations. J1 and J2 is Arabs and Jews. (I1 is most likely Dan and I2 resembles the movements of the tribe of Asher) Of course there is also the Cohen modal haplotype of J1 P58 as well which identifies the IJ lineage of Hebrews and Arabs that are descended from Arphaxad. J2 M172 is the largest group of descendants probably of the House of the kings David and Solomon. Now you know a lot more of what is verified human history.

[@AlexIlesUK]

Thank you for your time.

[@Ponto-zv9vf]

I would disregard that paper because it is too old. DNA studies have progressed faster than just in a linear fashion. As to the language used, it is hard to be linguistically precise and would have made the paper much longer. In the paper about Imperial Roman dna by Sanford, they used the terms Mediterranean and European, which to me basically meant people with a majority Anatolian Farmer ancestry (Mediterranean) and people with larger ancestry from Bronze Age immigrants from the Steppes of Eurasia (European). So Sanford researchers are saying that Italians with high Neolithic farmer ancestry are not Europeans. I don't think the researchers meant anything bigoted, they were just reflecting on what is generally thought about Southern Europeans by North Americans.

[@AlexIlesUK]

I made a mistake it's a 2023 paper!! Sorry about that

[@kudjoeadkins-battle2502]

This was awesome.

[@AlexIlesUK]

Thank you!! I've got another one on European Early Medeval aDNA coming up!

[@alananimus9145]

This popped up in my feed and i saw it and rolled my eyes. I thought this was going to be yet another crank video from yet another crank. Instead it was great.

[@AlexIlesUK]

I'm so glad! I sometimes feel like I'm yelling into the abyss with these but it means a lot when people comment afterwards that you've enjoyed it! I've got a series on aDNA/DNA if you're interested.

[@kinemapup]

has anyone researched the effect of vit k2 being consumed as readily available staple, that possibly induced the pontic population growth and migration?

[@AlexIlesUK]

I'm sure people have done, but it would be a prehistoric topic and one I sadly don't know anything about

[@kinemapup]

i don't think anyone has... so I'm officially bagging the theory here :-) the question now, what happens when you remove vit-k2 from the general population?

[@AlexIlesUK]

@@kinemapup people get broken bones more easily?

[@kinemapup]

@@AlexIlesUK and so much more possibly. as an experiment, to experience this population transition period, the dog and I are taking vit d3+k2 supplements, at 14 1/2 years old, he's already pushing the odds

[@robertvermaat2124]

Very interesting!!

[@gerardmichaelburnsjr.]

This is a major fault in commercial DNA tests. A friend of mine with the stereotypical Irish surname, and who could pass for a leprechaun, was told in a DNA test that he was overwhelmingly "English". So I asked question what kind of English? Anglo-Saxon (German), pre-invasion Briton, borgeous whatever the hodgepodge in England today is? Sadly, my friend had no idea what I meant. I tend to think some DNA testing is done if it's a political aim of increasing certain identities. I haven't had DNA testing, but nearly everyone I have heard of is supposedly part Finnish. I think that is unlikely and more likely goes back to some last common ancestor.

[@AlexIlesUK]

Yes, it's a reason I don't engage with Haplogroups on this channel, people turn them into identities instead of actually having a personality!

[@Ghost2743]

@@AlexIlesUK That's unfortunate, you could help people understand what haplogroups are and aren't, it's really not that complicated. Also, what mt/yDNA tells us definite, unlike wishy-washy aDNA. Did the study use "Irish" for like "Iron Age Celtic base" instead of "Gaul"...!?

[@AlexIlesUK]

Firstly Celtic suggests that all the groups are homogeneous, which they are not. They didn't use Iron Age Ireland as a basis for the study. aDNA isn't wishy washy.

[@Ghost2743]

@@AlexIlesUK I was just asking about the study, I couldn't tell from what you said. Everyone seems to think autosomal DNA is way more wishy-washy than I do, I just think compared to mt/yDNA it requires a much better reference of samples surely...

[@AlexIlesUK]

@Ghost2743 ah I'm sorry! In Archeology aDNA stands for Ancient not autosomal! It's looking at the genetic groups that were present in the time period of study, not using modern DNA groups and working backwards to get a 'model' of the past! Sorry for the confusion.

[@Alan-lv9rw]

I traced my family back to 1730. It’s 100% English. But Ancestry says I’m 100% Irish. I guess all of my ancestors were originally from Ireland and moved to England before 1730.

[@AlexIlesUK]

There's been migration across the Irish sea for thousands of years - in my family my maternal grandfather's mother was Irish.

