Bantam Press ISBN 0-593-05652-3 288 Pages + Photographs + Appendix: Graphs and Charts + Index, Hardback, £17.99
This book came with a voucher for £50 off a DNA test, to be analysed by
Oxford University, which is not only the most novel freebie, but sounds
like an absolutely genius idea for funding further research. Bryan
Sykes is a Professor of Human Genetics at that university. His
background is in inherited conditions, before his skills were diverted
into genetic archaeology.
I am not a scientist nor do I have anything but the most casual interest
in genetics, therefore I am reviewing this not as a peer, but as a
fascinated layperson. My interest was piqued in a television
documentary about similar research, 'The Blood of the Vikings',
undertaken by University College, London, which demonstrated clear
Norwegian genes amongst isolated populations in England and Scotland.
The Blood of the Isles describes Oxford's more ambitious project,
which sought to discover the genetic make-up of those in all areas of
the British Isles.
Sykes and his team collected the DNA of literal thousands of people, in
hundreds of locations, throughout Eire, Northern Ireland, Scotland,
England, Wales and Kernow. Where possible, they also sought to
establish where each person believed their ancestry lay. Early
conclusions showed that many of their volunteers lived in the same area
where all four grandparents had lived, therefore establishing them as
settled in the area.
The extracted DNA was then interrogated for information from both the
mitochrondrial strand (mother's input) and Y-chromosome (in men only,
the father's input). Very quickly, patterns started to form which, when
compared to known histories and the DNA from ancient remains, began to
show a picture of how far the invasions and/or immigrations into Britain
had affected its population.
This all sounds very dry and heavy going, but it isn't at all. Of
necessity, there are some technical details, which only once caused me
to re-read a couple of pages to keep up. The author writes these
apologetically and soon lightens the narrative with a couple of
entertaining anecdotes or, on one memorable occasion, interrupting a
detailed exploration of Welsh DNA with a wistful remembrance of the
wonderful ice-cream in Lampeter, complete with instructions on where to
find the shop selling it.
Did the Saxons annihilate all the Celts in England? Did the Vikings
over-run the Gaels in Scotland? Where are the Picts today? How
completely were the Tuatha De Danaan wiped out in Eire? All of these
questions are answered in a compelling and convincing way, supported
throughout with evidence. Some of the conclusions truly rewrite the
established view of British history, as well as having profound
implications for national identities.
I know that it's traditional in an academic review to discuss those
conclusions, but they are so astonishing that I would prefer that others
take the journey towards them without knowing how it ends.
For more information: http://www.bloodoftheisles.net/