Settlement of Great Britain and Ireland
Encyclopedia
The British Isles
have experienced a long history of migration from across Europe
. Over the millennia, successive waves of immigrants have come to the Isles, a process that is continuing today. The ancient migrations have mainly come via two routes: along the Atlantic coast and from Germany/Scandinavia. The main settlement came in the Palaeolithic and Mesolithic
periods. There is currently no strong evidence of a human paleolithic presence in Ireland
.
Research into this prehistoric settlement is controversial, with differences of opinion from many academic disciplines. There have been disputes over the sizes of the various immigrations, as well as to whether they were peacefully integrated. In the latter part of the second millennium, the finds of archeology allowed a view of the settlement pattern to be inferred from changes in artifacts. Since the 1990s the use of DNA
has allowed this view to be refined.
by Geoffrey of Monmouth
, which was written in 1138, and claims to have been written from earlier material. As the book explains, the first inhabitants of Britain were a race of giants
underneath Albion
. The next inhabitants were Greeks under Brutus
who landed at Totnes
and defeated the giants. After the death of Brutus, the island was divided into three parts (England
, Scotland
and Wales
) ruled over by his three sons. When the two younger sons died, the whole island was ruled by the eldest, Locrinus
, and his 98 successors. They continued until the arrival of the Romans. After the latter's departure, the crown passed to Vortigern
who sought help from the Saxons in fighting against Constans. At a meeting with the Saxons, most of the British leaders are killed. King Arthur
then lead the fight against the Saxons, but the latter prevailed.
This account remained the standard view of the settlement of Britain until Polydore Vergil
wrote Anglica Historica, completed in 1513. However, Geoffrey of Monmouth's work has continued to provide inspiration to later writers of fiction.
, compiled from earlier material in the late 11th century. It chronicles four mythical phases of immigration, with six invasions. The last of these was the invasion by the Gaels
who came from the Iberian Peninsula
; they were the sons of Mil
(also known as Milesius, Míl Espáine, or the Soldier of Hispania
). According to the legend, the ultimate ancestor of the Gaels was a Scythian king from what is now eastern Ukraine
, whose descendants settled in Hispania
.
The Gaels defeated the Tuatha Dé Danann
, who inhabited Ireland and had themselves taken control from the Fir Bolg
(banished to the Aran Islands
) and the Fomorians (banished to Tory Island
).
Thomas O'Rahilly re-interpreted the text, dating the Gaelic invasion to 100 BC.
There is archaeological evidence (thirty-two worked flints found in April 2003 at Pakefield
on the Suffolk
coast) of settlement of hominini
in Britain from about 700,000 BC. A shinbone found belonging to "Boxgrove Man", a member of the species Homo heidelbergensis
was found at Boxgrove Quarry
, West Sussex
is the oldest human remains found in Britain, and has been dated at c. 480,000 BC. Neanderthal
man is thought to have appeared in Britain around 130,000 BC and become the dominant species until their disappearance from the archaeological record c. 30,000 BC. A skull found in Swanscombe
in Kent
and teeth found at Pontnewydd
Cave in Denbighshire
are examples of remains found with distinct Neanderthal features.
Cro-Magnons (the first anatomically modern humans) are believed to have arrived in Europe about 40,000 years ago. They are known to have had a presence in the geographical region that was to become Great Britain by 29,000 years ago, due to the discovery of the skeletal remains of the "Red Lady of Paviland
". This is actually the skeleton (lacking the skull) of a young man of the Aurignacian
culture, and may be the oldest modern human remains yet discovered in Great Britain and Ireland.
During the following Ice Age
(known as the Last Glacial Maximum
(LGM)) around 20,000 years ago, Northern Europe
may have been completely depopulated of humans. Humans probably returned to the region of the British and Irish peninsula about 14,700 years ago as the Ice Age started to end, after an absence of about 5,000 years. Interestingly, eighty percent of the DNA of most white Britons, according to modern research, has been passed down from a few thousand individuals who hunted in this region during the last Ice Age. This would indicate a significance which dwarfs all subsequent migrations to Britain from Europe.
from the 3rd millennium BC, found across most of Europe
in archæological digs, the Beaker people have been considered to represent early immigration to the British Isles during the Bronze Age
.
