Why Britons are all Beaker people
DNA tests show our ancestors wiped out the Stone Age farmers who lived here first
‘Influx from the Continent’
WHEN modern Britons think of their forefathers, many picture the sort of farmers who gave the world Stonehenge.
But experts have discovered that those ancient folk were almost completely wiped out by immigrants from Europe – and our true ancestors – known as the Beaker people.
An international genetic study has found that we share only 10 per cent of our DNA with Stone Age farmers, and 90 per cent with the Beaker people – named after the bellshaped pottery drinking containers they made.
Over a period of several hundred years, the newcomers took over the British Isles and stamped their genetic identity on the population.
DNA analysis conducted on 400 prehistoric skeletons found that Beaker people took over Britain within 500 years of Stonehenge being built, replacing most of the Neolithic farmers who put up the monument and had lived here for 1,500 years.
The creators of the 5,000-yearold landmark looked Mediterranean, with dark hair and eyes and olive-hued skin, although theirs was generally lighter than that of ‘Cheddar man’ – the 10,000-year- old Briton whose face was reconstructed by scientists earlier this month. The Beaker people were more like modern white Britons, with fair skin and lighter hair and eyes.
Our ancestors may have killed off the Neolithic farmers by bringing the bubonic plague with them. The Beakers were probably a peaceful people, with no evidence that they dispatched the Neolithic farmers by violent means. Disease is therefore the most likely reason for the demise of Stonehenge’s creators.
Professor Ian Armit, from the University of Bradford, who took part in the research, said: ‘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.
‘Britain essentially has a whole new population after that period. We still don’t know for sure what caused such a rapid genetic turnover – the available evidence doesn’t necessarily suggest a violent invasion. There might have been environmental problems which caused a population decline among the indigenous population, or the Beaker migrants could have brought new diseases with them.’
Between 4,400 and 4,700 years ago, the bell-shaped pots made by the Beaker people spread across western and central Europe. For more than a century, archaeologists have argued over whether the pottery finds implied large-scale migration of people or merely the exchange of new ideas and culture.
The study, looking at DNA data from 400 ancient skeletons from across Europe, including 155 from Britain, shows that both theories are correct.
The scientists found that beaker-producing culture spread between Spain and central Europe without significant movement of people. But it was a different story in the UK, where evidence suggests a massive influx of Beaker immigrants.
Professor Ian Barnes, from the Natural History Museum in London, said: ‘We found that the skeletal remains of individuals from Britain who lived shortly after the first beaker pottery appears have a very different DNA profile to those who came before.
‘Over several hundred years, at least 90 per cent of the ancestry of ancient British populations was replaced by a group from the Continent.
‘Following the Beaker spread, there was a population in Britain that for the first time had ancestry and skin and eye pigmentation similar to the majority of Britons today.’
The research, published in the journal Nature, is the largest study of ancient human DNA ever. It was carried out by an international team of 144 archaeologists and geneticists.