Abstract

The Irish Travelers (Tinkers) are itinerant populations that traverse the countryside in painted, horse-drawn caravans, with lifestyles similar to the Romany Gypsies of Europe. This research focused on the origins of these itinerant populations. If they were Romany Gypsy in origin, they should genetically resemble populations of northern India. These itinerant populations were sampled, and volunteers were tested for 12 blood genetic markers and compared to a population of Irish from the town of Kilkenny. Genetically the Travelers resemble the surrounding Irish populations, but not the Romany or Indian populations from which the Romany Gypsies were derived. These Travelers were of Irish origins but differed genetically from the surrounding settled communities due to stochastic processes such as founder effect and genetic drift.