English History

Genetic history of the English

Tacitus in his Agricola wrote that the various groupings of Britons shared physical characteristics with their continental neighbours: the Britons of England were more typically blonde-haired, like the Gauls, in contrast to the Britons of Wales, who were generally dark and curly of hair, like the Spanish, or those of Scotland, stereotypically redheaded. This is a gross oversimplification which nonetheless holds fairly true to the present day. Indeed, numerous archaeologists and geneticists now dismiss the long-held assumption that the invading Anglo-Saxons wiped out the native Britons in England when they invaded, pointing instead to the possibility of a more limited folk movement bringing a new language and culture which the natives gradually assimilated.

Debate however is ongoing surrounding the ultimate origins of the people of the British Isles. In 2003 and 2006 respectively, Bryan Sykes and Stephen Oppenheimer both championed the idea of continuity ever since the Mesolithic period, with a substantial input from the East during the Neolithic. More recently this view has been contested, by pointing out that the haplotypes which Sykes and Oppenheimer associated with Spain hailed ultimately from Asia Minor. This might be more consistent with some kind of Neolithic wipeout, however it is impossible to date this gene flow. Other theories have proposed an even more substantial input in the Early Bronze Age than was previously thought. Ultimately, the genetics have in fact not yet told us anything new; all these theories were well in place amongst archaeologists long before attempts were made to identify historical population movements with genetics. There is still no consensus; what does seem to be in agreement however is that the bulk of England's contemporary native population was already in place by the beginning of written history in this part of the world.