It was originally thought that there were settlers that came with these Beaker folk who also had other defining features that showed that they were distinct from earlier dwellers of the British Isles
, such as the development of metal
working and the mode of burial
of the dead that came into use at about this time. Analyses of the uptake of isotopes of the element strontium
in teeth (younger) and bones (older) in individuals have found evidence of a great deal of mobility, particularly of females, within central and western Europe. However, it is generally accepted by archaeologists today that the Beaker people and other artefacts
found across Europe that are attributed to the Beaker people may also be indicative of the development of particular manufacturing
skills that spread independently of any population
movement, possibly by the influence of neighbouring peoples, rather than as a result of mass migrations
.
Pryor estimates that the population of Britain and Ireland was between 1 and 1.5 million, upon which a smaller number of Celtic-speaking immigrant populations would have installed themselves as a superstrate.
Although the Celtic peoples do not share a single genetic-inheritance, they can be defined by their languages, which are identical to or descended from Proto-Celtic which is a branch of the Indo-European languages
. In the case of Britain, linguists have been arguing for many years whether a Celtic language came to Britain and Ireland and then split, or whether there were two separate "invasions". The older view of prehistorians was that the Celtic influence in the British Isles was the result of successive invasions from the European continent by diverse Celtic-speaking peoples over the course of several centuries, accounting for the P-Celtic vs. Q-Celtic isogloss
. This view is now challenged by adherents of the Insular Celtic dialect group hypothesis which instead states that one single language, Insular Celtic, split off from Proto-Celtic and then split into British and Primitive Irish.
The Celtic arrival in Britain is usually taken to correspond to Hallstatt
influence and the appearance of chariot burial
s in what is now England from about the 6th century BC. However, several archaeologists, including John Waddell, suppose there must have been Celtic presence in Britain already in the late Bronze Age
, i.e. in mid 2nd millennium BC.
By ca. the 6th century (Sub-Roman Britain
), most of the inhabitants of the Isles were speaking Celtic languages of either the Goidelic or the Brythonic
branch.
After Caesar's conquest of Gaul
in the 50s BC, some Belgic people
seem to have come to central southern Britain from the continent (they are usually considered to have been Celtic-speaking, although Caesar reports that some of them claimed historically Germanic origin). Possibly because of this migration, the names of the tribes Parisi
(in Eastern Yorkshire), Brigantes
and Atrebates
can be found both in Britain and on the continent. It has also been claimed that there were a tribe of Iverni
in Ireland who spoke a Brythonic language.
In Ireland as in Great Britain, beginning Celtic influence is taken to correspond to the beginning Iron Age
. The adoption of Celtic culture and language was likely a gradual transformation, brought on by cultural exchange with Celtic groups in Britain or southwest mainland Europe.
British Isles
The British Isles are a group of islands off the northwest coast of continental Europe that include the islands of Great Britain and Ireland and over six thousand smaller isles. There are two sovereign states located on the islands: the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and...
have experienced a long history of migration from across Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
. Over the millennia, successive waves of immigrants have come to the Isles, a process that is continuing today. The ancient migrations have mainly come via two routes: along the Atlantic coast and from Germany/Scandinavia. The main settlement came in the Palaeolithic and Mesolithic
Mesolithic
The Mesolithic is an archaeological concept used to refer to certain groups of archaeological cultures defined as falling between the Paleolithic and the Neolithic....
periods. There is currently no strong evidence of a human paleolithic presence in Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
.
Research into this prehistoric settlement is controversial, with differences of opinion from many academic disciplines. There have been disputes over the sizes of the various immigrations, as well as to whether they were peacefully integrated. In the latter part of the second millennium, the finds of archeology allowed a view of the settlement pattern to be inferred from changes in artifacts. Since the 1990s the use of DNA
DNA
Deoxyribonucleic acid is a nucleic acid that contains the genetic instructions used in the development and functioning of all known living organisms . The DNA segments that carry this genetic information are called genes, but other DNA sequences have structural purposes, or are involved in...
has allowed this view to be refined.
