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December 24,2021

Andrew Campbell 

Scientists have discovered evidence of a large-scale prehistoric migration into the United Kingdom, which could be linked to the development of Celtic languages. Between 1,400 BC and 870 BC, a great migration of people occurred in continental Europe. The research sheds light on the genetic makeup of many current-day Britons. These migrants account for roughly half of the ancestry of later populations in England and Wales.

One of the co-first authors is Michael Isakov, a Harvard freshman who found the 3,000-year-old migration. The researchers discovered four skeletons at the Cliffs End Farm and Margetts Pit archaeological sites in Kent, all of whom were either first-generation migrants from continental Europe or their descendants. It is proof of early occupation of the region by people from the continent, dating back to 1,400 BC.

The findings were based on DNA taken from 793 ancient skeletons and published in the peer-reviewed journal Nature. New research sheds light on the languages spoken at the time, the ancestors of modern-day England and Wales, and even historical dairy eating patterns. According to “Large-scale migration into Britain during the Middle to Late Bronze Age”, a gene that allows some people to digest raw milk rose significantly in Britain during the Iron Age, 1,000 years before it did elsewhere in Northern Europe. The discovery, according to the researchers, backs up a recent idea that early Celtic languages arrived in Britain via France around the Late Bronze Age.