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New evidence shows a Scottish warlord may have helped save Celts on the Llyn Peninsula from Irish invaders.

The research was carried out as part of ScotlandsDNA – a project tracing the ancestry of the Scottish people - and the forerunner of a similar project now tracing the ancestry of the Welsh – CymruDNAWales.

A new TV series, called DNA Cymru is part of the project and will be broadcast on S4C later this month.

The fresh scientific research has given added support to the theory mentioned in the Historia Brittonum in which a 9th century chronicler and monk, Nennius, in Wales, described a rescue.

Some time in the 5th century AD a warlord called Cunedda – the name is probably the earliest version of Kenneth – led a cavalry expedition from Manau in Scotland to the Llyn Peninsula.

His mission was to attack and expel Irish invaders who had come to settle in the lands of his fellow speakers of Old Welsh.

The campaign was successful and the Welsh kings of ancient Gwynedd which covered most of North Wales, claimed him as an illustrious ancestor.

In Old Welsh he was given a title – Cunedda Wledig, the General.

He was from an area inhabited by a group called the Maeatae in Clackmannanshire,

In 2014, ScotlandsDNA discovered the ancestral Y chromosome marker of the Maeatae, R1b-S530.

Alistair Moffat, Managing Director of CymruDNAWales, said: “It seemed that one of the enigmas of Scottish history, the disappearance of the Picts, had become much less of a mystery.”

At that point, Dr Jim Wilson, ScotlandsDNA’s chief ccientist, was preparing the new project, CymruDNAWales.

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He noticed that a marker that is very Welsh-specific and that accounts for about 0.8% of all Welshmen had close links with the Pictish marker of the Maeatae.

In fact, it had occurred downstream of R1b-S530 in descendants of men who had carried it – and come to Wales.

Mr Moffat added: “Was this remarkable genetic link a relic of the coming of the cavalry of Manau under Cunedda, and perhaps a substantial number of associated migrants from Pictland to North Wales?

“It is not possible to be certain – but the tale of northern horsemen riding to the rescue of their fellow Celts is much strengthened by a clear and unambiguous scientific finding.”

The exciting project CymruDNAWales is a partnership between S4C, CymruDNAWales, Trinity Mirror - publishers of the Daily Post and Western Mail – and production company Green Bay Media.

Viewers may be able to donate saliva samples to assist researchers trace Wales’ ancestry.

For more information on the project CymruDNAWales, go to the series website.