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DNA Testing for Scottish Genes

When the paper trail in Scotland runs cold, today there is another powerful tool to use for your Scottish genealogy search - your DNA.

For people with Scottish ancestral links, there is a DNA test which can determine whether your Scottish ancestry is linked to the early Pict settlers of Scotland, the colonising Norse Vikings, or to early medieval Ireland.

The Picts are believed to be the descendants of the first people to colonise Scotland after the glaciers retreated at the end of the last ice age. Until recently the degree to which present day Scots (and their diaspora) are descended from these mysterious people was unknown. However, recent genetic analysis has revealed the existence of two Pictish Y chromosome signatures which are most common in Scotland, but rarely seen in England or continental Europe.

The Norse Vikings spread out from their native Scandinavia in their seaworthy longships in the Viking age, starting around AD 793. Although famous for looting and pillaging, genetic evidence attests their colonisation of Iceland, the Faeroes, the Northern Isles of Scotland and to a lesser degree other parts of Scotland and England, and the Isle of Man. Testing can determine whether your relationship is to one of a number of Viking signatures.

Somerled - Lord of the Isles
Somerled (c1100-1164) is known for driving the Vikings out of the Hebrides. His dynasty, the Lordship of the Isles, then ruled the Hebrides till 1493. Genetic analysis of several Chiefs of Clan Donald with documented descent from Somerled, showed that all share the same Y chromosome type, confirming their genealogies. This type is carried by tens of thousands of men today with names like MacDonald and MacDougall. This test will determine your relationship to the Somerled haplotype.

Medieval Ireland - Niall of the Nine Hostages
Recent genetic studies at Trinity College Dublin have discovered the genetic signature of the most important dynasty of early medieval Ireland, the Ui Niell, ie the descendants of Niall, a fifth century warlord whose descendants claimed the high kingship of Ireland. There is a test for these genetic markers. Possession of the Medieval Irish type in a Scot with a typical Scottish surname is a good indicator of Dalriadic Scots origins.

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