[@stephenelberfeld8175]

I guess that more samples need to be collected in Brittany covering DNA from Roman times, Britons migration period from Wales/Cornwall, almost anything pre-Eighteenth Century with a name attatched to it where permission can be had. You know there is a considerable difference between Quebec French and Acadian (Cajun) French because of they originated from different populations in France and Acadia had a constant influx of seamen from all points. Quebec has it's dit-names, as low ranking officers from noble families were in a better position financially to start a family than adventurers and trappers. At first farming and gardening were almost non-existent. So fishing, pigs, sheep, cattle, horses and chickens were essentials to survive while clearing rocky, forested bottomland.

[@sinan2.71]

So even if you can trace one or more ancestors back to the same place, they were marrying and having children with people from other places?

[@AlexIlesUK]

Interesting proposition, it depends on how big your tracing goes? Do you know the grandparents and great grandparents of all your ancestors? Can you be certain that all the ancestors came from the same place and same genetic group? There's slight risks with that particular hypothesis.

[@DJCole34]

Should do this same video but about Egyptians/American blacks/west Africans/indigenous Caribbean people. Because I feel DNA test would be problematic for all these people also.

[@AlexIlesUK]

I have no interest in doing videos on those topics. Please feel free to do the research yourself and go for it.

[@DJCole34]

@@AlexIlesUK That’s unfortunate for you.

[@AlexIlesUK]

Why? We all are interested in different things. If you are you are interested and passionate about something you should press on and go for it, I've got different interests

[@DJCole34]

@@AlexIlesUK I assumed you were trying to shed light on the problems with using modern dna to understand ancient populations, I didn’t realize you only were interested in that topic, when it’s related to Europeans.

[@AlexIlesUK]

I'm quite time poor and I'm working on other projects. I don't know of any papers on the topics you've asked for and I don't feel I know enough on the areas to do it justice. Rather than upsetting people and making mistakes, I've decided to politely decline. I understand you may be disappointed but I'd encourage you to look into it just as much for the joy of learning as anything else. Best wishes, Alex

[@doktortutankamazon31]

" Viking" groups settled in Eastern Britain several times. Lincolnshire surnames ending in "by" are a result for instance. I could not agree more about DNA used historically. I am troubled often by North American indigenous DNA models. 90% of the population died out due to disease by 1600. You can't make any definitive study when so much wasvlost.

[@AlexIlesUK]

I think there would be enough samples, but the difficulty in North America is respecting the native populations who have a difficult and complex relationship with Government. I dont think they would appreciate a large scale campaign to gather ancient DNA from their burial grounds. Whereas in Europe, due to the density of settlments, we regularly find burials and can conduct this research and re-intern our dead respectfully.

[@Wicknews8100]

Splendid work, there's a 1962 multicoloured topographic map of Ireland, it depicts a Boar King in a purple robe holding the Holy Grail, it's a gold skull inscribed OMRY the blood that flows into it is inscribed JAWKOAM, just what I noticed anyway 🐗👑 It's a Megalithic Biblical account landscape, Giants? Boars? Pig Kings? Dna? I also collect ancient quartz crystals in Ontario Canada. They have ancient engravings as well, very underrated subject, "rockart" on Quartz crystals, do you believe the Quartz can contain Dna 🧬? Match the engravings with the contents of the crystals? Thanks for your channel

[@AlexIlesUK]

Thank you, I wouldn't put too much weight behind that kind of map personally

[@Wicknews8100]

@@AlexIlesUK I thought the same until I started looking around, the United States upside down on topographic is a snarling Dog surrounded by ancient Hebrew men, the great lakes are the Dogs mouth. Have a look and get back to me, thanks 🙏

[@louvendran7273]

14:30. Did you consider the Barbary Pirates raiding the west coast of France, England & south Ireland to capture slaves for the Arab/Ottoman slave trade until the 19th century when the British Navy reached world class status?

[@AlexIlesUK]

I'm not entirely sure what that changes as the North African aDNA was from the 5th century.

[@matthewgilmore4307]

very interesting

[@AlexIlesUK]

Glad you've enjoyed it!

[@joeelliott2157]

Question: You say around 7:50 that France is divided into three parts (like Julius Caesar said (just joking). * Northeastern France: DNA largely from Britain * Central France: DNA from Germany and Scandinavia * Southwest France: DNA from Spain Do you mean: * Northwestern France: DNA largely from Britain * Northeastern France: DNA from Germany and Scandinavia * Southwest-Southern France: DNA from Spain (Mediterranean) This would make more sense to me. Germany DNA ending up close to Germany.

[@AlexIlesUK]

I believe it was a decision on the part of the research team. I don't know if they were or not inspired by Caesar!

[@petehoover6616]

Frank Boaz noticed that Round headed brachycephalic people (Hungarians) who emigrated to the New World had children who were long headed dolichocephaic people. Same thing is noted among Thoroughbred racehorses: when imported to other nations they change even though all their ancestors are Thoroughbreds. Compare the English Thoroughbred, the Australian Brumby and the American Quarter horse. All are nearly pure Thoroughbreds yet all are different.

