DNA vs Milesius: An Exploration of Gaelic Patrilineal Civilization
This essay aims to answer the following questions: Where does the Irish race come from, and how long have we been in Ireland for?
The Ethnogenesis of the Gaelic Race
The old Gaelic genealogical tradition, as exemplified in Lebor Gabála Érenn (The Book of Invasions), affirms that the Irish result from several waves of invasions, culminating in that of Míl Espaine and his sons (the Milesians), from which all Irish descend.
This was not the only invasion of Ireland, but according to this tradition it was the final one from whence all Gaels ultimately traced their line. Per Keating, this invasion occurred in 1287 BC; according to the Four Masters it occurred in 1700BC. Furthermore, Milesius traced his lineage to Fenius Farsaid, who is said to have been a King of Scythia, close to where the Yamnaya culture, ancestors to the Indo-Europeans, thrived.
Genetic history indeed suggests the Irish (and Europeans generally) are the result of at least three separate invasions. The first being hunter-gatherers who followed the retreating ice sheets upwards and populated Ireland from 10,000-6,000BC and today contribute about 10% of our ancestry. (Although the amount of this which is of local origin is unknown.)
Next came the Neolithic farmers, of Anatolian origin, who largely replaced these peoples genetically, although peculiarly the hunter-gatherer male lines (under I) largely remained dominant. This Neolithic farmer culture was a thriving civilization, as evinced by Newgrange, which betrays their advanced astronomical knowledge – in some respects, they are reminiscent of the magic-wielding Tuatha de Danaan who preceded the Milesians in the Gaelic tradition.
Today, these Neolithic peoples comprise roughly 40% of our ancestry, although most of our modern Neolithic ancestry is non-local (originating outside Ireland). However, a substantial percentage is likely local given the continuing (low) persistence of the lineage I-M284, the sole lineage of the Poulnabrone portal tomb in Ireland (particularly Ulster) and Scotland. This means a small number (including many McCartans and McGuinness) can trace their male line back to the first Paleolithic hunter-gatherers on this island. Paleolithic I lineages today remain dominant in Scandinavia (I1) and the Dinaric Alps (I2), despite their high steppe ancestry.
The next wave of peoples is the patrilineal cattle herding nomadic steppe Indo-Europeans who rampaged across Europe and introduced a new warrior culture, they also drank milk at this time, despite their inability to digest it (that came later). They contribute close to 50% of Ireland's modern genetic admixture. There is a clear concordance between these Indo-Europeans and the Milesians of the Gaelic historical tradition, from whom all Irishmen are said to trace their line. They introduced R1 lineages into both Europe and Southern Asia.
The Ancestral Founder
Was Ireland really populated by the descendants of one man? Was the fabled Milesius, ignoring the finer genealogical details, a real figure in any sense?
Figure 1: "The Coming of the Sons of Miled", illustration by J. C. Leyendecker in T. W. Rolleston's Myths & Legends of the Celtic Race, 1911
It’s true that that there is clearly a hegemonic lineage which dominates the Irish (70% persistence). However, it is the same lineage dominant in Brittonic populations (the Welsh and Bretons), so it is not uniquely Irish. This lineage is R-L21 (more precisely, it's grandson R-DF13). It was founded in about 2500BC, and upon the dawn of Bronze Age (delineated as the arrival of the Bell Beaker culture) it once had a persistence of virtually 100% in both Britain and Ireland, while being absent in continental Europe.
R-L21, along with R-U152 (Italy and France) and R-DF27 (Iberia and France) descend from R-P312. R-P312 descends from R-L151 (originated c. 3,000BC), from which R-U106 (Germanic) also descends. These lineages now dominate Western Europe. This genetic structure, which separates Celts and Latins from Germanics, might somewhat support the 'Italo-Celtic' linguistic theory, wherein Italic and Celtic languages share a more recent common ancestor than Germanic.
Furthermore, the view that the Celtic languages entered Ireland during the Iron Age from Continental Europe which has long been orthodoxy among linguists loses its tenability when we consider that the male lines of the Irish (and Britons) has remained largely unchanged since the first settlement by the Indo-Europeans in approximately 2400BC.
Invasions with the power to alter linguistics in this tribal period were generally male mediated events, an event which ostensibly never occurred, so the lack of presence of significant or powerful non-R-L21 lineages makes it difficult to imagine this happening. An example of this is the Germanic invasions of Britain, which dramatically influenced their paternal landscape. No such invasion ever occurred in Ireland.
