Race & Ethnicity
Related: About this forum10,000-years-ago Irish Hunter-Gatherers Were Dark-Skinned.
'RTÉ, Irelands National Television and Radio Broadcaster, recently brought to our screens filmmaker Katrina Costellos bold and groundbreaking two-part documentary The Burren: Heart of Stone . Thirteen years in the making, the docuseries confirms the story of evolution, humanitys African origins and that prehistoric Irish people, hunter-gatherers from 10,000 years ago, were dark-skinned and had blue eyes.
Located in the countryside of County Clare in southwest Ireland, the Burren has always been a place full of intrigue and mystery, replete with deep caves, rocky and stony landscapes (from where the titular name originates), dominated by glaciated karst. It is also renowned for its historic ancient Dolmens, from the early Neolithic. Narrated by legendary Irish actor and performer, Brendan Gleeson, the documentary explores the question of whether the modern Irish have descended from this era of pre-historic hunter-gatherers.
The Science of DNA in the Ancient Irish
While the first part is a fabulous documentation about the ecology and geology of the Burren, landscape formation and the shells of ancient marine creatures embedded beneath many layers, our focus is on the second part of this riveting documentary. Titled Symphony of Life , it prominently features professionals and experts, such as the geneticist Dr. Lara Cassidy, from the highly reputed Trinity College Dublin, who sheds light on the process of DNA sequencing (also known as Sangers method).
In layman terms, one of the key contributions of DNA sequencing is performing genetic mapping to help understand disease, for example in a DNA pool, or for our purposes, ancestry. The episode focuses on the Mesolithic hunter-gatherer population, who were dark-skinned and had blue eyes, and occupied the region some 10,000 years ago, only to be replaced by another wave of inhabitants 4,000 years later. DNA examination of bones showed the Irish hunter-gatherer people had dark or black skin with blue eyes. They were taller than the sallow-skinned farmers and builders who replaced them.'>>>
https://www.ancient-origins.net/news-evolution-human-origins/irish-0015225?
OnDoutside
(20,656 posts)which I still can't reconcile. The word black in Irish is dubh ( bh is pronounced as a v.... hence duv). However we were taught a black person was a "duine gorm", where duine is person and gorm is blue. So a blue person.... odd.
elleng
(135,988 posts)appear with blue tones.
Wicked Blue
(6,636 posts)Did notice those yesterday, when spent some time with my son-in-law, 'red' hair, Scots/Irish descent. (HIGHLY subject to sunburn.)
eppur_se_muova
(37,366 posts)keithbvadu2
(40,053 posts)"Black Irish" was an insult by anti-immigration forces back in the 1800s.
There are different theories behind it.
One goes back to shipwrecked sailors from the Spanish Armada.
https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-1-d&q=black+irish.
I_UndergroundPanther
(12,930 posts)"black irish"..dunno
But my father had dark skin and ice blue eyes.When he was younger his hair was black,when he got white hair it appeared to happen nearly overnight. He was interesting looking.
Some of my family have darkish skin.
One day I wouldn't mind getting an ancestry test. My skin is so pale it's translucent in places.
My mom had a dna test done and had a ridiculously high level of neanderthal dna..
This makes me wonder what the term black irish means.
mahina
(18,932 posts)From whence came the sparkle in our eyes, our light hearts and laughter, the endless pleasure in gathering friends to feed them and drink and tell stories?
My Irish grandparents and mother made everyone feel happy to be alive and around them.
Scrivener7
(52,698 posts)cate94
(2,888 posts)I am of Irish descent. Did my dna of my earliest ancestors came out of Africa. We are one family. We all came from the same place. My skin is pale because I have more Neanderthal dna, which doesnt make me better, just paler.
... not sold.