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Ancient Britons come mainly from Spain
Last updated at 12:37pm on 20.09.06
Ola! Most Britons have Spanish descendants
Scientists have discovered the British are descended from a tribe of Spanish fishermen. DNA analysis has found the Celts — Britain's indigenous population — have an almost identical genetic "fingerprint" to a tribe of Iberians from the coastal regions of Spain who crossed the Bay of Biscay almost 6,000 years ago.
People of Celtic ancestry were thought to have descended from tribes of central Europe. But Bryan Sykes, professor of human genetics at Oxford University, said: "About 6,000 years ago Iberians developed ocean-going boats that enabled them to push up the Channel.
"Before they arrived, there were some human inhabitants of Britain, but only a few thousand. These people were later subsumed into a larger Celtic tribe... the majority of people in the British Isles are actually descended from the Spanish."
A team led by Professor Sykes — who is soon to publish the first DNA map of the British Isles — spent five years taking DNA samples from 10,000 volunteers in Britain and Ireland, in an effort to produce a map of our genetic roots.
The most common genetic fingerprint belongs to the Celtic clan, which Professor Sykes has called "Oisin". After that, the next most widespread originally belonged to tribes of Danish and Norse Vikings. Small numbers of today's Britons are also descended from north African, Middle Eastern and Roman clans.
These DNA fingerprints have enabled Professor Sykes to create the first genetic maps of the British Isles, which are analysed in his book Blood Of The Isles, published this week. The maps show that Celts are most dominant in Ireland, Scotland and Wales.
But the Celtic clan is also strongly represented elsewhere in the British Isles. "Although Celts have previously thought of themselves as being genetically different from the English, this is emphatically not the case," said Professor Sykes.
Reader views (11)
Here's a sample of the latest views published.
Celts were never a race of people, more of a culture that spread across Europe. In the past and now, many people from Scotland, Ireland, Wales, Cornwall and Brittany have dark hair and brown eyes.
- David Barry, Leeds U.K
Somotype (outward physical apperance) is the result of realtively few genes.The base line for Celts is actually pre-Celtic,or neolithic DNA.Most Anglo-Saxons have a large admixture of sub-saharan African genes.Anglo-Saxon DNA is virtually the same as Danish & Norse Viking.
- K.M., Belfast
It has been known for a long time that the first Celtic populations- The Gaelic Celts came via the Iberian peninsula by sea approximately 800BC.
This ties in nicely with the development of the Celtic languages known in the UK as the "B"group (Ireland Scotland Manx) and the "P" group (Wales Cornwall Brittany and pre-Anglo Saxon England). Linguists are happy that a proto-Celtic language existed in Europe around 1500 BC.
The first peoples in the UK after the last Ice Age may well have come via Iberia but they would I suggest be pre-Celtic as Celtic is an Indo-European language spreading west at a later time possibly with Neolithic cultures. The Basque populations of Spain and the Picts in Scotland are testament to a pre-Celtic culture existing in early popultions.
The other commentaries are very relevant in this new development in tracing UK pre-history.
- Lynford Dean, Macclesfield UK
Growing up in in England I took for granted the great variety of differences amongst people's hair, eye and skin tone, body height and shape, even the broad spectrum of temprements. As I have grown older and have travel, I observed most other countries to hold a very narrow gene pool, even though often the country is much larger in size and population.
I believe the richness of the English gene pool is a result of the continual historical absorbsion of other cultures and their genetics as they either invaded or settled. Parrallels can be drawn to modern times with the absorbsion of imigrants from the old British empire and more recently the influx of Eastern European economic migrants.
I have a great sense of being English and I am proud of our historical achievements and richness. I personally feel English, not British and do resent the political correctness that impedes native peoples from celebrating their own culture. I feel that this should be more thorough, as I do not relate to the middle eastern religion imported by the Romans, which they adopted for their sins. I believe many native English relate to nature and the land in a spiritual manner, which is percieved as a physical realisation of god, much as the pagans and druids of ancient Briton believed.
I am from a rich genetic mix. My father had black hair, my mother was blonde and both sides of my family have red hair. I am intrigued to analyse my DNA to discover my ancestry with scientific clarity.
