Iron Age and Anglo-Saxon genomes from East England reveal British migration history

2016/01/19 by Stephan Schiffels, Wolfgang Haak, Pirita Paajanen +10 · 20 citations
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology · Arts and Humanities · #Forensic and Genetic Research #Genetic diversity and population structure #Forensic Anthropology and Bioarchaeology Studies

paper · pdf · doi:10.1038/ncomms10408

openalex publication_date 2016/01/19 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/04

Abstract

British population history has been shaped by a series of immigrations, including the early Anglo-Saxon migrations after 400 CE. It remains an open question how these events affected the genetic composition of the current British population. Here, we present whole-genome sequences from 10 individuals excavated close to Cambridge in the East of England, ranging from the late Iron Age to the middle Anglo-Saxon period. By analysing shared rare variants with hundreds of modern samples from Britain and Europe, we estimate that on average the contemporary East English population derives 38% of its ancestry from Anglo-Saxon migrations. We gain further insight with a new method, rarecoal, which infers population history and identifies fine-scale genetic ancestry from rare variants. Using rarecoal we find that the Anglo-Saxon samples are closely related to modern Dutch and Danish populations, while the Iron Age samples share ancestors with multiple Northern European populations including Britain.

Citations

• Massive migration from the steppe is a source for Indo-European languages in Europe
• People on the move in Roman Britain
• The fine-scale genetic structure of the British population

Cited by

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• Celtic Britons [wikipedia]
• Celtic language decline in England [wikipedia]
• Celts [wikipedia]
• Historical immigration to Great Britain [wikipedia]
• Sub-Roman Britain [wikipedia]