Forward into the past

New volume offers a fascinating insight into the complex genetic history of the British Isles

ALEX CHOI INGAMELLS

FACE OF BRITAIN, by Robin McKie, Hardcover, 224 pages, Simon & Schuster 2007

The British are stuck in the past. The last couple of years have seen a welter of tomes such as Tribes of Britain, Blood of the Isles and The Origins of the British added to shelves already straining with titles on Stonehenge, Saxons and Norsemen. The latest addition to this atavistic fixation is Face of Britain by Robin McKie, science writer for the Daily Telegraph.

Described on the dustjacket as an autobiography of the British people, Face of Britain - which is tied in with a TV series of the same name - is based on the People of the British Isles project (http://www.peopleofthebritishisles.org). This colossal undertaking, the brainchild of Oxford geneticist Sir Walter Bodmer, aims to produce a genetic map of British history when it is completed in 2009.

McKie begins his story by noting that the British Isles have the highest incidence of red hair, a phenotypic trademark usually linked with the Celtic fringe. Despite its prevalence in those regions, however, red hair wasn't brought by Celtic invaders. In fact, as McKie notes, "redheads represent the land's most ancient lineages" - Ice Age hunters who arrived when sea levels were lower and Britain was connected to Europe by a landbridge.

Some academics have linked the arrival of the Celts with the introduction of farming in Britain six millennia ago. Whoever they were, this small number of "skilled entrepreneurs", as McKie calls the first farmers, made little contribution to the gene pool of the islands but had a massive cultural impact, transforming a landscape of forests into one of fields and hedgerows.

More importantly, the author points out that farming had adverse effects on those who so assiduously adopted it. Subsisting on sugar-rich cereals, farmers were smaller and less healthy than their hunter-gatherer forebears. And from the the study of their bones, it seems many of them suffered from repetitive strain injuries as well as the wounds they inflicted on each other as they clashed over resources. Since the discovery of alcohol dates to this period McKie speculates, tongue-in-cheek, that the pub brawl - that quaint British export - may indeed have a venerable lineage.

The biological contribution of the Anglo-Saxons - an issue that lies at the heart of English identity - is probably the most controversial topic covered by the book. The traditional view that Germanic tribes slaughtered and displaced the Celts has come under challenge over the past couple of decades with revisionist historians and archaeologists arguing that the indigenous Britons adopted the culture and language of a small but powerful Anglo-Saxon military elite.

Geneticists have also entered the fray. While some support the Celtic genocide theory, others argue that Anglo-Saxon ideas crossed the North Sea, not their genes. McKie notes that a new approach pioneered by the People of the British Isles project makes it possible to assess an individual's chances of being Celtic or Anglo-Saxon.

If the Anglo-Saxons remain Britain's "most mysterious visitors", the most fascinating invaders for many Britons are the Vikings. While the genetic impact of the Norwegian Vikings is readily apparent in Scotland's islands, the influence of their Danish counterparts in England is harder to detect since the Danes are genetically close to the English.

Ironically, Danish rule in northern England was brought to an end when their kinsmen, the Normans, took over in the 11th century. The French-speaking Norsemen were a tiny minority whose biological impact was negligible, but they did introduce surnames, an innovation that has proved indispensable in tracking family histories.

The chapter on reconstructing a pair of ancient faces is particularly illuminating, if a little speculative. Taking a 2,100-year-old skeleton from southwest England, nicknamed Bleadon Man, and a skull found in a 7th-century Saxon grave, a scientist constructed faces for them using methods from the forensics lab. With a broad head, round jaw and large nose, Bleadon Man purportedly typified the aboriginal redheads. The narrow head, thin nose and cleft chin of the 7th-century individual supposedly characterised the later Germanic migrants. According to the scientist responsible for the reconstructions, Russell Crowe resembles Bleadon Man, while Jeremy Irons and Liz Hurley have features that were typical among the Anglo-Saxons.

Of all the books that have capitalised on using genetics to glimpse through the mists of the past, Face of Britain is the most reader-friendly and least controversial, even if it does carry a whiff of sensationalism. It is also the most personal, including interviews with those who have taken part in People of the British Isles project. What emerges from these snapshots is that regional pride and an identity based on biological heritage are still very important, especially in this age of globalisation. More tellingly, it reveals that if the past is another country, it is one that many people seek for consolation.

Bangkok Post

Last Updated : Sunday April 08, 2007