Ewan Campbell is a Scottish archaeologist and author, who serves as the senior lecturer of

archaeology Archaeology or archeology is the scientific study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landsc ...

at the

University of Glasgow , image = UofG Coat of Arms.png , image_size = 150px , caption = Coat of arms Flag , latin_name = Universitas Glasguensis , motto = la, Via, Veritas, Vita , ...

. An author of a number of books, he is perhaps best known as the originator of the

historical revisionist In historiography, historical revisionism is the reinterpretation of a historical account. It usually involves challenging the orthodox (established, accepted or traditional) views held by professional scholars about a historical event or times ...

thesis that the

Dál Riata Dál Riata or Dál Riada (also Dalriada) () was a Gaelic kingdom that encompassed the western seaboard of Scotland and north-eastern Ireland, on each side of the North Channel. At its height in the 6th and 7th centuries, it covered what is n ...

(the Gaelic people who later founded

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to ...

) did not originate from

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel, the Irish Sea, and St George's Channel. Ireland is the s ...

. He has also authored works about

Dunadd Dunadd (Scottish Gaelic ''Dún Ad'', "fort on the iverAdd") is a hillfort in Argyll and Bute, Scotland, dating from the Iron Age and early medieval period and is believed to be the capital of the ancient kingdom of Dál Riata. Dal Riata was a ki ...

and

Forteviot Forteviot ( gd, Fothair Tabhaicht) (Ordnance Survey ) is a village in Strathearn, Scotland on the south bank of the River Earn between Dunning and Perth. It lies in the council area of Perth and Kinross. The population in 1991 was 160. The pres ...

''"Were the Scots Irish?"''

The traditional narrative of

Scottish history The recorded begins with the arrival of the Roman Empire in the 1st century, when the province of Britannia reached as far north as the Antonine Wall. North of this was Caledonia, inhabited by the ''Picti'', whose uprisings forced Rome ...

, is that the kingdom of

was founded by

Gaels The Gaels ( ; ga, Na Gaeil ; gd, Na Gàidheil ; gv, Ny Gaeil ) are an ethnolinguistic group native to Ireland, Scotland and the Isle of Man in the British Isles. They are associated with the Gaelic languages: a branch of the Celtic langua ...

from

Ulster Ulster (; ga, Ulaidh or ''Cúige Uladh'' ; sco, label= Ulster Scots, Ulstèr or ''Ulster'') is one of the four traditional Irish provinces. It is made up of nine counties: six of these constitute Northern Ireland (a part of the United Kin ...

in Ireland, who crossed the

Irish Sea The Irish Sea or , gv, Y Keayn Yernagh, sco, Erse Sie, gd, Muir Èireann , Ulster-Scots: ''Airish Sea'', cy, Môr Iwerddon . is an extensive body of water that separates the islands of Ireland and Great Britain. It is linked to the C ...

after being squeezed by the ascent of Conn Cétchathach's descendants (a kindred, but competing line). This position is upheld in medieval Gaelic texts such as the ''

Duan Albanach The Duan Albanach (Song of the Scots) is a Middle Gaelic poem. Written during the reign of Mael Coluim III, who ruled between 1058 and 1093, it is found in a variety of Irish sources, and the usual version comes from the '' Book of Lecan'' and ' ...

'', which attributes to the a descent from Síl Conairi of the Érainn. This is held to be the means by which the

Gaelic language The Goidelic or Gaelic languages ( ga, teangacha Gaelacha; gd, cànanan Goidhealach; gv, çhengaghyn Gaelgagh) form one of the two groups of Insular Celtic languages, the other being the Brittonic languages. Goidelic languages historicall ...

came to northern Britain and where the clans who founded Scotland (i.e. - the MacAlpines) first entered the region. During the 2000s, advances in DNA studies confirmed the Dál Riata Scots as belonging to

Haplogroup R1b Haplogroup R1b (R-M343), previously known as Hg1 and Eu18, is a human Y-chromosome haplogroup. It is the most frequently occurring paternal lineage in Western Europe, as well as some parts of Russia (e.g. the Bashkirs) and pockets of Central ...

, with the marker L1335 associated specifically with them. Campbell authored a paper in 2001, named ''Were the Scots Irish?'', in the journal ''

Antiquity Antiquity or Antiquities may refer to: Historical objects or periods Artifacts *Antiquities, objects or artifacts surviving from ancient cultures Eras Any period before the European Middle Ages (5th to 15th centuries) but still within the histo ...

'', which challenged the relationship between the Gaels of Ireland and those of Dál Riata. He stated that there is no archeological or placename evidence of a migration or takeover. This lack of archeological evidence was previously noted by English archaeologist

Leslie Alcock Leslie Alcock (24 April 1925 – 6 June 2006) was Professor of Archaeology at the University of Glasgow, and one of the leading archaeologists of Early Medieval Britain. His major excavations included Dinas Powys hill fort in Wales, Cadbury C ...

. Archeological evidence shows that Argyll was different from Ireland, before and after the traditionally held migration, but that it also formed part of the Irish Sea province with Ireland, being easily distinguished from the rest of Scotland.Campbell, ''Saints and Sea-kings'', pp. 8–15; Foster, ''Picts, Gaels and Scots'', pp. 9–10; Broun, "Dál Riata"; Clancy, "Ireland"; Forsyth, "Origins", pp. 13–17. Campbell suggests that Argyll and Antrim formed a "maritime province", united by the sea and isolated from the rest of Scotland by the mountainous ridge called the ''Druim Alban''. This allowed a shared language to be maintained through the centuries; Argyll remained Gaelic-speaking while the rest of Scotland became Brittonic-speaking. Campbell argues that the medieval accounts were a kind of dynastic propaganda, constructed to bolster a dynasty's claim to the throne and to bolster Dál Riata claims to territory in Antrim.

Works

*''Saints and Sea-Kings: The First Kingdom of the Scots'' (1999). Canongate. *''Excavations at Dunadd: An Early Dalriadic Capital'' (2000). Oxbow Books. *''A Crannog of the First Millennium AD: Excavations by Jack Scott at Loch Glashan, Argyll, 1960'' (2005). Society of Antiquaries of Scotland: Edinburgh, UK. *''Continental and Mediterranean Imports to Atlantic Britain and Ireland, AD 400-800'' (2007). Council for British Archaeology: York. *''Royal Forteviot: Forteviot in the 1st and 2nd Millennia AD'' (2012). Series: CBA Research Reports. Council for British archaeology: York. (Unpublished)

References

External links

Dr. Ewan Campbell
at the

University of Glasgow , image = UofG Coat of Arms.png , image_size = 150px , caption = Coat of arms Flag , latin_name = Universitas Glasguensis , motto = la, Via, Veritas, Vita , ...

Dr. Ewan Campbell
at Academia.edu {{DEFAULTSORT:Campbell, Ewan Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Archaeologists from Glasgow Academics of the University of Glasgow Place of birth missing (living people)

''"Were the Scots Irish?"''

Works

See also

References

External links