[@thesjkexperience]

Did they offer a hypothesis? I’ve always said a Place will change you, but that’s more than I expected!

[@AlexIlesUK]

I'd not use that as the basis for a hypothesis. Thankfully science has moved on a little bit since Boaz.

[@petehoover6616]

@@AlexIlesUK I'm often disappointed by archaeologists who turn out to be racist. What I think happened was that racist university professors won't give a doctorate to someone who's not racist like themselves. The dolochoceohalic/brachycephalic one has always bothered me because it's talked about so often as a racial difference when there might be environmental factors that influence it. I've noticed a difference like that myself. If you lay a palm on each side of someone's arse and they walk away and you look at your hands with a European or Middle Easterner your palms will be parallel but with an American your palms will be angled out a bit. And I've noticed that parallel sided European people who have children in America have children with tapered backsides. I think it has something to do with the width of the glute vs the depth of the muscle. It's a pretty easy difference to notice if you're around people from both continents but otherwise you wouldn't think of it. I'm pretty sure the difference is environmental rather than hereditary but what causes it is a mystery. I don't really know how to talk about it without offending someone as the difference crosses genders and one just should not discuss this with ladies, especially when you're holding them. The round head/long head doesn't show much until you put a cowboy hat on an Asian, where it really looks odd. Been there. Done that. Try explaining Bosnians: they are round headed but oddly their necks are wider than their skulls so they appear pinheaded. Bosnians look really odd. Since Bosnians are a mix of a whole bunch of different ethnic origins how did they get to where a roomful of them looks like a roomful of traffic cones? It's worse when they all wear pointed hats. I suspect an environmental factor. (The hats are too tight?)

[@AlexIlesUK]

Sorry would you explain by the Archeologists who are racist? As I understand it craniology can show relationships between family members in the same cemetery, but I've no heard it being used in other studies otherwise, I've got a paper to read on it though.

[@petehoover6616]

@@thesjkexperience Horse breeders from certain countries (Argentina) must continually import Thoroughbred breeding stock from England or their herd will degenerate.

[@michaelmerrigan3086]

Alex, you rightly point out that nomenclature is important and, at the same time, very problematic. However, your constant use of the anachronistic geopolitical term "British Isles" to include the islands of Britain and Ireland only compounds the problem. Maybe it would be best to leave aside terms emanating from Tudor political and imperial aspirations and propaganda, in favour of the modern "Britain and Ireland" or the "UK and Ireland" or, with context, "the archipelago" or "these islands"? Enjoy your videos - very informative.

[@AlexIlesUK]

Hi Michael, you are right, the term has political conitations. I will have a good think about the various terms I can use in future videos and will try to be more accurate. I expect everyone has a slightly diffrent view on wich is the correct term depending on which part of Britian and Ireland/ United Kingdom/ British Isles they come from, and I know people who would agree and vehemently disagree with you on this point. I do try wherever posible and appreciate the feedback

[@michaelmerrigan3086]

@@AlexIlesUK Go raibh maith agat Alex (Thank You) and indeed, I appreciate your point in the penultimate sentence above. However, surely in the furtherance of good neighbourliness, one would understand that using a possessive term that implies ownership of one's neighbour's home and garden might be considered offensive? An irrationally patriotic attachment to the term has much to do with a nostalgia for a long gone imperial greatness and/or, more probably, evidence of a fanciful sense of irredentism. Either way, mutual respect should be the order of the day and therefore, anachronistic geopolitical terms should be avoided, especially, in public history videos as such may lead to misuse by factions, particularly, on the far right. Thanks again Alex.

[@AlexIlesUK]

@@michaelmerrigan3086 Thank you for the time you have taken to write this.

[@michaelmerrigan3086]

@@AlexIlesUK Likewise!

[@danielferguson3784]

Why limit these movements of peopled to the migration period of the post Roman era? Surely people moved, in all sorts of directions, not only east to west, throughout time, as much before the Roman period, & during it, as well as some very long after. 'Irish' DNA in modern Brittany could be Iron Age people or others moving from the continent into Ireland just as easily. The peoples of Europe are all from the same original post glacial populations, mixed, separated, & mixed again, so that their DNA is very close, so the direction of flow has changed time & again, making it near impossible to identify individuals with any known 'ethnic' groups. But the threefold division of France does recall Caesar's Gaul. This would put the 'celts' in the coastal west, the Gauls, Belgic, part German, in the central regions, & the more closely German in the eastern parts. Yes, Brittany newly coined after substantial numbers from Britain migrated to the region, where the people were closely related to them already.

[@AlexIlesUK]

Fair points!

[@AlexIlesUK]

I think they don't envision a migration into Ireland as there's no material culture that backs up that potential theory.