Britain
An early example of an origin myth of Britain put forth in 'The History of the Kings of Britain'Historia Regum Britanniae
The Historia Regum Britanniae is a pseudohistorical account of British history, written c. 1136 by Geoffrey of Monmouth. It chronicles the lives of the kings of the Britons in a chronological narrative spanning a time of two thousand years, beginning with the Trojans founding the British nation...
by Geoffrey of Monmouth
Geoffrey of Monmouth
Geoffrey of Monmouth was a cleric and one of the major figures in the development of British historiography and the popularity of tales of King Arthur...
, which was written in 1138, and claims to have been written from earlier material. As the book explains, the first inhabitants of Britain were a race of giants
Giants (Welsh folklore)
Giants or cewri feature prominently in Welsh folklore and mythology. Among the most notable are Bendigeidfran fab Llyr, a mythological king of Britain during the Second Branch of the Mabinogi, Idris Gawr of Cader Idris, and Ysbaddaden Bencawr, the chief antagonist of the early Arthurian tale How...
underneath Albion
Albion
Albion is the oldest known name of the island of Great Britain. Today, it is still sometimes used poetically to refer to the island or England in particular. It is also the basis of the Scottish Gaelic name for Scotland, Alba...
. The next inhabitants were Greeks under Brutus
Brutus of Troy
Brutus or Brute of Troy is a legendary descendant of the Trojan hero Æneas, known in mediæval British legend as the eponymous founder and first king of Britain...
who landed at Totnes
Totnes
Totnes is a market town and civil parish at the head of the estuary of the River Dart in Devon, England within the South Devon Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty...
and defeated the giants. After the death of Brutus, the island was divided into three parts (England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
and Wales
Wales
Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...
) ruled over by his three sons. When the two younger sons died, the whole island was ruled by the eldest, Locrinus
Locrinus
Locrinus was a legendary king of the Britons, as recounted by Geoffrey of Monmouth. He was the oldest son of Brutus and a descendant of the Trojans through Aeneas. Following Brutus's death, Britain was divided amongst the three sons, with Locrinus receiving the portion roughly equivalent to...
, and his 98 successors. They continued until the arrival of the Romans. After the latter's departure, the crown passed to Vortigern
Vortigern
Vortigern , also spelled Vortiger and Vortigen, was a 5th-century warlord in Britain, a leading ruler among the Britons. His existence is considered likely, though information about him is shrouded in legend. He is said to have invited the Saxons to settle in Kent as mercenaries to aid him in...
who sought help from the Saxons in fighting against Constans. At a meeting with the Saxons, most of the British leaders are killed. King Arthur
King Arthur
King Arthur is a legendary British leader of the late 5th and early 6th centuries, who, according to Medieval histories and romances, led the defence of Britain against Saxon invaders in the early 6th century. The details of Arthur's story are mainly composed of folklore and literary invention, and...
then lead the fight against the Saxons, but the latter prevailed.
This account remained the standard view of the settlement of Britain until Polydore Vergil
Polydore Vergil
Polydore Vergil was an Italian historian, otherwise known as PV Castellensis. He is better known as the contemporary historian during the early Tudor dynasty. He was hired by King Henry VIII of England, who wanted to distance himself from his father Henry VII as much as possible, to document...
wrote Anglica Historica, completed in 1513. However, Geoffrey of Monmouth's work has continued to provide inspiration to later writers of fiction.
Ireland
The Irish equivalent of Geoffrey's History was the Book of Invasions, Lebor Gabála ÉrennLebor Gabála Érenn
Lebor Gabála Érenn is the Middle Irish title of a loose collection of poems and prose narratives recounting the mythical origins and history of the Irish from the creation of the world down to the Middle Ages...
