Tracing the Spread of Celtic Languages using Ancient Genomics
Hugh McColl, Guus Kroonen, Thomaz Pinotti et al.
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Abstract
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The study analyzes newly generated and compiled ancient genomes from Bronze and Iron Age Europe to evaluate competing models for the origin and spread of Celtic languages. It identifies a widespread demographic signal linked to the Central European Urnfield culture, with ancestry related to its Knovíz subgroup forming around 4–3.2 thousand years before present and expanding across much of Western Europe approximately 3.2–2.8 thousand years ago. This ancestry persists into Hallstatt contexts in France, Germany, and Austria, with impacts detected in Britain by about 2.8 thousand years ago and in Iberia by about 2.5 thousand years ago. The results support an Eastern‑Central European source for the spread of Celtic languages rather than an Atlantic Bell Beaker origin, illustrating how ancient population genomics can inform long‑standing debates in historical linguistics and archaeology.
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