The Picts

by Pat Tagert
macantsagairt@yahoo.com

I think a lot of people are confused about this issue.    When the Romans occupied Britain a couple of thousand years ago, they used the label "Picti" to refer to all the people north of their new walls (Hadrian's Wall, followed by the Antonine Wall), in the same way that any occupation army refers to all of their enemies as "-------" (whatever label).    The name stuck & now people refer to the Picts as the ancient inhabitants of what is now Scotland.    So anyone & everyone who is a descendant of the people who were living in Scotland when those "Picts" acquired their label, & before their culture & language of the Picts was assimilated into the modern nation of Scotland, is likewise a descendant of Picts, by simple definition.    All that the name implies is the ancient inhabitants of Scotland.    That would undoubtedly include many, many haplogroups & haplogroup subclades.    We can reasonably suggest that haplogroup clusters that comprise a fairly large portion of the present population are more likely than not descendants of that Pict nation, *especially when those haplogroup clusters are not found in substantial numbers anywhere else*.    The question of Irish versus Pictish is confounded by the many migrations back & forth between Ireland & Argyll, & I'm sure that question is nowhere near resolution, but it is largely a moot question.    The Gaels & the Picts were people who shared much of their cultural & ethnic heritage.    I'm sure that in ancient times they recognized that shared culture, but I doubt that it ever dissuaded them from crossing swords when it seemed appropriate for whatever reason.

OK, so one undoubtedly good candidate for one haplogroup that fits those parameters is (of course), the M269* (R1b1c*) Scots Modal cluster, so thoroughly represented in all of the clans of Argyll, Renfrew, Lanark, Galloway, the Hebrides, etc.    I am certainly not suggesting that it is the only group that fits the parameters, just the most obvious at present.    Another is the Scottish haplogroup I2b(??) cluster.    Could somebody help me out with this one?    Haplogroup I is constantly evolving in it's nomenclature, but I'm sure somebody knows the cluster I'm talking about.    It is clearly dominated by Scottish surnames.

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