Using DNA to find Goths

[ualarauans]

Hi!

--- In gothic-l at yahoogroups.com, "sturlus" <sellingvaag at ...> wrote:
>
> We have started in the Migration period and I am particularly 
interested
> in finding traces from Goths in the living populations of today, at
> least we'll try to find out if there is any or not. We'll be going 
to
> Sevastapol, travel along the coast to Mariupol and the to Rostov 
on Don,
> collecting DNA and searching in particular among the Greek cultural
> organisations (for instance in Mariupol).
> 

That's interesting! I can't say I heard nothing about this kind of 
using DNA data to trace prehistoric migrations, but to trace my 
beloved Goths in this way... oh Gaut! -:) And, incidentally, where 
will (did?) you get the initial sample of a pure Gothic DNA to 
compare, I wonder? Or maybe you don't need it, I simply have no idea 
of what is needed for such a formidable work.

> 
> I am in need of:
> 
>      * Tips on where to collect DNA! (Places/Histories)    * Local
> contacts along our route:  universities, students, possible useful
> assistants, politicians (local authorities), Genealogy 
organisations,
> Greek cultural organisations and any others whom could help us.    
*
> Anything else that might aid us!    * Other theories and peoples we
> could / should look for in Russia/Ukraine aroung the Black Sea or 
for
> that matter other places in Europe/Central Asia, using DNA.
> 
> For example, Ualarauans post on Gothic burials in Upper Don
> <http://groups.yahoo.com/group/gothic-l/message/8942>  is 
interesting,
> in Ksizovo, Lipetsk region. The possibilities of finding remnants 
today
> of Goths on Don might seem slim. However perhaps there exists some
> communities along the Don, where descendants from Greeks or Goths 
traces
> can be found.
> 

Yes, I too doubt that even a drop of the Gothic blood could be found 
there now. I don't know to what extent the report I was referring to 
is trustworthy (however, the Russian archaeology is unlikely to lie, 
AFAIK, and there were some European archaeologists at work in 
Ksizovo as well, Jana Glavova from the Czech Republic in 
particular). Even given that some Gothic settlements existed there 
since the Migration period (but then, why "Christian Goths", as it 
was put in the report?), and their Slavicized descendants lived 
there on surviving the Mongolian Conquest, all the wars, revolutions 
that country had experienced and, finally, the rolling firewave of 
the German front in WWII which came very closely to the Upper Don 
region in 1941 causing a lot of people seek refuge and probably 
never return... well, all I can do is to wish you good luck and to 
hope for some positive results. BTW, sorry to mention these guys 
here, but the nazis were searching for probable Gothic descendants 
in South Russia until they proclaimed Don Cossacks to be somehow 
related to the Ostrogoths. I think it was nothing more than a 
propaganda trick.

> 
> This year we will also search in Northern Spain for Visigoths and 
in the
> Atlas mountains of North Africa among the Berber tribes for 
possible
> Vandal populations. We will also take DNA from Scandinavians and 
other
> peoples living in the Baltic area. Next year we will expand our
> expeditions, but I see now that the Black Sea area will be of 
special
> interest to us.
> 
> Thanks for any comment!
> Also send me an email: sturlae at ... <mailto:sturlae at ...> , if
> anything.
> 
> 
> Sturla Ellingvåg
> Oslo, Norway

May I hope you'll keep us informed of your results?

Ualarauans





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