A jumble of classifications of Celtic

[Gaius Sempronius Gracchus]

I think you misunderstood my assertion. I referred to some of the problems I have with the work but given the terms of their argument I was wondering why they believe the Celts of Iberia carried Basque genetic markers to the British Isles when it is perfectly feasible that those peoples were able to do it themselves.

I don't think that is the argument. The argument is, rather, that this really defines how old this separate European zone is. What is important is the continuing linkage of material cultures between these areas.

There was a long succession of Paleolithic and Mesolithic cultures springing form the exact area of the modern Basque and Gascon peoples. These peoples are of a Non Indo-European language group. There are two other Non Indo-European languages that were present within known history, the Turdetani and the Iberians. Iberian shows strong signs of being a related language to the Basque language.

No argument with you there, but I'm not sure what relevance that has with the clear link between the PIE Celtic languages of the Iberian peninsula, Brittany and Ireland/Western Britain.

Why are the Welsh and Cornish different? Could this mean that they came from Spain and brought their language with them? Well except that they were P-Celtic speakers rather than Q-Celtic speakers. Celts of Iberia spoke Q-Celtic. According to the authors, however there were only Germans where P-Celtic was supposed to be spoken.

The question of Q-Celtic vs P-Celtic is, at best, a neutral question. If one looks at the question a little more then there seem to be two distinct branches. The Hispanic Celtic languages and the Irish languages are Q-Celtic. It has been argued that P-Celtic is a result of aerial contact with other PIE derived languages (Italic/Germanic/ Balto-Slavic). We know that the Brythonnic languages and Gaulish were in contact with other PIE langauges for a considerable length of time. Finding Q-Celtic substrata would be a clue to the efficacy of that. Of course the more Eastern 'Celtic' dialects derive only P-Celtic groups.

The P-Celtic/Q-Celtic dichotomy also highlights how confused the linguistic arguments are. Many of the P-Celtic changes are argued using Middle and Old Irish....which are Q-Celtic languages.

Kotch theorizes that Celts arrive from Iberia 1200 to 700 BC. Genetic links say the people arrived about 4000 years ago, linking them to the Urnfelds culture of Central Europe because of the metal working of these people in the archeological record. This is also compatible with the Y-DNA evidence.

I do not doubt contact between Iberia and the British Isles, marine or otherwise but the early arrival time and the language spoken do not support this theory.

But, conversely, you were recently arguing that Celtic should be associated with the Neolithic expansion into Europe during the fifth and fourth millenia BC.