If the biblical flood really wiped the slate of life almost clean a few thousand years ago, we should expect to see unmistakable genetic signatures of that event across modern species. Instead, what scientists repeatedly find is exactly the opposite: long, continuous lineages stretching back thousands of years before the supposed catastrophe.
A good example comes from Ireland, where geneticists at University College Dublin, in collaboration with colleagues at Queen’s University Belfast and international partners, have shown that the ‘Old Irish Goat’, an Gabhar Fiáin – the wild goat – is a descendant of goats living in Bronze Age Ireland some 3,000 years ago, and thus ultimately of an older population introduced by Neolithic agriculturalists about 5,900 years ago. Their paper is published open access in the Journal of Archaeological Science.
According to Bible literalists, there was a general reset of Earth’s biology a few thousand years ago when their god supposedly decided to destroy everything in a fit of pique because its creation had gone wrong and, rather than undertaking an entirely new creation, chose instead to start again with a few survivors, hoping the outcome would be different this time. However, time and again we find evidence not of a general reset but of uninterrupted continuity of cultures and ancient species, such as the Old Irish Goat, which existed both before and after the supposed reset.
The problem for creationists is that, although they claim there was a period of miraculous hyper-evolution in which a handful of ‘kinds’ that survived the genocide radiated into all the modern species—an event which appears to have gone unnoticed and unreported by the people who supposedly lived while it was happening, and a belief for which there is no Biblical basis—the Old Irish Goat shares its common ancestry with other goats long before the alleged flood, not within the last few thousand years. Within the creationist paradigm, therefore, it must trace its ancestry to just two survivors. However, although there is evidence of a genetic bottleneck, this is very recent and is due to population collapse brought about by human activity; there is no evidence of the narrow bottleneck of just two individuals about 4,000 years ago.
Background^ The Old Irish Goat (An Gabhar Fiáin).The work of the team of geneticists, and what this means for the conservation of the ancient Irish goat of legend, is the subject of a University College Dublin news item by David Kearns.The Old Irish Goat, known in Irish as an Gabhar Fiáin (“the wild goat”), is one of the oldest surviving goat populations in northern Europe. These animals are typically small, hardy and agile, with long shaggy coats—often dark brown or black—and distinctive swept-back horns. They are well adapted to the harsh upland environments of western Ireland, where they have survived for centuries in semi-feral conditions on mountainsides and coastal cliffs.
Genetic and historical evidence suggests that goats were first introduced into Ireland by Neolithic farmers around 4000 BCE as part of the agricultural package that spread across Europe from the Near East. These early domestic goats would have been descended from the wild bezoar goat (Capra aegagrus) of western Asia, the original ancestor of all domestic goat breeds. Over thousands of years, isolation and adaptation to local conditions allowed distinct regional populations to develop, including the lineage that became the Old Irish Goat.
Unlike many modern livestock breeds, which have been heavily modified by selective breeding, the Old Irish Goat appears to have retained much of its ancient genetic heritage. Because of this, conservationists consider it an important “living archive” of early domesticated goats in Ireland. Unfortunately, the population declined sharply in recent centuries due to agricultural change, habitat loss, and crossbreeding with modern commercial breeds. Today conservation groups are working to identify and protect surviving animals that still carry the traditional genetic lineage.
The goat also has a place in Irish folklore and rural tradition. Goats have long been associated with rugged landscapes, independence and resilience—qualities often celebrated in Irish storytelling. In some local legends, wild goats were believed to inhabit remote mountains and cliffs, appearing almost as creatures of the wilderness rather than domestic livestock. Their Irish name, an Gabhar Fiáin, reflects this ambiguous status: neither fully wild nor entirely domestic.
Because the surviving population preserves genetic continuity with goats living in Ireland thousands of years ago, the Old Irish Goat represents not only an agricultural heritage breed but also a living link to the island’s Neolithic and Bronze Age past.
Old Irish Goat carries 3,000 years of Irish history
New research has revealed that the Old Irish Goat shares a 3,000-year genetic link with goats living in Ireland during the Late Bronze Age.
The findings suggest the rare indigenous breed represents a continuous Irish lineage stretching back millennia.
Led by University College Dublin, in collaboration with Queen’s University Belfast and international partners, the new biomolecular and archaeological study published in the Journal of Archaeological Science reshapes the understanding of Ireland’s agricultural past and supports conservation of the Old Irish Goat as a living link to ancient farming communities.
Oldest goat remains in Ireland
Researchers analysed goat remains from the hillfort at Haughey’s Fort in Co Armagh, dating to around 1100–900 BCE, and the medieval town of Carrickfergus in Co Antrim.
Radiocarbon dating, genetic and protein analyses were used to confirm that the Late Bronze Age animals are the oldest goat remains identified in Ireland to date.