, compiled from earlier material in the late 11th century. It chronicles four mythical phases of immigration, with six invasions. The last of these was the invasion by the Gaels
Gaels
The Gaels or Goidels are speakers of one of the Goidelic Celtic languages: Irish, Scottish Gaelic, and Manx. Goidelic speech originated in Ireland and subsequently spread to western and northern Scotland and the Isle of Man....
who came from the Iberian Peninsula
Iberian Peninsula
The Iberian Peninsula , sometimes called Iberia, is located in the extreme southwest of Europe and includes the modern-day sovereign states of Spain, Portugal and Andorra, as well as the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar...
; they were the sons of Mil
Míl Espáine
In Irish origin legends, Míl Espáine or Míl Espáne is the ancestor of the final inhabitants of Ireland, the "sons of Míl" or Milesians, who represent the vast majority of the Irish Gaels....
(also known as Milesius, Míl Espáine, or the Soldier of Hispania
Hispania
Another theory holds that the name derives from Ezpanna, the Basque word for "border" or "edge", thus meaning the farthest area or place. Isidore of Sevilla considered Hispania derived from Hispalis....
). According to the legend, the ultimate ancestor of the Gaels was a Scythian king from what is now eastern Ukraine
Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...
, whose descendants settled in Hispania
Hispania
Another theory holds that the name derives from Ezpanna, the Basque word for "border" or "edge", thus meaning the farthest area or place. Isidore of Sevilla considered Hispania derived from Hispalis....
.
The Gaels defeated the Tuatha Dé Danann
Tuatha Dé Danann
The Tuatha Dé Danann are a race of people in Irish mythology. In the invasions tradition which begins with the Lebor Gabála Érenn, they are the fifth group to settle Ireland, conquering the island from the Fir Bolg....
, who inhabited Ireland and had themselves taken control from the Fir Bolg
Fir Bolg
In Irish mythology the Fir Bolg were one of the races that inhabited the island of Ireland prior to the arrival of the Tuatha Dé Danann.-Mythology:...
(banished to the Aran Islands
Aran Islands
The Aran Islands or The Arans are a group of three islands located at the mouth of Galway Bay, on the west coast of Ireland. They constitute the barony of Aran in County Galway, Ireland...
) and the Fomorians (banished to Tory Island
Tory Island
Toraigh is an inhabited island 14.5 km off the northwest coast of County Donegal, Ireland. It is also known in Irish as Oileán Thoraigh, Oileán Thoraí or Oileán Thúr Rí.-Language:The main spoken language on the island is Irish, but English is also understood...
).
Thomas O'Rahilly re-interpreted the text, dating the Gaelic invasion to 100 BC.
Paleolithic
Pakefield
Pakefield is a suburb of the town of Lowestoft in the Waveney District of the English county of Suffolk. Pakefield is located around 2 miles south of the centre of the town. Although today it forms a suburb of the urban area of Lowestoft, it was until 1934 a village and parish in its own right....
on the Suffolk
Suffolk
Suffolk is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in East Anglia, England. It has borders with Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south. The North Sea lies to the east...
coast) of settlement of hominini
Hominini
Hominini is the tribe of Homininae that comprises Homo, and the two species of the genus Pan , their ancestors, and the extinct lineages of their common ancestor . Members of the tribe are called hominins...
in Britain from about 700,000 BC. A shinbone found belonging to "Boxgrove Man", a member of the species Homo heidelbergensis
Homo heidelbergensis
Homo heidelbergensis is an extinct species of the genus Homo which may be the direct ancestor of both Homo neanderthalensis in Europe and Homo sapiens. The best evidence found for these hominins date between 600,000 and 400,000 years ago. H...
was found at Boxgrove Quarry
Boxgrove Quarry
Boxgrove Quarry is a gravel quarry and Lower Palaeolithic archaeological site at Boxgrove in the British-English county of West Sussex. It has been designated a Site of Special Scientific Interest...
