November 4, 2002

Genetics: Popular DNA reports in contradiction?
© BBC
1a & 1b &1c. Article One a & One b: The English are Anglos?

1a.
The following articles indicates that most (50% to 100%?) of the original
"Celtic" inhabitants of England were wiped out and replaced by the
Anglo-Saxon invaders.   The Welsh however, are descended from the original
Britons. Compare this to article  no.2 which says the opposite.

http://www.unknowncountry.com/news/?id=1753
Welsh are the True Brits
18-Jul-2002
 

Wales
Gene scientists have found proof that the Welsh are the "real" English,
despite the fact that the English have always been prejudiced towards them.
The people who think of themselves as English are actually descended from
Anglo- Saxons who invaded Britain following the Roman withdrawal in the
fifth century. Between 50% and 100% of the population at that time was
wiped out, but natural land barriers protected people who lived in the area
now known as Wales.

Dr. Mark Thomas, of the Center for Genetic anthropology at University
College in London, compared DNA from U.K. men with DNA from an area in the
Netherlands where Anglo- Saxons are thought to have originated and found
the English subjects had genes that were almost identical to the Dutch. But
there were clear differences between the Dutch and the Welsh.

The researchers looked for genetic markers on the Y- chromosome, which is
passed almost unchanged from father to son. They studied men who live in
the seven market towns mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086 and also
studied 313 male volunteers whose paternal grandfathers had lived in the
area. They compared their DNA with samples from Norway and Friesland, which
is now a northern province of the Netherlands.

The English and Frisians had almost identical genetic make- up, but the
English and Welsh were very different. The most likely explanation for this
is the Anglo-Saxon invasion in the past, which wiped out the Celtic
population of England, but did not reach Wales. This mean the Welsh are the
true indigenous Britons.

"It appears England is made up of an ethnic cleansing event from people
coming across from the continent after the Romans left," says Thomas. "Our
findings completely overturn the modern view of the origins of the English."

1b.
Change to World
Sunday, 30 June, 2002, 15:31 GMT 16:31 UK
English and Welsh are races apart
The map of England and Wales is reflected in the genes
Gene scientists claim to have found proof that the Welsh are the "true"
Britons.

The research supports the idea that Celtic Britain underwent a form of
ethnic cleansing by Anglo-Saxons invaders following the Roman withdrawal in
the fifth century.

Genetic tests BBC
Genetic tests show clear differences between the Welsh and English
It suggests that between 50% and 100% of the indigenous population of what
was to become England was wiped out, with Offa's Dyke acting as a "genetic
barrier" protecting those on the Welsh side.

And the upheaval can be traced to this day through genetic differences
between the English and the Welsh.

Academics at University College in London comparing a sample of men from
the UK with those from an area of the Netherlands where the Anglo-Saxons
are thought to have originated found the English subjects had genes that
were almost identical.

But there were clear differences between the genetic make-up of Welsh
people studied.

The research team studied the Y-chromosome, which is passed almost
unchanged from father to son, and looked for certain genetic markers.

Link BBC
Ethnic links: Many races share common bonds

They chose seven market towns mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086 and
studied 313 male volunteers whose paternal grandfather had also lived in
the area.

They then compared this with samples from Norway and with Friesland, now a
northern province of the Netherlands.

The English and Frisians studied had almost identical genetic make-up but
the English and Welsh were very different.

The researchers concluded the most likely explanation for this was a
large-scale Anglo-Saxon invasion, which devastated the Celtic population of
England, but did not reach Wales.

Dr Mark Thomas, of the Centre for Genetic Anthropology at UCL, said their
findings suggested that a migration occurred within the last 2,500 years.

Genetic links

It reinforced the idea that the Welsh were the true indigenous Britons.

In April last year, research for a BBC programme on the Vikings revealed
strong genetic links between the Welsh and Irish Celts and the Basques of
northern Spain and south France.

It suggested a possible link between the Celts and Basques, dating back
tens of thousands of years.

The UCL research into the more recent Anglo-Saxon period suggested a
migration on a huge scale.

"It appears England is made up of an ethnic cleansing event from people
coming across from the continent after the Romans left," he said.

Celtic Britons

Archaeologists after the Second World War rejected the traditionally held
view that an Anglo-Saxon invasion pushed the indigenous Celtic Britons to
the fringes of Britain.

Instead, they said the arrival of Anglo-Saxon culture could have come from
trade or a small ruling elite.

But the latest research by the UCL team, "using genetics as a history
book", appears to support the original view of a large-scale invasion of
England.

