If you love everything about the Celts and the Irish, you may wonder if these two peoples are related or even if one is the descendant of the other. Looking at all the most popular Irish jewelry you may be convinced that the Irish and the Celts are one and the same. Read on to find out more about this idea and dispel any misplaced notions that you may have.

What Does New Research Say?

Scientists have recently concluded, after analyzing ancient DNA samples, that the Irish are actually not Celts. What’s more, their findings seem to conclude that the Irish people came from Biblical lands in the Middle East.

On the other hand, the Celts seem to be mysterious people who played a crucial role in the historical development of ancient Europe. This means that, although both peoples were assumed to be closely related, the theory now seems to be wrong.

Some of these findings came about in 2006 when a man was clearing some land to make a driveway for a bar on Rathlin Island. As he started digging, he noticed a large, flat stone buried immediately beneath the surface. As he kept on digging, he discovered the remains of several people and called the police.

Many scientists have since then studied the remains of these ancient people. They maintain that DNA results prove that the ancestors of modern Irish people predate the arrival of the Celts to the shores of Ireland by more than 1,000 years. In short, this means that the Irish and the Celts are two different people who populated the same area but not during the same historical period.

This discovery has completely upended the traditional view that these peoples were one and the same and may fully change the perception of Irish ancestry.

Where Are the Irish Believed to Have Come From?

It is now believed that Irish ancestors may have arrived at the shores of Ireland from the lands of the Bible in the Middle East. As they made their way to these new shores, they may have brought with them significant imports such as ceramics, cereal, and cattle.

Archaeologists believe that the bones found on Rathlin Island have a striking similarity to those of contemporary Welsh, Irish, and Scottish people. Radiocarbon dating of these bones has revealed them to be from at least 2,000 BC. This places the Irish there hundreds of years before the oldest known Celtic artifacts were identified anywhere in the world.

Who Were the Celts?

The word “Celt” comes from the Greek word Keltoi. It was used to refer to barbarians that had settled on the border of their empire. For many years, it was believed that these people, who shared language, art styles, and culture, were able to conquer a great portion of mainland Europe, including Ireland, during the Late Bronze Age. This resulted in modern Irish culture having its foundation in Celtic culture. This is because the Irish of that time would not have been strong enough to get rid of these invaders and they ended up incorporating these new cultural cues and making them their own.

One of the most common pieces of evidence of the Celtic invasion is the spread of a highly stylized curvilinear art style since several pieces of that art style have been found on Irish land.