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Question: Question regarding British genetic history and Bryan Sykes' 'Blood of the Isles' conclusions!?
If most European mtDNA lineages can be traced to Upper Paleolithic hunter-gatherers (e!.g!. Haplogroup H), how does professor Bryan Sykes reach his conclusion that the British population are overwhelmingly descended from pre-Celtic/Roman/Saxon/Viking stock!? How is he able to tell the difference between the aboriginal Upper Paleolithic settlers of the British Isles (such as cheddar man) and later invaders from the continent carrying Upper Paleolithic mtDNA markers!?
I don't understand how he has reached his conclusions!.Www@QuestionHome@Com
Best Answer - Chosen by Asker:
Well, the overwhelmingly most common haplogroup among british and Irish people is H1!. It is most common in basques and then Irish/Brits, indicating a close genetic match!. The Skeleton from Gough's cave,over 10,000 years old, is of this group!. (Another skeleton_Cheddar Man- was U, a much rarer type & oldest of all, but still found approx 10% in Britain/Ireland!.) this indicates that these haplogroups were in the British Isles at a very remote era, long before the known 'invasions'!.
I believe Skyes is probably correct though of course later immigrations would have carried similar genetic signatures into the country on occasion!. I believe paleolithic/mesolithic migration, followed by the neolithic farmers (the J haplogroup and some of the T's)have given us primarily what we see today!. This was the time of Britain becoming peopled, and by the time the later migrations arrived there was a substantial amount of people here (in fact the only 2 large permanent migrations after that time were Saxons & Vikings, there was no 'celtic' mass migration and only a small trickle of 'beaker' people in the preceding bronze age) Obviously it is unreasonable to believe the larger earlier populace was totally replaced or killed off by anyone (including the saxons!.) It doesn't stand up archaeologically or genetically!
Sykes actually did find quite a lot of Viking dna particularly on the Scottish Isles (save Lewis which had a slightly strange anomaly)
Saxons/Germanic peoples can be H's too, but usually they have a different sub-clade to the Basque H1!.The also have J but again with different mutations which separates them (though again, far in the most distant past they'd still share a female ancestor!)
You wouldn't really expect to find 'Roman' dna as the Romans came from all over, not Italy, and were there to rule the colony not to settle and have families!. Doubtless some men did take local wives and girlfriends, but this wouldn't affect the mtdna anyway!.Www@QuestionHome@Com