Thoughts on Galicia?

[OC Richard]

checking several sources on the etymology, the word appears to predate the kilt

What word are you referring to?

eastern Asia in an area where the people were physically very like what we think of as Celts

I'm assuming you mean the Tarim mummies. The Tarim Basin is in western China. DNA testing has shown that the mummies have mixed DNA from both east, west, and south.

I know that many people think of red hair etc as being "Celtic" however I have read that the red hair seen in Ireland and Scotland is a legacy of Viking occupation.

the cloth is found everywhere they migrated to

Do you mean everywhere the Tarim Basin people migrated to? I'd not heard that there was evidence of them migrating.

I have never seen any reference to the fabric being found anywhere in Europe prior to the arrival of Celts.

As I was demonstrating, patterned fabric has long existed all over the world, including pre-Columbian America. Weaving cloth seems to be one of those things, like language, that modern humans have always been doing, and took with them as they spread all over the globe.

We can find out about ancient clothing from written accounts, iconography, and surviving examples. Woven cloth usually doesn't preserve very well, and many early peoples had no written language. So I wouldn't expect to see much clear evidence, except for things like the mummies you referenced.

About "the arrival of the Celts" this way of thinking of ancient peoples mainly in terms of migrations has been questioned in recent times. Some writers have questioned the notion that the Celts arrived from anywhere... well of course ultimately ancient peoples came from Africa, but they might not have had anything "Celtic" about them on arrival.

Proto-Indo-European had to be spoken by a speech community somewhere (just where is a topic of debate) but the Indo-European speaking world includes many peoples we wouldn't think of as being "Celtic". It would be quite a stretch to equate Indo-European migrations with the spread of Celtic-ness.

I would have to conclude that Scotland has no claim to the word

What word are you referring to?