It suggests that the Welsh border was more of a genetic barrier to the
Anglo-Saxon Y chromosome gene flow than the North Sea.

Dr Thomas added: "Our findings completely overturn the modern view of the
origins of the English."
 

1c.

Professor David Goldstein, University College London
"Statistically indistinguishable from the Basques"
  real 28k

Tuesday, 3 April, 2001, 13:11 GMT 14:11 UK
Genes link Celts to Basques
Basque genetics graphics BBC
The Welsh and Irish Celts have been found to be the genetic blood-brothers
of Basques, scientists have revealed.

The gene patterns of the three races passed down through the male line are
all "strikingly similar", researchers concluded.

Link BBC
Ethnic links: Many races share common bonds
Basques can trace their roots back to the Stone Age and are one of Europe's
most distinct people, fiercely proud of their ancestry and traditions.

The research adds to previous studies which have suggested a possible link
between the Celts and Basques, dating back tens of thousands of years.

"The project started with our trying to assess whether the Vikings made an
important genetic contribution to the population of Orkney," Professor
David Goldstein of University College London (UCL) told BBC News.

'Statistically indistinguishable'

He and his colleagues looked at Y-chromosomes, passed from father to son,
of Celtic and Norwegian populations. They found them to be quite different.

"But we also noticed that there's something quite striking about the Celtic
populations, and that is that there's not a lot of genetic variation on the
Y-chromosome," he said.

To try to work out where the Celtic population originally came from, the
team from UCL, the University of Oxford and the University of California at
Davis also looked at Basques.

"On the Y-chromosome the Celtic populations turn out to be statistically
indistinguishable from the Basques," Professor Goldstein said.

Pre-farming Europe

The comparison was made because Basques are thought by most experts to be
very similar to the people who lived in Europe before the advent of farming.

Genetic tests BBC
Genetic tests have identified key gene groups
"We conclude that both of these populations are reflecting pre-farming
Europe," he said.

Professor Goldstein's team looked at the genetic profiles of 88 individuals
from Anglesey, North Wales, 146 from Ireland with Irish Gaelic surnames,
and 50 Basques.

"We know of no other study that provides direct evidence of a close
relationship in the paternal heritage of the Basque- and the
Celtic-speaking populations of Britain," the team write in the journal
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Viking TV

But it is still unclear whether the link is specific to the Celts and the
Basques, or whether they are both simply the closest surviving relatives of
the early population of Europe.

What is clear is that the Neolithic Celts took women from outside their
community. When the scientists looked at female genetic patterns as well,
they found evidence of genetic material from northern Europe.

This influence helped even out some of the genetic differences between the
Celts and their Northern European neighbours.

The work was carried out in connection with a BBC television programme on
the Vikings.

Article 2

WHATEVER the cultural distinctions between the English, Scottish, Irish and
Welsh, in genetic terms at least, there is no difference between us  we are
all ancient Britons.

The first genetic map of the British Isles has revealed that we are united
by common DNA that dates back at least 10,000 years to the last Ice Age.

Waves of invading Romans, Vikings and Germans may have left their cultural
stamp on the conquered people, but they caused barely a ripple in the gene
pool, according to scientists at Oxford University. The research suggests
that Britons are biologically similar, even if they perceive themselves to
be the descendants of distinct racial groups. Those who claim to be
descended from marauding bands of Celts or Anglo-Saxons will be
disappointed by this research. Others who prefer to promote their
continental lineage and claim fashionable Norman descent ignore the much
more powerful inheritance of the ancient Britons, whose genes have
overwhelmed all subsequent residents of the British Isles.

The Institute of Molecular Medicine at Oxford has profiled 6,000 people
and, by comparing their blood samples with DNA extracted from the remains
of Stone Age people, discovered that 99% can trace their origins directly
back to the Britons who populated the fertile wooded valleys carved out by
Ice Age glaciers when Britain was still joined to the European mainland.

The scientists say that anybody who knows that their maternal grandmother
was born in the British Isles is almost certain to be genetically identical
to a Palaeolithic ancestor, through a family chain genetically untouched by
newcomers such as the Celts, who are generally held to have arrived in
700BC from Austria.

They have even been able to distinguish between the different waves of
Stone Age immigrants who walked across the "land bridge" from southern
Europe up to 50,000 years ago.

Bryan Sykes, professor of human genetics at Oxford University, led the
project to examine the nature of "Britishness", part of an international
effort to explain how humans, spreading out from Africa and the Middle
East, occupied Europe.
 
 
 
 

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