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From: "Ken Nordtvedt" <>
Subject: Re: [DNA] DNA shows Celtic hero Somerled's Viking roots
Date: Tue, 26 Apr 2005 11:21:41 -0600
References: <246baaff05042610122e1a9f18@mail.gmail.com>


Five years ago my wife and I spent two nights at a small hotel on the NW tip
of Skye. It overlooked the ruins of a castle called "Duntulm" which was
said to have been the original base or stronghold of the "Donald" clan. Can
Doug or others say whether Somerled would have resided in that castle?

Ken
----- Original Message -----
From: "Havelock Vetinari" <>
To: <>
Sent: Tuesday, April 26, 2005 11:12 AM
Subject: [DNA] DNA shows Celtic hero Somerled's Viking roots


http://news.scotsman.com/scitech.cfm?id=442642005

IAN JOHNSTON

SCIENCE CORRESPONDENT

A HISTORIC Celtic hero credited with driving the Vikings out of
western Scotland was actually descended from a Norseman, according to
research by a leading DNA expert.

According to traditional genealogies, Somerled, who is said to have
died in 1164 after ousting the Vikings from Argyll, Kintyre and the
Western Isles, was descended from an ancient royal line going back to
when the Scots were living in Ireland.

But Bryan Sykes, an Oxford University professor of human genetics who
set up a company called Oxford Ancestors to research people's DNA
past, has discovered that Somerled's Y-chromosome - which is inherited
through the male line - is of Norse origin.

Prof Sykes' studies of three Scottish clans have also led to the
conclusion that some 500,000 people alive today are descended from
Somerled - a number only bettered by Genghis Khan, who, among
historical figures studied to date, has an estimated 16 million living
descendants.

The MacDonald, MacDougall and MacAllister clans all claim descent from
Somerled and Prof Sykes found that between 25 and 45 per cent of them
shared the same Y-chromosome, of a kind normally found in Norway but
rare in Scotland and Ireland.

By analysing the rate of mutation in DNA samples from clan members,
Prof Sykes was able to show that the Y-chromosome came from a common
ancestor who lived roughly 1,000 years ago.

He then tested five chiefs from the clans and discovered they all
shared the same chromosome, which convinced him that the common
ancestor must be Somerled, Lord of the Isles, in keeping with clan
histories.

However, the analysis threw into doubt Somerled's own origins. Prof
Sykes told The Scotsman: "In the traditional genealogy, Somerled is a
great Celtic hero who drives the Norse from Scotland, but his Y-
chromosome is definitely Norse. The genealogies trace him back to a
long line of Irish kings. But that's not what the Y-chromosome says.

"He is certainly of Norse Viking paternal origin."

It is open to question whether Somerled, who made driving the Vikings
from western Scotland his "cause célèbre", would have known the truth.

But Prof Sykes said: "I think it is something you would want to keep quiet."

The fact that clan chiefs still share the same basic Y-chromosome
after some 87 generations shows that high-status women in the
MacDonald, MacDougall and MacAllister clans were extremely faithful.

However, the large number of people alive today with the same
Y-chromosome means the men in the family did not share this virtue to
the same extent.

Maggie Macdonald, archivist of the Museum of the Isles on Skye, said
Somerled was traditionally viewed as a Celtic hero.

But she added: "Maybe at that time it was more important who it was
said you were descended from than who you were actually descended
from.

"People may well have known his great-great-grandfather was a Viking.

"But it could have been that his great-great-grandmother had relations
with someone who wasn't her husband - it could be Somerled wouldn't
have known and thought he was this great Celtic hero."


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