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The Beaker people almost displaced the original British population 4.500 years ago.
A new study published in the Nature journal revealed the ancient population of Britain was almost completely replaced by immigrants who arrived from mainland Europe 4.500 ago.
The study was based on findings from a team of 144 European and US archaeologists and geneticists.
Based on DNA analysis conducted on hundreds of prehistoric skeletons, researchers suggest that no British native is actually 100 percent British.
This wave of immigrants, known as the Beaker people, came to the British Isles and effectively added to the genetic identity of the original inhabitants of Britain.
“The analysis shows pretty conclusively that migration of the Beaker people into Britain was more intense and on a larger scale than anyone had previously thought,” said Professor Ian Armit, from the University of Bradford, who took part in the research.
The Beaker people first spread between Iberia and central Europe beginning about 4,700 years ago. They earned their name from the characteristic pottery they crafted and left behind wherever they settled.
Researchers have wondered for more than a century whether the pottery of the Beaker folk, found across western and central Europe, implied a large-scale migration of people or was simply an exchange of culture and ideas.
Researchers of the new study focused on DNA data extracted from 400 skeletons across Europe. The results confirmed both theories.
While the beaker mark was apparent in Iberia and central Europe, the most prevalent signs of their culture were found in Britain, where evidence suggests a massive influx of Beaker immigrants flooded the British Isles.
According to professor Ian Barnes, from the Natural History Museum in London, analysis of the skeletal remains of people who have lived shortly after the first beaker pottery appeared showed a “very different” DNA profile to those who came before.
Image Source: WikipediaCommons