, West Sussex
West Sussex
West Sussex is a county in the south of England, bordering onto East Sussex , Hampshire and Surrey. The county of Sussex has been divided into East and West since the 12th century, and obtained separate county councils in 1888, but it remained a single ceremonial county until 1974 and the coming...
is the oldest human remains found in Britain, and has been dated at c. 480,000 BC. Neanderthal
Neanderthal
The Neanderthal is an extinct member of the Homo genus known from Pleistocene specimens found in Europe and parts of western and central Asia...
man is thought to have appeared in Britain around 130,000 BC and become the dominant species until their disappearance from the archaeological record c. 30,000 BC. A skull found in Swanscombe
Swanscombe
Swanscombe is a small town, part of the Borough of Dartford on the north Kent coast in England. It is part of the civil parish of Swanscombe and Greenhithe.-Prehistory:...
in Kent
Kent
Kent is a county in southeast England, and is one of the home counties. It borders East Sussex, Surrey and Greater London and has a defined boundary with Essex in the middle of the Thames Estuary. The ceremonial county boundaries of Kent include the shire county of Kent and the unitary borough of...
and teeth found at Pontnewydd
Pontnewydd
Pontnewydd is a suburb of Cwmbran in the county borough of Torfaen, south-east Wales.Beginning in the late 19th/early 20th century, as a small village in the locality of Llanfrechfa Upper, Pontnewydd has grown rapidly since the start of the Cwmbran New Town development in 1949. Locally, it is...
Cave in Denbighshire
Denbighshire
Denbighshire is a county in north-east Wales. It is named after the historic county of Denbighshire, but has substantially different borders. Denbighshire has the distinction of being the oldest inhabited part of Wales. Pontnewydd Palaeolithic site has remains of Neanderthals from 225,000 years...
are examples of remains found with distinct Neanderthal features.
Cro-Magnons (the first anatomically modern humans) are believed to have arrived in Europe about 40,000 years ago. They are known to have had a presence in the geographical region that was to become Great Britain by 29,000 years ago, due to the discovery of the skeletal remains of the "Red Lady of Paviland
Red Lady of Paviland
The Red Lady of Paviland is a fairly complete Upper Paleolithic-era human male skeleton dyed in red ochre. It was the first human fossil to have been found anywhere in the world and is also the oldest ceremonial burial anywhere in Western Europe so far discovered. The bones were discovered between...
". This is actually the skeleton (lacking the skull) of a young man of the Aurignacian
Aurignacian
The Aurignacian culture is an archaeological culture of the Upper Palaeolithic, located in Europe and southwest Asia. It lasted broadly within the period from ca. 45,000 to 35,000 years ago in terms of conventional radiocarbon dating, or between ca. 47,000 and 41,000 years ago in terms of the most...
culture, and may be the oldest modern human remains yet discovered in Great Britain and Ireland.
During the following Ice Age
Ice age
An ice age or, more precisely, glacial age, is a generic geological period of long-term reduction in the temperature of the Earth's surface and atmosphere, resulting in the presence or expansion of continental ice sheets, polar ice sheets and alpine glaciers...
(known as the Last Glacial Maximum
Last Glacial Maximum
The Last Glacial Maximum refers to a period in the Earth's climate history when ice sheets were at their maximum extension, between 26,500 and 19,000–20,000 years ago, marking the peak of the last glacial period. During this time, vast ice sheets covered much of North America, northern Europe and...
(LGM)) around 20,000 years ago, Northern Europe
Northern Europe
Northern Europe is the northern part or region of Europe. Northern Europe typically refers to the seven countries in the northern part of the European subcontinent which includes Denmark, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Finland and Sweden...
may have been completely depopulated of humans. Humans probably returned to the region of the British and Irish peninsula about 14,700 years ago as the Ice Age started to end, after an absence of about 5,000 years. Interestingly, eighty percent of the DNA of most white Britons, according to modern research, has been passed down from a few thousand individuals who hunted in this region during the last Ice Age. This would indicate a significance which dwarfs all subsequent migrations to Britain from Europe.
