Iron‑Age reference test

Use specific Iron‑Age and early‑medieval ancient DNA (e.g., Hallstatt, La Tène, Iron‑Age Gaul, Saxons, Viking burials) as benchmark reference populations to evaluate whether modern linguistic or cultural labels map to distinct genetic signals. The test asks: do people in modern 'Celtic' or 'Germanic' regions show closer genetic affinity to those period references than to geographic neighbors? — If adopted, this method will shift many identity and heritage claims from rhetorical or cultural arguments into empirically testable genetic claims, forcing political and cultural actors to reckon with genomic evidence.