Matt

You wrote

> But is there evidence which either shows that the Scots did not
> descend from the Scythians or Sarmatians, or which shows where else
> they did originate from ?
> Maps i've seen indicate that the Celts originated from that general
> direction, would they instead have been living alongside the
> Scythians and Sarmatians ?

Matt, from what I understand Celts came from the area of Hallstaat,
in Austria, developing out of the Urn Field cultures in this area
from about 1200 BCE. The Hallstaat culture expanded to stretch from
Spain to southern England and seems to have been the spread of P
Celtic (from which Welsh is derived). There is a complete cultural
sequence from this area until the La Tene period (400 BCE) which
resulted in the explosion of Celts from Rome to Delphi and into
Galatea, and probably was the expansion of G Celtic (from which
Gaelic is derived).

There is some vague suggestion that some of the La Tene stylized
animals may have developed from contact with the Scythian animal
style, and there is evidence of Scythian tumuli in Hungary, and it
has been suggested that the Bastarnae may have been a fusion of
Germanic, Scythian and Germanic cultural elements, but I am not aware
of any evidence that shows them to be Scythian. I would be
interested to see what you have.

Regards

John