Interesting, since the Picts are not an ethnic group. From the Wikpedia: "The Picts were a confederation of tribes in central and northern Scotland from Roman times until the 10th century. They lived to the north of the Forth and Clyde. They were the descendants of the Caledonii and other tribes named by Roman historians or found on the map of Ptolemy. Pictland, also known as Pictavia, became the kingdom of Alba during the 10th century and the Picts became the Albannach or Scots." Genetically, the Picts are indistinguishable from the other Celtic tribes that inhabited prehistoric Britain. Thus one wonders how Ethnoancestry could have determined Pictish DNA markers and how they differed from other Celtic peoples such as the Welsh or Irish, or for that matter anyone else of Celtic ancestry in Britain. Some of those who are posting to this newsgroup appear to equate DNA with nationality which is nonsense. There is no such thing as "Norman DNA" since a Norman is simply someone who comes from that area of northern France called Normandy. Normans are not an ethnic group and genetically, except for those who are descended from the North Men, who gave this area its name, are indistinguishable from other inhabitants of Northern France (who also are likely of Celtic ancestry and thus related to the Picts) The ancestors of those people we call Picts, and the Romans called Caledonii, emigrated up from the south of Britain, and are related to the other Celtic tribes that settled the island. They did not live in isolation for the time necessary to develop distinctive DNA markers, nor has the population of Scotland been isolated either. Instead, over the last two thousand years numerous armies and migrations have crossed the land and mixed up the genetic pot to a considerable degree. Dr. Wilson may claim to be a geneticist but I look on his Pictish DNA claim with a good deal of skepticism. David Rorer > -----Original Message----- > From: John Carr [mailto:jcarrgensearch@earthlink.net] > Sent: Sunday, August 27, 2006 2:45 AM > To: SCOT-DNA-L@rootsweb.com > Subject: Re: [SCOT-DNA] Pickish DNA > > One should be aware that this could be duplicate testing for people who > already have YSTR results before ordering the new test. 21 of the 27 > YSTR markers Ethnoancestry has in their Pictish DNA test are included > in the 37 marker FTDNA test. DYS 425 is included in FTDNA's 67 marker > test, but nearly all R1bs have an allele of 12 at this marker. DYS 425 > and the other 5 markers are available from DNA Fingerprint, which has > now merged with FTDNA. All of these markers, except DYS425, DYS434 and > DYS435, are included in testing conducted by Sorenson Labs, which > includes DNA Heritage, Relative Genetics and SMGF. > > What we need is to uncover is the haplotype Ethnoancestry has labeled > Pictish. Since Dr. Wilson is located in Edinburgh and has conducted > extensive DNA testing on the local population using various grants and > programs from government and private sources, he is a prime candidate > to achieve a break down the Haplogroup profile of the Scottish and > English population. David Faux has indicated in the past he would > share results of the genealogy related DNA testing conducted during the > studies conducted by Edinburgh University. Hopefully we still have > that opportunity in our future. > > > John Carr