Genomic comparisons revealed that these ancient animals share their strongest genetic affinity with the critically endangered Old Irish Goat population that survives today.
Combining genetics, proteomics, and archaeological science has allowed us a glimpse of our animals hundreds and thousands of years ago - and how their descendants likely still live with us, as part of our biocultural heritage.
Assistant Professor Kevin Daly, co-lead author.
School of Agriculture and Food Science.
University College Dublin
Belfield, Ireland.
Deeply rooted in Irish folklore
Known historically as 'an Gabhar Fiáin' - the wild goat - the Old Irish Goat is deeply rooted in Irish Folklore. Surviving today in small wild-roaming (feral) herds. It has long been viewed as a symbol of resilience, wisdom, and marginal rural life, where their hardiness, capacity to survive on marginal land, and nutrient-dense milk made them invaluable to small farmers.
Unlike cattle, which dominate Ireland’s ancient myths, goats appear mainly in local traditions, placenames and seasonal customs.
The most famous cultural expression of this connection is Puck Fair in Killorglin, Co Kerry, regarded as one of Ireland’s oldest festivals.
Traditionally, each August a goat would be captured from the mountains and crowned "King Puck" where it would preside over three days of celebration. Though its exact origins remain debated, the festival reflects the goat’s long-standing association with Ireland’s landscapes and community life.
Despite thousands of years, changing farming practices, and recent decline, these goats have retained a remarkable genetic connection to their ancestors, and to the island’s agricultural past.
Dr Jolijn Erven, co-lead author
School of Agriculture and Food Science.
University College Dublin
Belfield, Ireland.
Goats tend to get overlooked compared to sheep in the archaeological record because it is notoriously difficult to distinguish between their bones. There is an assumption that sheep would have been more important than goats in the past but historical sources suggest that herds of goats may have been kept to supply a trade in skins from ports such as Carrickfergus.
Professor Eileen Murphy, co-lead author
Archaeology and Palaeoecology
School of Natural and Built Environment
Queen's University Belfast
Belfast, Northern Ireland, UK.
Studying ancient DNA
To identify definite goats, the team first had to use protein fingerprinting (ZooMS), a technique that identifies species through microscopic traces of preserved collagen.
Ancient DNA was then extracted and sequenced, allowing researchers to compare the genomes of these Late Bronze Age and medieval animals with hundreds of modern goat breeds worldwide.
The study found that both prehistoric and medieval Irish goats share their highest genetic affinity with the still surviving Old Irish Goat, pointing to a remarkable continuity of goat populations on the island over three millennia.
The research also sheds light on more recent changes in the breed.
While medieval goats showed varied genetic profiles, Old Irish Goats today display clear signs of inbreeding linked to a dramatic population collapse over recent decades.
This hints that today’s genetic bottleneck is a modern phenomenon rather than a long-term feature of Irish goat populations.
This research is a huge milestone for the Old Irish Goat, and provides powerful scientific validation of what local communities and conservationists have long believed - that the Old Irish Goat represents a living piece of our ancient heritage. It also underscores the urgency of protecting this critically endangered breed, which carries within it a living genetic record of Ireland’s ancient past. The advancements in biomolecular and genetic analysis are very exciting, and have now opened up a new opportunity to revisit Ireland's archaeological and archaeogenetic records, which may in time reveal that Ireland’s early goat history is even richer than currently understood.
Sinead Keane, not involved in the study
The Old Irish Goat Society.
The authors of this study would like to acknowledge the contributions of co-lead Dr Judith Findlater, from Queen’s University Belfast, who sadly passed away prior to publication. Aspects of the study were undertaken as part of her PhD research on Medieval Carrickfergus.
Publication:
Once again, the evidence points not to a dramatic, recent biological restart, but to deep continuity. The Old Irish Goat carries within its DNA a record of millennia of Irish history — from the first Neolithic farmers who brought livestock to the island, through the Bronze Age communities who depended upon them, to the present-day conservationists striving to preserve what remains of this ancient lineage. That continuity is written in its genome, and genomes are not easily fooled.
For creationists, the problem is not merely that the dates are inconvenient. It is that the genetic data fail to show the kind of extreme bottleneck that a global flood narrative would require. A population reduced to two individuals only a few thousand years ago would leave an unmistakable signature of severe genetic impoverishment. Instead, what we see is long-term descent from much earlier populations, with only recent human-induced decline leaving a detectable mark.
The Old Irish Goat therefore stands as yet another quiet refutation of the notion that Earth’s biological history was reset in the recent past. Rather than a world repeatedly wiped clean and restarted by supernatural intervention, the evidence reveals what evolutionary biology consistently uncovers: lineages branching, persisting, adapting and surviving across vast stretches of time.
And in this case, that history is not fossilised in stone, but still walking the hillsides of Ireland.
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