The Origins of the British

‘Stephen Oppenheimer is the supreme genetic detective fishing for evidence in

the gene-pools of history.’ Professor Clive Gamble, University of London

‘He upends some of the most deeply rooted notions of where the British people

come from, and does so in a clear, painstaking and detailed way. The result is

both fascinating and unexpected.’ Geographical

‘The historians’ account is wrong in almost every detail. In Dr Oppenheimer’s

reconstruction of events, the principal ancestors of today’s British and Irish

populations arrived from Spain about 16,000 years ago.’ New York Times

‘Particularly illuminating … The author carefully lays out the genetic data that

show how three-quarters of Britishness dates to the repopulation after the

northern ice sheets last retreated, and takes us through a fascinating investigation

of what this means for some cherished notions of Britishness.’ Nature

‘Comes to clear and provocative conclusions, offering an intellectual feast to

anyone interested in British identity.’ Financial Times

‘Oppenheimer’s fascinating thesis helps to answer one of the most vexing

questions of dark-age British history: why is there so little trace of Celtic culture

in England and in the English language?’ Prospect

‘The most heavyweight of recent books devoted to British origins. A fascinating,

if at times controversial, read.’ Current Archaeology

By the same author

Eden in the East:

The Drowned Continent of Southeast Asia

Out of Eden:

The Peopling of the World

Constable & Robinson Ltd

55–56 Russell Square

London WC1B 4HP

www.constablerobinson.com

First published in the UK by Constable,

an imprint of Constable & Robinson Ltd, 2006

Copyright © Stephen Oppenheimer, 2006, 2007

The right of Stephen Oppenheimer to be identified as the

author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance

with the Copyright, Designs & Patents Act 1988.

All rights reserved. This book is sold subject to the condition

that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, re-sold,

hired out or otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover

other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition

including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.

A copy of the British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data

is available from the British Library

ISBN 978–1–84529–482–3

eISBN 978-1-78033-767-8

Printed and bound in the EU

3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2

In memory

of

David Oppenheimer

classicist, composer, clinician

and