Huge study of ancient British DNA reveals only minor Roman influence
https://www.newscientist.com/article/2525923-huge-study-of-ancient-british-dna-reveals-only-minor-roman-influence/
Posted by AlfredsChild
Huge study of ancient British DNA reveals only minor Roman influence
https://www.newscientist.com/article/2525923-huge-study-of-ancient-british-dna-reveals-only-minor-roman-influence/
Posted by AlfredsChild
15 Comments
It also seems that the infamous “[North African Ivory Bangle Lady](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ivory_Bangle_Lady)”, an icon of Black History Month as per the [BBC](https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/41Z57bgYcy2KZG3WmzzkXp8/black-history-month) is neither black nor African and is in fact a Celtic Briton with some minor continental European ancestry. Turns out measurements of crania are not reliable to ascertain birth place, race nor ethnicity.
It is always the case that the ‘invaders’ become the new elites so don’t really change much in the way of DNA. Most of us are descended from peasants at the end of the day – life carried on for them much the same regardless.
I thought this was old news; geneticists have known for years that whatever people were in a place at the dawn of civilization have such a population boom that any later invaders are just drops in the genetic sea.
I’m from Glasgow and I did my DNA thingy 2 years ago and there was no Roman at all in mine, even though the Romans did invade Glasgow. Irish, Swedish and Scots came up on mine.
Even more of a case for reparations from Italy then.
Always a great pain of mine that I have an uncommon norman surname directly attributed to the invasion of 1066😭 least im not a bloody Roman
So this confirms what we always knew already. We are mostly a mixture of germanic, celtic and Britonic with the English more Germanic and Scottish/Welsh more celtic.
Some day we will rediscover that the sky is indeed a shade of blue, most of the time.
Anyone with a passing interest in history/genealogy already knows this lol
My 23andme results showed 0.4% Northern Italian. I imagine this was more likely from the Lombards who moved to England in the medieval era rather than from any Roman influence.
Not a Historian. But I love Roman History.
The Roman Empire was bigger than Rome/Italy, I don’t believe every single Roman who came to Britain were actually from Italy. The empire spanning from Spain to North Africa to Middle East and Britain. It would be difficult to find a “Roman” DNA when it’s so vast.
Most of the forts around Britian were guarded by Auxiliaries and they could come from anywhere in the Empire. Legionnaires had to be Roman Citizens, but you could come from Roman towns around Europe and the Middle East and still become a Citizen without ever visiting Rome or Italy. Legions where created in Spain/Germany/ France etc. It was totally normal for people all around the Empire to be recruited to fight for Rome.
I remember being taught that one of the Garrisons on Hadrian’s Wall had soldiers from Iraq/Syria stationed there.
https://www.theguardian.com/culture/charlottehigginsblog/2009/oct/13/hadrians-wall
Can confirm, had my DNA done and I’m only seeing 5 % from those dastardly Vikings! Nothing from Italy.. Rest British hurrah! Time for some more tea.
Well yeah. Why would the Romans want to breed with the peasants?
One thing to factor in is that many Romans were not from where we now call Italy. To be Roman was nothing to do with where you were born.
For example Marcus Aurelius was born in Vienna and Claudius was from Lyon.
Because the soldiers the Romans sent to Britain were from Spain, North Africa and Syria
Wasn’t the UK colonised by white people? Before it was home to indigenous black people.