It could instead be considered that the Insular languages split from the Italo-Celtic tree at a much earlier point and did not separate as far from their Continental counterparts through a process of cultural diffusion. Languages, after all, can converge as well as diverge, and the sea, in those times, was the greatest conductor of such a cultural diffusion.
The Bones of Our Forebears
One of the earliest examples of R-L21 is found in Britain and dates from between 2456‒2146 BC, this is the 'Companion' (aged 25-30), interred nearby to the earlier Amesbury Archer (aged about 40), who is thought to be his relative. The men were found in a high-status burial, with gold hair ornaments and copper knives (among other objects), near to Stonehenge, and it is thought this same group of people erected the famous standing stones, which date from this period. The Archer himself was only defined as R-L151 (ancestral to R-L21) and had spent his earliest years in the Alps. The Companion however, was positive for R-L21 and had spent his earliest years in the Midlands or Scotland. The Companion had much higher steppe ancestry than the Archer (and of modern populations), a characteristic feature of Early Bronze Age Britain and Ireland.
Figure 2: The oldest known depiction of Stonehenge, from the second quarter of the 14th century in which a giant helps Merlin erect the stones. The erection of these stones was likely one of the first actions of this new race of R-L21 Insular Celtic peoples.
The earliest examples in Ireland of this mutation date from 2349-2135 BC and is found in the Pollnagollum cave in the Burren, being R-DF13 > R-FGC11134. This sparked intense interest, given that FGC11134 is, in modern times, known almost exclusively as an ancestral clade of the Eoganacht.
Interestingly, another body found in Treanmacmurtagh, County Sligo, Ireland, dating from 2015 BC to 1758 BC was also classified as R-FGC11134 meaning this sub-lineage which is now dominant in the far South of Munster was once dominant inside the Shannon where it is now largely absent.
Other early lineages found are the bodies of men found in Raithlin island, off the north coast of Ulster. The earliest of these dated from 2026 BC to 1885 BC and was defined as R-DF21, now mainly known for its association with the Airghialla and more scandalously, the descendents of Ceallachán Caisil (McCarthys and O’Callaghans), who's true ancestry was revealed to be non-Eoganacht.
Figure 3: The historical fortunes of our patrimonial lineage.
Genetic changes which also occurred from this early period onwards to the Iron Age was a gradual skin de-pigmentation, increase in persistence of lactase tolerance from non-existent to dominant and general reduction in Steppe related ancestry due to a slow mixture with continental Europeans. This mixture decreased R-L21 from 90% to 70% in Ireland and Britain by the Iron Age. After the Anglo-Saxon Invasions it fell further in England, and the concomitant Breton colonization of North-West France introduced it in large numbers to continental Europe.
The Dawn of History
It is upon the arrival of Saint Patrick in the 5th Century AD that the shrouds of Iron Age pre-history and immemorial druidic oral tradition are ended, and the age of writing and record-keeping (at least for events concerning the nobility) truly begin. The primeval tumult, hitherto only heard by its reverberations in later ages, gave way to vivid attestation.
This means more accurate genealogies. The haplotypic landscape of Ireland is indicative of its highly patrilineal social organization and polygamous practices. Lineages, even of relatively recent origin, on the cusp of the medieval period, can be massively hegemonic and dominant in modern Irish populations.
Figure 4: "The Fianna raised a pillar stone with her name in Ogham letters". These monumental stones form the earliest historical records of the Irish people.
The most dramatic example of this is R-DF105 (downstream of R-M222), with a predicted origin in only around 250 AD, yet from this point it dramatically proliferated into having a persistence of 20% in modern Irish male lines. That is millions of males around the world, if the diaspora is considered, all descending from one man who lived on the cusp of the medieval period. Surely the event which precipitated this rise would have been dramatic, and this man would have to have been very powerful indeed and left a mark on the historical memory.
The only likely candidate for the progenitor of this mutation is Eochaidh Muighmeadhon, and the cataclysmic event which precipitated it’s rise was likely the conquest of Connacht, Mide, and Ulster by his various sons (Niall Noígallach, Bríon, Fiachrae), known as the Connachta (after the earlier ancestor Conn Cedcathach). Indeed there is a broad, if imperfect, genealogical concordance with this notion. This northern half of Ireland was known as Leith Cuinn (Conn's half, after the aforementioned Conn) and it is here where this lineage dominates. The Uí Néill distinguished themselves from the Connachta, despite being members of it, due to their elevated position as High Kings. The later O’Neill dynasty which came to power in Ulster in the High Middle Ages was unrelated to the earlier Uí Néill genetically and descend from Áed in Macáem Tóinlesc, of dubious ancestry.