Mesolithic/Neolithic
Around 9500 BC, rising sea levels due to ice melting caused Ireland to be separated from Britain, while around 6500 BC, the latter became separated from continental Europe. There was a lesser cold period from about 12,000 to 10,000 years ago, but settlement seems to have continued in this period. During the Mesolithic period there was a miniaturisation of the flint artefacts, which has been attributed to differences in the prey of the hunters. This change in artefacts was at one time attributed to the arrival of a new people. About 4000 BC, the "Neolithic Revolution" reached Britain and Ireland, with domestication of animals, arable farming and pottery. Again, a new invasion was postulated. A population "wave of advance" was proposed but this now seems to have had only a minor effect on the isles. Christopher Smith has estimated the population of Britain around 9000 BC to be 1,100–1,200 people, in 8000 BC to be 1,200–2,400, in 7000 BC to be 2,500–5,000, and in 5000 BC to be 2,750–5,500. Francis Pryor estimates that by 4000 BC the population of Britain was around 100,000 while that of Ireland was some 40,000. For 2000 BC his estimates are 250,000 and 50,000.The Beaker people
Defined by a style of potteryPottery
Pottery is the material from which the potteryware is made, of which major types include earthenware, stoneware and porcelain. The place where such wares are made is also called a pottery . Pottery also refers to the art or craft of the potter or the manufacture of pottery...
from the 3rd millennium BC, found across most of Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
in archæological digs, the Beaker people have been considered to represent early immigration to the British Isles during the Bronze Age
Bronze Age
The Bronze Age is a period characterized by the use of copper and its alloy bronze as the chief hard materials in the manufacture of some implements and weapons. Chronologically, it stands between the Stone Age and Iron Age...
.
It was originally thought that there were settlers that came with these Beaker folk who also had other defining features that showed that they were distinct from earlier dwellers of the British Isles
British Isles
The British Isles are a group of islands off the northwest coast of continental Europe that include the islands of Great Britain and Ireland and over six thousand smaller isles. There are two sovereign states located on the islands: the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and...
, such as the development of metal
Metal
A metal , is an element, compound, or alloy that is a good conductor of both electricity and heat. Metals are usually malleable and shiny, that is they reflect most of incident light...
working and the mode of burial
Burial
Burial is the act of placing a person or object into the ground. This is accomplished by excavating a pit or trench, placing an object in it, and covering it over.-History:...
of the dead that came into use at about this time. Analyses of the uptake of isotopes of the element strontium
Strontium
Strontium is a chemical element with the symbol Sr and the atomic number 38. An alkaline earth metal, strontium is a soft silver-white or yellowish metallic element that is highly reactive chemically. The metal turns yellow when exposed to air. It occurs naturally in the minerals celestine and...
in teeth (younger) and bones (older) in individuals have found evidence of a great deal of mobility, particularly of females, within central and western Europe. However, it is generally accepted by archaeologists today that the Beaker people and other artefacts
Artifact (archaeology)
An artifact or artefact is "something made or given shape by man, such as a tool or a work of art, esp an object of archaeological interest"...
found across Europe that are attributed to the Beaker people may also be indicative of the development of particular manufacturing
Manufacturing
Manufacturing is the use of machines, tools and labor to produce goods for use or sale. The term may refer to a range of human activity, from handicraft to high tech, but is most commonly applied to industrial production, in which raw materials are transformed into finished goods on a large scale...
skills that spread independently of any population
Population
A population is all the organisms that both belong to the same group or species and live in the same geographical area. The area that is used to define a sexual population is such that inter-breeding is possible between any pair within the area and more probable than cross-breeding with individuals...
movement, possibly by the influence of neighbouring peoples, rather than as a result of mass migrations
Mass migrations
Mass migration refers to the migration of a large group of people from one geographical area to another. Mass migration is distinguished from individual or small scale migration; it is also different from seasonal migration, which occurs on a regular basis....
.
Celtic settlement
Although "Celts" and "Celtic blood" are commonly talked about, the Celtic wave was a movement of culture, not of population. In general, the base-population of the British Isles has not changed much since 6000BP. However, recent genetic studies regarding Y-DNA Haplogroup I2b2-L38 have concluded that there was some Late Iron Age migration of Celtic La Tène people, through Belgium, to the British Isles including north-east Ireland. In the late Iron AgeIron Age
The Iron Age is the archaeological period generally occurring after the Bronze Age, marked by the prevalent use of iron. The early period of the age is characterized by the widespread use of iron or steel. The adoption of such material coincided with other changes in society, including differing...
