HOW WE GOT TO BRITAIN
4 November 2012
Steadily we are learning more about the origins of our homo sapiens species and our travels to populate the world. A readable account of some latest research is here (‘Scientists use genetics and climate reconstructions to track the global spread of modern humans out of Africa’ in University of Cambridge Research News 17 September 2012).
An abstract of the research is here (‘The great human expansion’ in PNAS 17 October 2012 Brenna M HENN and others). The full paper is available for payment.
Turning to this corner of the world, the work of the Ancient human occupation of Britain project, uncovering the first humans to live here, suggests that the date of the first human occupation of Britain is more than 800 000 years ago. The story is one of coming and going, settling and leaving, until around 12 000 years ago when the ancestors of most of us current occupants arrived: we presentday people have relatively shallow roots in Britain.
Our human occupying history thus began long before the arrival of Celtic-speaking migrants in Britain. It is unacceptable to arbitrarily put the starting point of our story where it suits Cornish nationalist or Anglo-Saxon nationalist myths and politics. We should acknowledge all the long years of Britain’s history.
This summary time chart of human occupation of Britain is informative.
This is about the Ancient human occupation of Britian project. There is a book: Homo britannicus (2006) Chris STRINGER Penguin