Tuesday, September 15, 2009

GOTH ?

Reading Jordans (551CE) yields this:
"There is a great island situated in the surge of the northern Ocean, Scandza by name, in the shape of a juniper leaf with bulging sides that taper down to a point at a long end."

"In the northern part of the island the race of the Adogit live, who are said to have continual light in midsummer for forty days and nights, and who likewise have no clear light in the winter season for the same number of days and nights."

"All these live like wild animals in rocks hewn out like castles. And there are beyond these the Ostrogoths, Raumarici, Aeragnaricii, and the most gentle Finns, milder than all the inhabitants of Scandza."

"Now from this island of Scandza, as from a hive of races or a womb of nations, the Goths are said to have come forth long ago under their king, Berig by name."

So we have it. The Goth, or Ostrogoth, originated in Scandinavia near modern Finland. We can omit the description of their trip to the Black Sea, creation of Visigoth, and the Visigoth migration to France & Spain -- where, in France, they are conquered by the Franks.

Our question is one of DNA. Were the Goth/Visigoth Hg-R1b? That would explain the Hg-R1b dominance in Spain. The question becomes: 'What Hg were the Franks who conquered them in France?'

The logic is interesting ... backtrack from Spain to Scandinavia via the Black Sea and Hg-R1b is Viking four hundred years before the Vikings emerged. Based upon their location and the land route to Belarus and Slavic territory, the Finns would probably have been Hg-R1a. Curiously, their description comports well with that of the Scythian approach to combat. There is also the possibility that the Goths came down as two tribes ... two family groups ... one R1a the other R1b and the R1b family headed west to become the Visigoth.

To apply DNA Spread Theory, we have need of grave DNA from 400CE ...