Pryor estimates that the population of Britain and Ireland was between 1 and 1.5 million, upon which a smaller number of Celtic-speaking immigrant populations would have installed themselves as a superstrate.
Although the Celtic peoples do not share a single genetic-inheritance, they can be defined by their languages, which are identical to or descended from Proto-Celtic which is a branch of the Indo-European languages
Indo-European languages
The Indo-European languages are a family of several hundred related languages and dialects, including most major current languages of Europe, the Iranian plateau, and South Asia and also historically predominant in Anatolia...
. In the case of Britain, linguists have been arguing for many years whether a Celtic language came to Britain and Ireland and then split, or whether there were two separate "invasions". The older view of prehistorians was that the Celtic influence in the British Isles was the result of successive invasions from the European continent by diverse Celtic-speaking peoples over the course of several centuries, accounting for the P-Celtic vs. Q-Celtic isogloss
Isogloss
An isogloss—also called a heterogloss —is the geographical boundary of a certain linguistic feature, such as the pronunciation of a vowel, the meaning of a word, or use of some syntactic feature...
. This view is now challenged by adherents of the Insular Celtic dialect group hypothesis which instead states that one single language, Insular Celtic, split off from Proto-Celtic and then split into British and Primitive Irish.
The Celtic arrival in Britain is usually taken to correspond to Hallstatt
Hallstatt culture
The Hallstatt culture was the predominant Central European culture from the 8th to 6th centuries BC , developing out of the Urnfield culture of the 12th century BC and followed in much of Central Europe by the La Tène culture.By the 6th century BC, the Hallstatt culture extended for some...
influence and the appearance of chariot burial
Chariot burial
Chariot burials are tombs in which the deceased was buried together with his chariot, usually including his horses and other possessions....
s in what is now England from about the 6th century BC. However, several archaeologists, including John Waddell, suppose there must have been Celtic presence in Britain already in the late Bronze Age
Bronze Age
The Bronze Age is a period characterized by the use of copper and its alloy bronze as the chief hard materials in the manufacture of some implements and weapons. Chronologically, it stands between the Stone Age and Iron Age...
, i.e. in mid 2nd millennium BC.
By ca. the 6th century (Sub-Roman Britain
Sub-Roman Britain
Sub-Roman Britain is a term derived from an archaeological label for the material culture of Britain in Late Antiquity: the term "Sub-Roman" was invented to describe the potsherds in sites of the 5th century and the 6th century, initially with an implication of decay of locally-made wares from a...
), most of the inhabitants of the Isles were speaking Celtic languages of either the Goidelic or the Brythonic
Brythonic languages
The Brythonic or Brittonic languages form one of the two branches of the Insular Celtic language family, the other being Goidelic. The name Brythonic was derived by Welsh Celticist John Rhys from the Welsh word Brython, meaning an indigenous Briton as opposed to an Anglo-Saxon or Gael...
branch.
After Caesar's conquest of Gaul
Gaul
Gaul was a region of Western Europe during the Iron Age and Roman era, encompassing present day France, Luxembourg and Belgium, most of Switzerland, the western part of Northern Italy, as well as the parts of the Netherlands and Germany on the left bank of the Rhine. The Gauls were the speakers of...
in the 50s BC, some Belgic people
Belgae
The Belgae were a group of tribes living in northern Gaul, on the west bank of the Rhine, in the 3rd century BC, and later also in Britain, and possibly even Ireland...
seem to have come to central southern Britain from the continent (they are usually considered to have been Celtic-speaking, although Caesar reports that some of them claimed historically Germanic origin). Possibly because of this migration, the names of the tribes Parisi
Parisi
Parisi is a municipality in the state of São Paulo in Brazil. The population in 2004 is 2,170 and the area is 84.852 km². The elevation is 496 m....
