Changes in the genetic make-up of British Isles peoples in pre-history: An update.

Introduction

Back in 2021 I reported on research which determined that modern British populations have only tiny amounts of DNA of the Neolithic peoples who built Stonehenge and many other (massive) monuments which can still be found across the landscapes of the British Isles. Refer post dated 12th July 2021 below.

Information on migration and population movements

On August 22nd 2026 the Times newspaper provided an analysis of migration and population movements over the past 900,000 years. This was authored by Rhys Blakely. Key features of the Times report are provided below.

• 800,000-900,000 years ago.A trail of footprints attributed to Homo antecessor, an extinct species, were found at Happisburgh in Norfolk, eastern England. 
• 500,000 years ago.Evidence of Homo heidelbergensis.This is a likely last common ancestor of Neanderthals and modern humans
• 400,000 years ago. Neanderthals arrive. They formed an ebb and flow population over the following 350,000 years.Most modern Britons carry about 2pct Neanderthal DNA.
• About 40,000 years ago. Evidence of Homo Sapiens (modern humans) via ebb and flow populations linked to climate.
• About 15,000 years ago.Magdalenians (modern humans) arrive. They came across Doggerland which is now covered by the North Sea.They were dark-skinned hunter gatherers who lived with some of the world's earliest domesticated dogs.
• About 14,000 years ago.Magdalenians replaced by Western Hunter-Gatherers ("WHG") who had dark skin.These people account for less than a tenth of 1pct of the modern British gene pool.However, modern Britons retain about 10pct WHG ancestry as a function of later migrations from Europe.
• About 6,000 years ago.Introduction of farming which originated in Anatolia, Turkey.Neolithic farmers spread across Europe bringing wheat, barley and cattle.These people had olive-toned skin, dark hair and brown eyes.They transformed the landscape with stone circle and monument building

Castlerigg Stone Circle, Keswick, England  

• About 4,500 years ago. The Bell Beaker arrived from the Pontic-Caspian steppe of modern-day Russia and Ukraine.About 90pct of Britain's gene pool replaced by Beaker DNA.The Beaker people introduced metal working and probably Indo-European languages.Distinguished by lighter skin, blue eyes and fairer hair.
• About 2800 years ago.Commencement of Iron Age when Britons sometimes described as "Celts" were descended from the Bell Beaker population.

Preserved Iron-Age hooded garment. 

 Replica Iron-Age Roundhouse from S. Wales

• About 1500 years ago.Anglo-Saxons arrive. This was a massive movement of people from what is today Germany, Denmark and the Netherlands.In some parts of east and southern England up to 75pct of local gene pool was replaced in a few generations.

Anglo-Saxon Cross, Northumbria 

 

• 1066 and later migrations.Profound cultural impacts but light genetic footprints.  

Blog past 12 July 2021 

This post provides more information on the sudden change in genetic make-up of the (prehistoric) population of the British Isles which occurred between 2450 BC and 2000 BC. The displaced population was responsible for construction of the many megalithic monuments (e.g. stone circles) of which Stonehenge is the best known.More information can be found in this post.from 2021.

In essence the stone monuments were not constructed by ancestors of current, indigenous populations but by darker, olive-skinned peoples who disappeared at about the same time as arrival of lighter skinned peoples from what is now the Ukraine and Russia.It is the lighter skinned peoples which form the ancestral core of today's populations.

Here is a summary of a report from The Times newspaper of May 31st 2023:

• Analysis of burials from around 4000 years ago has resulted in the identification of bubonic plague pathogens which indicate the people movement from the east may have been prompted by the incidence of plague.
• The plague strain brought by the incomers suggests person-to-person transmission (like Covid) as distinct from fleas and rats which which are believed to have caused the Black Death outbreaks from the 14th century onwards.

Only about 4pct of current British DNA is derived from the early, Neolithic peoples who were responsible for the heroic logistics of moving massive amounts of rock around the untamed landscape without benefit of wheels or modern materials.To illustrate their achievements an image is provided below of just one rock from the massive Avebury circle in England.

More information

For more information on the prehistoric period and other facets of Scotland for tourists please refer Visitors’ Guide to Scotland, ISBN 978-1-9161332-0-4. This book is also available via Kindle.