Scots, English share DNA -- All Brits overwhelmingly descended from Basques

[Tennyson]

Scots, English share DNA

OXFORD, England, Jan. 14 (UPI) -- A genetics researcher says the English have more in common with their neighbors in the British Isles than they realize.

Stephen Oppenheimer of Oxford University told The Scotsman 70 percent of Scottish men and 68 percent of the English have DNA that suggests they are descended from people who arrived in Britain more than 7,500 years ago from the Basque region of Northern Spain.

The conventional view has been that the Scots, Irish and Welsh are descended from Celts who arrived in the area comparatively recently, while the ancestors of the English are for the most part the Anglo-Saxons who drove the others into the hills as the Roman Empire was collapsing. But Oppenheimer says the DNA tells a different story.

"The ancestors of some 88 percent of the Irish, 81 percent of the Welsh, 79 percent of the Cornish, 70 percent of Scots and 68 percent of the English arrived here during that period," he said. "None of the later immigrations contributed anything more than 5 percent to the gene pool. So genetically speaking, Scots have more in common with the English than they have differences."

When it comes to language, it's another story. The first comers probably spoke something like Basque, a language famous for having no close relatives.

United Press International - NewsTrack - Scots, English share DNA

[Señor Malo]

Originally Posted by Tennyson

United Press International - NewsTrack - Scots, English share DNA

It seems to me that what they share is the mtDNA above all; if I'm right, then it iseasy to explain: all the western Europe populations shared more or less a common DNA heritage before the coming of celts and other invaders. The mtDNA been the one transmitted by matrilineal ascendense it,implies that celtic invasions were mainly military expeditions, i.e. with men only which later on finally decided to stay and take spouse among the W aborigine females

Not,they do go along Y-dna as well,even more to it.
But the Brits,Scotts,Irish and western europeans DO NOT descend from the "Basques" of today,but rather they are descend from the same root of Ice Age R1b's that survived in Iberia during that time.That this came from the Iberian Peninsula(in general),not just the Basque country,is ascertain by the number of michrosatellite variation that is extant in Spain/Portugal compared to the northern more reduced variety.Thus,an offshoot carried by an smaller group.If anything they are cousins when not brother populations.
Plus there is the relic of language and cultural outlooks to dig with more attention.

[Germanicus]

Originally Posted by excalibur

Not,they do go along Y-dna as well,even more to it.
But the Brits,Scotts,Irish and western europeans DO NOT descend from the "Basques" of today,but rather they are descend from the same root of Ice Age R1b's that survived in Iberia during that time.That this came from the Iberian Peninsula(in general),not just the Basque country,is ascertain by the number of michrosatellite variation that is extant in Spain/Portugal compared to the northern more reduced variety.Thus,an offshoot carried by an smaller group.If anything they are cousins when not brother populations.
Plus there is the relic of language and cultural outlooks to dig with more attention.

This post seems to sound about right....

[Menydh]

As a side comment, it is logical to presume that the haplotype of the Basques used for these comparisons was obtained from modern Basque people in the Basque Country. I.e. Vascongados which is a word derived from "basquicised". Up until the time between the 5th and 7th centuries, the Basques (Vascones) lived east of those territories through the Pyrenees and north of them.

The modern Basque Country was the land of different tribes, likely of Celtic culture, which with the vacuum of power left by the decline of the Roman Empire were raided and invaded by Basque peoples. Some would have been displaced whereas others would have mixed.

[Susi]

I don't exactly see how a definite conclusion can be drawn from this data, just a thought... how can it be all? .-.

[Menydh]

How can what be what?

It must be said here that Oppenheimer's ideas are somehow controversial and are likely to be charged with some agenda. More interesting should be the reading of The Blood of the Isles (2006), by Human Genetics Professor Bryan Sykes (who also published The Seven Daughters of Eve, back in 2002).

Outside the field of genetics, an interesting reading to help understanding the whole thing is that of Archaeology Professor Barry Cunliffe, Facing the Ocean: The Atlantic and Its Peoples, 8000 BC to AD 1500, published in 2001.

I keep a list of internal links related to the subject here: Haplogroup R1b and the enigma of the Iberian Peninsula and British Isles genetic continuum

[Kernunnos]

As a total ignorant of this matter, how is that most of such British isles people do not look like the modern Basques they have been compared to?

The nordic inheritance must have been far more than a mere 5 % if most of them look nordic.

[Susi]

It's not that, I just don't think it's entirely possible that ALL Brits are overwhelming descended from the Basques of 7500 years ago... maybe there is a little gene there that was similar, sure, it's 7500 years for this dna to spread... but one can't ignore later inputs (i.e. the anglo-saxons) ;_;

It can't be a definite conclusion but I can't find the article (link is broken). The sample size could not have been every single Englander and Scot.

[Arthur Gordon Pym]

The title of the article does not correspond to the contents thereof. One thing is to say that the ancestors of the inhabitants of Britain might have come from the territory of the present day Basque Country, another thing is to say that they "descend from Basques".

[Susi]

Yes, that's what I mean... I want to read the original research itself but am having difficulties finding it..

[daspit]

The only DNA markers that can be definitively passed on from generation to generation are the Y-chromosome, and the mitochondrial DNA. These make up a comparatively small percentage of a person's total DNA.

So, this study which refers to R1b can only make statements about one's father's father's father (ad infinitum)... The genetic diversity of a population like the English is reflected in the many non-Y-DNA components that they have received from many generations past, but which cannot be measured. (This may include, for example, Saxon, Viking, etc.)