How the British Became Anglo-Saxon

During excavations from 2004 to 2005, a team of archaeologists from Wessex Archeology reimagined population movements between part of Kent and mainland Europe in the Bronze and Iron Ages. Wessex Archaeology

A genetic study reveals the massive migratory movement from northern Europe to England in the early medieval period

The British have lost a queen, but through the miracles of genetics they have found their ancestors. A study published in the journal Nature traces the history of the populations of Great Britain at the end of the Roman Empire. An international team of 70 scientists analyzed 460 genomes taken from human remains from the II^e era XIII^e century. They then compared them to the genetic data of 4,000 ancient Europeans and 10,000 contemporary ones. Thus at V^e century AD, about 75% of the population of eastern and southern England was made up of migrant families whose ancestors must have originated from continental regions bordering the North Sea, notably the Netherlands, Germany and Denmark.

These results are part of a long-standing debate that runs through British historiography: the cultural changes observed at the end of the Roman Empire around the V^e century of our era are they linked to an upheaval of the populations…

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