Very early tartan?

[OC Richard]

Apparently there's pretty good evidence that Celts, and other European peoples, made their way to China as long as 5000 years ago.

If one goes back 5,000 years it would be impossible to prove that 'Celts' existed, that any group of people were speaking a 'Celtic' language. Our oldest written Indo-European language only goes back c3500 years, Hittite.

5,000 years ago is around when we think Proto-Indo-European breaking up into its daughter languages.

[Father Bill]

So long as there has been weaving in any form, it would be difficult to imagine that repeating patterns of threads would not be considered. The human mind operates on patterns, and in fact patterns are the basis of all mathematics. Its various forms and sub-disciplines are all just ways to use known patterns to achieve a faster calculation.

I used to teach all of my math classes on the basis of pattern, and once the kids got that idea, they could do an awful lot of very advanced math. Similarly, a weaver is an artist using the patterns of the mind and the joy of colour perception in the eye to create something pleasing rather than something random.

Having said that, the various clues are always tantalizing!

[Taffy Jack]

If one goes back 5,000 years it would be impossible to prove that 'Celts' existed, that any group of people were speaking a 'Celtic' language. Our oldest written Indo-European language only goes back c3500 years, Hittite.

5,000 years ago is around when we think Proto-Indo-European breaking up into its daughter languages.

Fair point, linguistically speaking (pun not intended). It seems, however, that the mummies' ethnic identification was based first upon their phenotypic characteristics and the artifacts surrounding them (clothing, grains, hats, etc.), which were later confirmed by DNA testing.