(in Eastern Yorkshire), Brigantes
Brigantes
The Brigantes were a Celtic tribe who in pre-Roman times controlled the largest section of what would become Northern England, and a significant part of the Midlands. Their kingdom is sometimes called Brigantia, and it was centred in what was later known as Yorkshire...
and Atrebates
Atrebates
The Atrebates were a Belgic tribe of Gaul and Britain before the Roman conquests.- Name of the tribe :Cognate with Old Irish aittrebaid meaning 'inhabitant', Atrebates comes from proto-Celtic *ad-treb-a-t-es, 'inhabitants'. The Celtic root is treb- 'building', 'home' The Atrebates (singular...
can be found both in Britain and on the continent. It has also been claimed that there were a tribe of Iverni
Iverni
The Iverni were a people of early Ireland first mentioned in Ptolemy's 2nd century Geography as living in the extreme south-west of the island. He also locates a "city" called Ivernis in their territory, and observes that this settlement has the same name as the island as a whole, Ivernia...
in Ireland who spoke a Brythonic language.
In Ireland as in Great Britain, beginning Celtic influence is taken to correspond to the beginning Iron Age
Iron Age
The Iron Age is the archaeological period generally occurring after the Bronze Age, marked by the prevalent use of iron. The early period of the age is characterized by the widespread use of iron or steel. The adoption of such material coincided with other changes in society, including differing...
. The adoption of Celtic culture and language was likely a gradual transformation, brought on by cultural exchange with Celtic groups in Britain or southwest mainland Europe.
Historic settlement
For the historic settlement of the British Isles see:- Historical immigration to Great BritainHistorical immigration to Great BritainHistorical immigration to Great Britain concerns the inward movement of people, cultural and ethnic groups into island Great Britain before 1922, Immigration during and after 1922 is dealt with at the article Immigration to the United Kingdom .Modern humans first arrived in Great Britain during the...
- Immigration to the United Kingdom since 1922Immigration to the United Kingdom since 1922Immigration to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland since 1922 has been substantial, in particular from Ireland and the former colonies and other territories of the British Empire - such as India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, the Caribbean, South Africa, Kenya and Hong Kong - under...
See also
- Demic diffusionDemic diffusionDemic diffusion is a demographic term referring to a migratory model developed by Cavalli-Sforza, that consists of population diffusion into and across an area previously uninhabited by that group, possibly, but not necessarily, displacing, replacing, or intermixing with a pre-existing population...
- Founder effectFounder effectIn population genetics, the founder effect is the loss of genetic variation that occurs when a new population is established by a very small number of individuals from a larger population. It was first fully outlined by Ernst Mayr in 1942, using existing theoretical work by those such as Sewall...
- Genetic diversityGenetic diversityGenetic diversity, the level of biodiversity, refers to the total number of genetic characteristics in the genetic makeup of a species. It is distinguished from genetic variability, which describes the tendency of genetic characteristics to vary....
- Genotype-phenotype distinctionGenotype-phenotype distinctionThe genotype–phenotype distinction is drawn in genetics. "Genotype" is an organism's full hereditary information, even if not expressed. "Phenotype" is an organism's actual observed properties, such as morphology, development, or behavior...
- Genetic history of EuropeGenetic history of EuropeThe genetic history of Europe can be inferred from the patterns of genetic diversity across continents and time. The primary data to develop historical scenarios coming from sequences of mitochondrial, Y-chromosome and autosomal DNA from modern populations and if available from ancient DNA...
- Atlantic EuropeAtlantic EuropeAtlantic Europe is a geographical and anthropological term for the western portion of Europe which borders the Atlantic Ocean. The term may refer to the idea of Atlantic Europe as a cultural unit and/or as an biogeographical region....
- Hallstatt cultureHallstatt cultureThe Hallstatt culture was the predominant Central European culture from the 8th to 6th centuries BC , developing out of the Urnfield culture of the 12th century BC and followed in much of Central Europe by the La Tène culture.By the 6th century BC, the Hallstatt culture extended for some...
- La Tene cultureLa Tène cultureThe La Tène culture was a European Iron Age culture named after the archaeological site of La Tène on the north side of Lake Neuchâtel in Switzerland, where a rich cache of artifacts was discovered by Hansli Kopp in 1857....
- Haplogroup I subclade I2b2-L38 La Tene migration marker