First Settlers --Iceland

[CMelahn@aol.com]

In the interest of sharing freely, a Paul Carr shared an item with another 
list I am on, and I thought this group, if any, might be particularly 
interested in the research he happened across.  If any of us are strongly 
interested, we could probably find out more/confirm the research findings by 
tracking down the researchers mentioned below.   I don't recall us talking 
specifically about Sinclair "first presence" on Iceland, but I would bet that 
someone within our group has thought about it. 

His message:

This may be of interest to some:

(from the Irish Professional newsletter)


RESEARCH INTO GAELIC PRESENCE IN ICELAND

- Research carried out by Icelander Agnar Helgason, in conjunction with

genetic anthropologist Dr Dan Bradley of Trinity College, has confirmed a

strong Gaelic presence in the first settlement of Iceland.  Using the Y

chromosome in the case of male ancestry and the mitocondrial DNA in the

female, it has been possible to support the proposition that, while most

of the male population involved in the settlement of Iceland were of

Scandinavian origin, the majority of females had Gaelic ancestry, coming

from either Ireland or Scotland.


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