The Origins of the British: A Genetic Detective StoryHistory has long maintained that the Anglo-Saxon overtaking of the Iron Age Celts was the origin of the British people. Celtic Britain reconstructs the peopling of Britain — through a study of genetics, climatology, archaeology, language, culture, and history — and overturns that myth and others. The Anglo-Saxons, who supposedly conquered the Celts, contributed only five to ten percent of the British gene pool. The "Atlantic Celts," long believed to have migrated to Britain from Central Europe around 300 BC during the Iron Age, can be linked genetically to the people of Basque country. And linguistic evidence suggests that, besides Celtic languages, a Germanic-type language similar to Norse was also spoken in Britain long before the arrival of the Anglo-Saxons. In this groundbreaking study, Stephen Oppenheimer explaines the surprising roots of the present-day cultural identities of the English, Irish, Scottish, and Welsh. |
Contents
Prologue | 1 |
wrong myth real people | 17 |
Colonization of the British Isles before | 93 |
Copyright | |
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analysis ancient Anglo-Saxon appear archaeological areas arrived Atlantic branch Britain British Isles Bronze Age called celtic celtic languages Celts Central Central Europe century Chapter clusters coast common consistent continuity cultural Cunliffe dates derived distribution early East eastern England English estimate et al European event evidence expansion Figure France frequency Frisia Gaul gene gene flow gene groups gene types genetic geographical Germanic homeland human Iberia inscriptions intrusion invasion Ireland Irish Islands Italy known languages Late later less lines linguistic male matches maternal meaning mentioned Mesolithic method migration moving names Neolithic north-west Europe northern Norway origins period population present rates recent refuge region Roman rooted Saxon Scandinavian Scotland similar southern Spain specific spread stone suggests tree Viking Wales western