Whoa..slow down..let me catch up a bit..
Thanks Mark for an interesting piece. Among the two prime possibilities if
the report is sound: 1) either the Original Norse colonists stopped off en
route westward to pick up a few girls..or 2) the established themselves,
then went shopping closer than home for mates or 3) the original colonists
were Scots, later taken by intrusive Norse..in the time honored procedure of
killing or chasing off the men, while finding useful application for the
available females. As confused as the history of that area is..either may
apply. I Used your closing line re sheep/wolves on my own Scots list..to
stir up some of the ongoing disconnect with Scots Highlanders and
Lowlanders..I'm waiting for the lowlanders..grouped as sheep in the scenario
to respond.
longgren@... adds:
>You haven't studied history, It is well known that the vikings
> brought many Irish slaves with them to Iceland. This study is bogus,
> because the people of northern Scotland are actually mostly of viking
> decent. Linguistics is one field. Genetics is another field. History is
yet
> another. When people in one field pretend to be experts in a different
> field they make major blunders.
I dunno. I think it almost as big a problem to read written history, and
take it as fact: the new technologies and the muti-disciplinary approach are
tossing a lot of written misperceptions, standing revered for decades, into
the dogma box. Disagree that Northern Scots were mostly Viking..we
historically know of Danish settlements, and Viking raids impacting on North
eastern Scotland significantly, and I will concede that the largest single
influence since the Celts in all of N. Scotland was North continental, but
limiting it to Viking as defined time wise..won't work. Scots and Irish
don't match MtDna or Haplogroup1/Y wise, and the old concept of Scotti
redefining Scotland with massive settlement c. 500 AD has been questioned
since 1988, and recently seriously archaeologically threatened. (Whether
Bjork is Scottish or not..regardless of the pop writing in the online
piece..Is a useless point and can only come from a generalized and I thing
erroneous perception of what a Scots is..or an attempt to redefine them as
Norse only..which won't fly...there are neolithic indicators as well.)
Cu Stima;
Rex H. McTyeire
Bucharest, Romania