Who Are the Celts Closest to Genetically? Scientists Finally Tested Their DNA

For two centuries, we've been told the Celts came from Central Europe from the mountains of Austria and Switzerland — and spread west to become the Irish, Scottish, Welsh, and Breton peoples we know today. But when scientists finally sequenced ancient DNA from Bronze Age burials in Ireland, the genetic timeline didn't match the story at all. In this documentary, we trace the real genetic history of the Celtic nations from a groundbreaking 2016 ancient genome study on Rathlin Island, through the Bronze Age steppe migration that reshaped the British Isles a thousand years before "Celtic" culture existed, to the surprising modern genetic closeness between Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Brittany, and the Basque Country of northern Spain. Who are the Celts really closest to genetically? The answer isn't Austria. Part 2 continues this story, tracing how the Celtic language itself may have spread with no genetic paper trail at all. #celtics #dna #celtichistory #irish