The Origins of the British: The New Prehistory of Britain by Oppenheimer Page A

might think of, which are mostly only a couple of thousand years old. So I shall move away from language issues to give some geographic, climatic and genetic perspectives to the recurrent patterns of colonization of the British Isles since the last Ice Age, around 15,000 years ago. The reason for this is not just a check against moving to overenthusiastic conclusions that all ‘Celts’ came over to the British Isles during the Bronze Age or whenever, but a change in focus towards the main migratory issues which form the core of this book. As we shall see, there is abundant genetic evidence linking Spain with Ireland and Wales by multiple migrations. But even such parallel links do not automatically give a date, size or number for ‘Celtic migrations’. Genes are a proxy for actual migrations, while language only may be. Language is, more importantly, a proxy for cultural movement. And what if there were similar recurrent migrations up the Atlantic coast before and after the Bronze Age? As it turns out there probably were – both.

 
    Figure 3.6b
Rox gene cluster (R1b-9). This map shows the impact of the earliest male re-expansion from the south-west European refuge, 15,000–13,000 years ago; Rox is the main source gene cluster for that period. The gene flow follows the ancient extended coastline, favouring Ireland and Scotland.
     

 
    Figure 3.6c
R1b-5 gene cluster. This map shows another of the earliest male re-expansions from the south-west European refuge 15,000–13,000 years ago. R1b-5 derives from Rox and also concentrates on the Atlantic façade, featuring in Ireland, Wales and northern Scotland.
     

 
    Figure 3.6d
Rory gene cluster (R1b-14). This map shows Rory, one of the larger early male clusters to re-expand from the south-west European refuge 15,000–13,000 years ago. Rory derives from Rox, also concentrating on the Atlantic façade, featuring particularly in Ireland and less so in Scotland. He is strongly associated with Irish men with Gaelic names – but this does not mean that Gaelic arrived so early!
     

 
    Figure 3.6e
R1b-15c gene cluster. This map shows R1b-15c, another sub-cluster of Rox which re-expanded from the south-west European refuge 15,000–13,000 years ago and concentrates on the Atlantic façade, featuring in this instance in Cornwall.
     

 
    Figure 3.6f
R1b-16 gene cluster: this map shows R1b-16 another early male re-expansion from the south-west European refuge (15,000–13,000 years ago) that derives from Rox and also concentrates on the Atlantic façade, featuring in Ireland and Wales. Unlike the others, this cluster also moved up the region of the English Channel along the ancient river valley of the Seine to Kent and the Continental Low Countries.
     

 
    Figure 4.9b
Material gene lines in Lapland and Scandinavia derive predominantly from the Balkans (Ian) and Eastern Europe (Rostov and N3) rather than Iberia
     
    4.9a–b
Pincer colonization of Scandinavia. Lapland and Scandinavia received two colonizations during the Mesolithic, one via Finland and Archangel, the other via Denmark. The western component derived from Iberia; the eastern pincer came both from Iberia and from farther east in Europe. This mix makes it possible to distinguish Norwegian and Danish inputs to the British Isles. Norway received over 70% of its male lines via Lapland, while Denmark received most via northern Germany.
     

 
    Figure 5.5b
Re-expansions, in the Fens and north Wales, of the related clusters R1b-11 and R1b-12, whose ancestor arrived in the Mesolithic (composite of R1b-11 and R1b-12).
     

 
    Figure 5.5c
The main indigenous re-expansion in Britain occurred in the large Rob cluster (R1b-8) and his small brother (R1b-7), whose common ancestor arrived in the Mesolithic. Although their highest frequencies are in eastern and southern Britain and Scotland, they cover nearly the whole of the British Isles (composite of R1b-7 and R1b-8).
     

 
    Figure 5.14b
Chelsea-Ballintober swords.