Antonio de Uzuza

Gothic origins were mythic in the original Greek sense, not in the modern English sense. It was saga, from Proto-Germanic *sagǭ ("story, saying") from Proto-Indo-European *sekʷ ("to say") cognate with Gaelic, sgeul ("story"). The Goths were preserving their history through story and song. Whenever any population does this it takes on a poetic or legendary quality, but they are loosely based on actual events. The longer in time they are separated from that history, the more distorted they can become, but there is still a kernel of fact there. The Roman story that connects them with the Trojans was a conscious fabrication based on a sense of cultural inferiority, but also cultural assimilation to the Greeks. If you peel everything Greek influenced away, however, and leave only the tales of the foundations of Rome and the Italic peoples, you probably arrive at something closer to real Italic traditions.

I read this paper a while back when it was in pre-print, so this isn't news to me, but now that it is peer reviewed, hopefully it will put this question to bed for good. Main takeaway is that the Celts spread first through Urnfield, then again through La Tene. However, the details reveal things that many did not necessarily expect. Below is a map illustrating the development and spread of the Proto-Celts, based on genetics courtesy of Hugh McColl, et. al. 1: Bell Beaker ancestry spreads into Czechia. 2: Sometime during the late Tumulus-Urnfield transition, there is an increase in ancestry from Hungary/Serbia within the Knoviz culture, which carries increased Neolithic Italian-like ancestry also found on the east side of the Adriadic. 3: This "Balkans" admixture then spreads into northern Italy, France, Iberia and Britain between 1200-800 BC. 4: In the mid Iron Age there is then a separate distribution of more northern ancestry, seemingly corresponding to the La Tene period Celts. In my recent video when I mentioned some surface level similarity between Celtic and Illyrian, I wasn't blowing smoke. There might be a genuine Balkan link. I picked up on this increased Serbia/Hungary admixture among the Knoviz about a year and a half ago playing around in Vahaduo, so it was especially rewarding to see this confirmed. On an individual by individual basis you can almost see the migration from a population to the south into Czechia starting around 1300 BC. Some samples will group with the proceeding local tumulus culture, while others will shift strongly towards the south.