The Origins of the British

The Origins of the British – Stephen Oppenheimer

Who are the British, and where did they come from? For generations, the traditional story held that the ancient Britons were Celts who were largely displaced by invading Anglo-Saxons in England, while the Celtic peoples survived in Wales, Scotland and Ireland. In The Origins of the British: A Genetic Detective Story, geneticist and physician Stephen Oppenheimer challenges this picture.

Using evidence from genetics, particularly studies of mitochondrial DNA passed down through mothers and Y chromosomes passed down through fathers, along with archaeology, linguistics and history, Oppenheimer traces the ancestry of the people of the British Isles back to the end of the last Ice Age. He argues that most modern Britons descend from people who arrived thousands of years ago, long before the Romans, Anglo-Saxons and Vikings.

According to his interpretation, many of these early settlers came along the Atlantic coast from Ice Age refuges in the region of modern Spain and southern France, while others came from northern Europe. He suggests that later invasions, including the Anglo-Saxon migration, contributed relatively small proportions of the population’s ancestry, and he proposes controversial ideas about the languages spoken in England before the Anglo-Saxons arrived.

Detailed and richly illustrated with maps and charts, the book offers a fascinating look at how genetic evidence can illuminate prehistory.

The Origins of the British will appeal to readers interested in history, archaeology and genetics. Readers should note that research on ancient DNA has advanced dramatically since publication, and that several of the book’s conclusions have been challenged or revised by later studies.