"Fairies"

Although at first this thread sounds like it should be in ASB:

The Armenian Genocide said:
Some 19th century archaeologists thought they had found underground rooms in the Orkney islands resembling the Elfland in Childe Rowland.[33] In popular folklore, flint arrowheads from the Stone Age were attributed to the fairies as "elf-shot".[34] The fairies fear of iron was attributed to the invaders having iron weapons, whereas the inhabitants had only flint and were therefore easily defeated in physical battle. Their green clothing and underground homes were credited to their need to hide and camouflage themselves from hostile humans, and their use of magic a necessary skill for combating those with superior weaponry.[4] In Victorian beliefs of evolution, cannibalism among "ogres" was attributed to memories of more savage races, still practicing it alongside "superior" races that had abandoned it.[35] Selkies, described in fairy tales as shapeshifting seal people, were attributed to memories of skin-clad "primitive" people traveling in kayaks.[4] African pygmies were put forth as an example of a race that had previously existed over larger stretches of territory, but come to be scarce and semi-mythical with the passage of time and prominence of other tribes and races.[36]

If these "elves, ogres, and selkies" existed, do you think there is a possibility they could have survived longer as seperate ethnic groups, even as long as today. Although not in secret, of course. The Basques were able to hold assimilation by Indo-Europeans for millenia, why not these other peoples?
 
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I've always found that theories pretty likely. Think about trolls and changelings and neanderthals and kids with Down Syndrome. People would with no doubt think that the former came, took the "original" baby with him, and then departed, thus explaining the latter's inability to behave like a "normal" human.

Coincidentaly, modern folklore clearly shows that after a group has vanished for a time it begins to be described with mythical features. It's not necessary to look at pygmies: In Europe itself, in British fairy tale books, I've found pretty weird descriptions of the Picts that make them look like some kind of hobgobblins.
 
In Hawaii there were folktales of the Menehune which were short leprechaun like people who would do various things typical in folktales. I believe that there has been some research that has determined that they were likely inhabitants of the Hawaiian islands before the arrival of the first wave of Polynesian settlers arrived. It is believed that they were eventually killed or died out from natural causes.
 
So, is it all probable that the "Elves" could survive unassimilated for long? It is probable unlikely the "ogres" could manage, being, well, Neanderthals.

I have this image in my head of slight-framed red-haired archers crouching in Neolithic ruins as Celts arrive in boats across the Channel...
 
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