- Richard Knights, Brighton, England
Almost universally invaders didn't bring their nagging wives with them when they went conquering. They almost always became intimate with the women of the lands they conquered. Therefore most of our foremothers will have been Celtic and a large number of our forefathers Saxons, Danes etc. The kingdom of Elmet which would roughly correspond to the modern Leeds and Bradford area was a Brythonic stronghold lasting well into the 11th Century as is evidenced with Welsh sounding place names such as Pen-Y-Ghent. I lived in Denmark for 4 years and though we supposedly share ancestry, I didn't find them outwardly very similar to the various British types found on our islands. Irish are often mistaken for southern Europeans by Scandanavians.
- Phil Walton, Leeds. England
Julius Caesar wrote that The Land of my Fathers was populated from the Iberian Peninsular.
In "Facing the Ocean", Professor Cunliffe wrote a superb history linking
the ancient civilizations of the Atlantic Literal, from Portugal to Scotland. Now the DNA research of Professor Sykes confirms our common European heritage.
I don't care if English Historian dislike "CELTIC"
CALL MY ANCESTORS "BRITISH" PLEASE
We should all be proud of the achievements of our British ancestors,
who built Stonehenge before the Egyptians built pyramids, and then constructed Roman Britain.
They were bilingual. Their written language was Latin, the common language of The Empire. Their mother-tongue was BRETON, still spoken by British emigants to Brittany.
In Britain, they called themselves CYMRO (say: "come+row") which meant "Citizen" (of the Roman Empire)
Thus, Western Britain became known as CUMBRIA in Latin and CYMRU
(say "come+ree") in Welsh.
GWALIA is the Latin for WALES.
This is NOT an English placename, but Celtic (i.e. Gallic).
Compare:
GALLIA = GAUL, the Latin name for France & Germany
GALICIA = The Province in Northern Spain
PORTUGAL = The Country in Western Iberia
GALES = The Spanish word for WALES
GALLES = The French word for WALES
CORNWALL = "The peninsular of WALES"
- John Wilce, Glamorgan and Estepona, Spain
I've known always in my bones and in my heart, that our Ancestors were not fair Germanic types. The 'Celts' were from Africa too - like the Berbers of Libya, you see that a lot in the characteristic looks of those west of Offa's dyke! Oh and listen to the phonetic similarity of Welsh (I apologise for calling my beloved Ancestors 'slaves', but I don't know the correct term to describe the 'Welsh' language) Arabic and Spanish - it's always been under our noses.
Proud to be of this blood. Peace to the Ancestors...
- Liz Bradshaw, Sheffield
Finally, a book that does away with all the romantic nonsense about Celts and the potentially dangerous idea that the English have completely different origins from the Scots, Irish and Welsh. I'm off to Snowdonia to reclaim my birthright by buying a second home and woe betide any misguided pseudo Celt who tries to stop me!
- Nick, London
Glad to hear it. My Spanish girlfriend can now face her parents happily.
- Paul, London
I'm a Cymro and the name for my country is Cymru. The term wales or welsh is used to describe a "foreigner" by "the english".
These Iberians people were NOT Spanish and calling them that is rediculous. The fact that we in the Celtic zone still know our roots - the Iberian news isn't new - gosh it's been known for a long time. As for England having the Celtic gene - that to isn't new.
In Victorian times they carried out a study on characteristics and attributed certain ones to lesser or lower classes and sets of the "wrong sort". Others they gave to leaders of the upper classes, blond, tall and good English stock. These studies mapped england. When a gene test of locals were carried out in those areas highlighted by the Victorians it found distinct and large proportion of the population were from Celtic origins.
Using Genes to clearly identify origins is interesting - I'm my father's son.......... and i carry the characteristics of forefathers...... and I know who I am..... I'm the son of...son of ...... son of....
- Dafydd, Cymru-Wales
This research is very interesting. I have always assumed a possible Spanish connection with the British Isles, because Galicia sounds similar to the Spanish word for Wales which is Gales and I have told my students for years that there must have been some kind of connection between Wales and Spain in the history of the language far back in time, as language is a "museum" of any culture. This research has given me something else to tell them now!
Regards
- Lindsay Fraser, Nottingham/Spain
