The Middle to Late Bronze Age was a time when settled farming communities expanded across southern Britain, and metal ores essential for producing bronze moved along extensive trade networks. Two major new studies based on the examination of DNA from 793 ancient individuals trace the movement of people into southern Britain during the Bronze Age, offering fresh insights into ancient habits of dairy consumption, and significantly strengthening the case for the appearance of Celtic languages in Britain in the Bronze Age.
     The largest genome-wide studies to date involving ancient humans show that people moving into southern Britain around 1300 to 800 BCE were responsible for around half the genetic ancestry of subsequent populations.
     Modern English populations inherit more DNA from early European farmers than from the people who lived in England about 4,000 years ago. Combined DNA and archaeological evidence suggests that the genetic structure of the population changed through sustained contacts between mainland Britain and Europe over several centuries, and became thoroughly mixed into the population by 1000 to 875 BCE.
     The data also indicate population movements between different parts of continental Europe, confirming that the Late Bronze Age was a period of intense and prolonged contacts between many diverse communities.

Edited from Eurasia Review (23 December 2021), PhysORG (26 December 2021)