Many of you probably know this, but what the heck....

It's pretty well documented that there are a significant number of Y-Chromosomal polymorphisms in Scottish and northern British populations which are shared with several cultural groups that are located in the Steppes of Western Asia, as well as Turkey and so on. Why might that be?

It so happens that the ancient Kingdom of Sarmatia was a significant rival to Rome for many hundreds of years. The Sarmatians lives in this area, roughly. Many battles were fought, sometimes the Romans won, sometimes the Sarmatians won. At one point, the Romans won a significant victory and to ensure that the Sarmatians wouldn't revolt further, took several thousand Sarmatian cavalry as hostages. This is well documented in some Roman archives.

What to do with a significant force of young, energetic warriors who are the sworn enemies of the regime? Well...ship them off to Gaul, the furthest edge of the Roman Empire and let them take care of distant Roman interests in that remote location. So that's what happened. Several thousand young, potent Sarmatian men arrived on the scene and did what young men do....and the DNA with it's unique polymorphisms entered the local gene pool.

I think about things like this when I contemplate politics and war.....and tartan. You know, thoughts like "It's OK to slaughter those barbarians/infidels/maniacs because they're NOT LIKE US.....except that they are.

Or...

You can't wear my clan tartan, because you're NOT LIKE ME. Except that I am.