Unsurprisingly, the second most numerous lineage, behind by quite a margin, is the only dynasty to, on two occasions, challenge the Uí Néill's hegemony to the High Kingship in the early medieval period. I refer of course to the Eoganacht, the Kings of Munster from at least the coming of St. Patrick to the ascendancy of the Dál gCais. Their signature lineage can be defined by the mutation R-A541, originating in about 100 AD and having an overall persistence of 7% in Ireland, being highly concentrated in the southern part of Munster (Desmond), where they were driven after the rise of their former subjects the Dalcassians and the later Norman conquest. R-A541 is ancestral to both the classically defined Eoganacht (descendants of Conall Corc) and the Uí Fidgente, supporting the genealogical tradition of their common descent from Ailill Flann Bec who flourished in around the 3rd century AD. Ironically, their last great King (Ceallachán Caisil), from whom their leading dynasty, the McCarthys, descended, was shown to be of non-Eoganacht ancestry (R-DF21).
Another clearly identifiable lineage is the Dál gCais, who came to power at a comparatively later date. The mutation R-Z17669, originating in around 450 AD clearly defines the true descendants of Cas, and it alone is shared by the documented descendants of his known sons. It has a persistence of 4% in Ireland in total, and peaks between 20-30% in the former Kingdom of Thomond (Clare and parts of Limerick and Tipperary). The late Baron Inchiquin himself was tested and his lineage fell where expected, under R-DC782, a sublineage clearly founded by Brian Boru himself. Their supposed relationship to the Eoganacht is also proven to be a fable and was likely politically motivated.
R-Z3008, found more recently, has a national persistence of only 3% and clusters tightly around the former tribal lands of the Airghíalla. It is possessed by many clans in this area who trace their lineage to the Three Collas, three brothers reputed to have founded the Airghíalla Kingdon. They, along with the Northern Uí Néill, may have precipitated the collapse of the Ulaid overkingdom which they replaced. This proves the Three Collas were indeed historical, but also disproves the genealogical scheme connecting them to the Connachta, while also disproving the descent of the Uí Maine from the Collas.
Another notable lineage that which we may tentatively assign to the Laighin is R-Z255, which originated in around 100 BC, and clusters strongly around the former tribal lands of the latter, with a national persistence of about 4%. It is undoubtedly associated with certain traditional Laighin clans, notably the Mc Murrough Kavanaghs and the O’Byrnes. However it is as of yet difficult to attach any definitive genealogical scheme to it, based on the available evidence.
It is astonishing and somewhat unique to Ireland, that such a large proportion of our population can, by their surname, construct a detailed account of their medieval patrilineal ancestry with records which are evidently accurate back to the Iron Age in some cases. Many millions are, in some sense, ancient royal heirs.
Figure 5: The main dynastic lineages of Ireland.
The Patrilineal Civilization
These lineages proliferated so rapidly due to a pre-feudal tribal model of socio-political organization known as the canopy clan. This functions whereby the leading dynasty gradually fills all the social and political niches of its chiefdom with its various scions. So, over time, lineages more collateral to the chiefly line (and to real power) become increasingly marginalized and squeezed from their possessions until they are entirely destitute and without means to proliferate their lineage.
This is, of course, a somewhat exaggerated description. But it does explain how, over many generations, one lineage can multiply to such a staggering degree. A lineage’s profusion in this system can therefore be seen as a product of its political power, the geographical extent of that power, and the length of time it was held.
An example of the practitioner of this approach to governance were the Mac Conmara rulers of Clan Cuiléin (East Clare), a possession they suddenly came into after the defeat of the Normans and their Uí Bhloid allies in Thomond. In this case it was a means for them to rapidly secure control over large new holdings. The Mac Domhnaill Lords of the Isles also practiced this. A consequence of this practice is many geographically discrete branches of the leading clan.
A caste of hereditary warrior-princes systematically squeezing downtrodden gaelchuds from their land and breeding with their sisters is not so unjust as it sounds, these men lived short and often brutal lives, but they do live on in us.
Land and power was a zero-sum game back then, the fortunes of a lineage were fickle and tied to a fortunes of a single man. The winner took it all and the loser lost everything. These lineages are living historical records, testaments to ancient conquests, bloodshed, war, to victors and the vanquished.
Figure 6: 'The Combat before Armagh' illustrated in 'The Story of Ireland', 1910