The Origins of the British: The New Prehistory of Britain: A Genetic Detective Story

524 Pages·2007·8.53 MB·English

by  Stephen Oppenheimer

‘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