[@danielferguson3784]

@@AlexIlesUK But the Irish people didn't just pop up out of the ground, at least some of them must have crossed the seas from Britain or France or Spain or elsewhere, & this could happen repeatedly at any time. What about Lanullae, & Beakers, tombs etc?

[@AlexIlesUK]

@@danielferguson3784 I am sorry I understand your point now, The majority of their aDNA comes from the Bronze Age migration into Ireland rather than later migrations

[@MadeleineTakam]

If you thought that paper was controversial. Try… The deepest-rooting clade of the Y phylogeny haplogroup A1 Chromosome within indigenous British males in Yorkshire.

[@AlexIlesUK]

Now that looks facinating, thank you for sharing that with me and I will try to read that paper soon.

[@MadeleineTakam]

@@AlexIlesUK European Journal of Human Genetics… 24 January 2007

[@AlexIlesUK]

@@MadeleineTakam I've found it and printed it off - it is in my reading pile!!! Also found papers which cite it too - a paper on Craniology! Thank you again for brining it to my attention!

[@itsapittie]

Unfortunately, DNA isn't as precise as most people think. A lot depends upon the databases used for comparison. That's one of the problems with evaluating Native American DNA -- in general, modern Native Americans have been reluctant to contribute to DNA databases. Occasionally, there's a real puzzler. I had my DNA tested through CRI Genetics and they determined that one of my great-grandparents was Gujarati Indian. The hiccup is that I know who all of my great-grandparents were and none of them were even remotely South Asian. DNA is useful but it's still far from an exact science.

[@AlexIlesUK]

Commercial tests and research are two very different methods.

[@kubhlaikhan2015]

The problem Alex is that people will cling to their myths and fictions to the death, even though those myths and fictions were invented to control and exploit them. Truth seekers are a minority in this world.

[@AlexIlesUK]

While I would not define myself as a truth seaker, I would view it more that we are all trying to learn a little bit more about people and the whole human story by researching and learnining. I am not a singular source of knowledge and sometimes I get things wrong or upset people without meaning to (have a look at the comments on some of my videos!) gald you are enjoying the content though!

[@elihyland4781]

12:01 ummmmm Britain used to be called Amorica? whaaaaaaaaaaat?

[@AlexIlesUK]

Brittany. Not Britain.

[@elihyland4781]

@@AlexIlesUK thanks for clarifying still wild

[@wekapeka3493]

I am who I am.

[@AlexIlesUK]

Good to know

[@Angrybarberman]

My moms father was of the desmond/ fitzgerald/ geraldine line on her dads side, her mom was from the disputed tyrolian alps, my dad is sicilian, his dna chart is incredibly mixed...so, i have italian greek arab nigerian ashkenazi sephardic turk austrian saxon florentine norman welsh irish dna.....someone should hire me, alone ill meet your diversity quota!😂😂😂😂😂😂😂

[@AlexIlesUK]

You my good man, are a man of the world!

[@italianbirdvideos6190]

I really like your topics and your approach, but might you consider not saying "stuff like that" every other sentence? It cheapens your dialog and sounds amateurish. You deserve better.

[@AlexIlesUK]

Thank you, I do appreciate that feedback. Something to work on, I try to take them in one take and it's often when I'm thinking that come out. I'll have a talk with the editors to see what I can do!

[@italianbirdvideos6190]

@@AlexIlesUK I'm sure I am being too critical. It came from a place of respect for what you do. Thank you kindly for listening. Fascinating channel.

[@AlexIlesUK]

@italianbirdvideos6190 it's useful feedback and I know I can improve and want to I've recorded four more episodes already so you may not notice a difference for a while, but I'll make an effort to try not to do that, the only thing I can say is that I have a lot going on every recording season. It's not an excuse, but I'm thinking about my voice, position in the shot and I'm reading my notes and finding a way to convey it engagingly and accurately. Unfortunately I'm time poor and this is only a part of my job so I need to get it right on my filming days. Today I'm going to try and film more so I'll see what I can do! Also my editors want me to move to hour long content - when you see the hour long episode in about three to four weeks, you'll see how exhausted I look!! :)

[@GaryNoone-jz3mq]

Another amateur making out that he actually knows something.

[@AlexIlesUK]

Thank you Gary, can I ask why you think that?

[@waynemcauliffe-fv5yf]

[@AlexIlesUK]

Oooh new emoji

[@g4joe]

Ok.... But what about our Neanderthal DNA in Wigan ??? Alice Roberts also has Neanderthal DNA. 😄 My Dad was Breton. 👍

[@AlexIlesUK]

I just thought the southerners looked funny. Now I understand why... ;)

[@g4joe]

@@AlexIlesUK Lisa Nandy local MP👎 Enough said.😄

[@AlexIlesUK]

I can't comment as I try to stay out of modern politics and don't know who she is.

[@g4joe]

@@AlexIlesUK Its no lose to you. Relax👍