title: Iron Age and Anglo-Saxon genomes from East England reveal British migration history.
abstract: British population history has been shaped by a series of immigrations, including the early Anglo-Saxon migrations after 400 CE. It remains an open question how these events affected the genetic composition of the current British population. Here, we present whole-genome sequences from 10 individuals excavated close to Cambridge in the East of England, ranging from the late Iron Age to the middle Anglo-Saxon period. By analysing shared rare variants with hundreds of modern samples from Britain and Europe, we estimate that on average the contemporary East English population derives 38% of its ancestry from Anglo-Saxon migrations. We gain further insight with a new method, rarecoal, which infers population history and identifies fine-scale genetic ancestry from rare variants. Using rarecoal we find that the Anglo-Saxon samples are closely related to modern Dutch and Danish populations, while the Iron Age samples share ancestors with multiple Northern European populations including Britain.
authors.affiliation: Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, Hinxton, Cambridge CB10 1SA, UK.
authors.forename: Stephan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Schiffels
authors.affiliation: Australian Centre for Ancient DNA, School of Biological Sciences and The Environment Institute, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, South Australia 5005, Australia.
authors.forename: Wolfgang
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Haak
authors.affiliation: Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, Hinxton, Cambridge CB10 1SA, UK.
authors.forename: Pirita
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Paajanen
authors.affiliation: Australian Centre for Ancient DNA, School of Biological Sciences and The Environment Institute, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, South Australia 5005, Australia.
authors.forename: Bastien
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Llamas
authors.affiliation: Oxford Archaeology East, 15 Trafalgar Way, Bar Hill, Cambridge CB23 8SQ, UK.
authors.forename: Elizabeth
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Popescu
authors.affiliation: Oxford Archaeology South, Janus House, Osney Mead, Oxford OX2 0ES, UK.
authors.forename: Louise
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Loe
authors.affiliation: Oxford Archaeology East, 15 Trafalgar Way, Bar Hill, Cambridge CB23 8SQ, UK.
authors.forename: Rachel
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Clarke
authors.affiliation: Oxford Archaeology East, 15 Trafalgar Way, Bar Hill, Cambridge CB23 8SQ, UK.
authors.forename: Alice
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Lyons
authors.affiliation: Oxford Archaeology East, 15 Trafalgar Way, Bar Hill, Cambridge CB23 8SQ, UK.
authors.forename: Richard
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Mortimer
authors.affiliation: School of Forensic and Applied Sciences, University of Central Lancashire, Preston PR1 2HE, UK.
authors.forename: Duncan
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Sayer
authors.affiliation: Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, Hinxton, Cambridge CB10 1SA, UK.
authors.forename: Chris
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Tyler-Smith
authors.affiliation: Australian Centre for Ancient DNA, School of Biological Sciences and The Environment Institute, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, South Australia 5005, Australia.
authors.forename: Alan
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Cooper
authors.affiliation: Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, Hinxton, Cambridge CB10 1SA, UK.
authors.forename: Richard
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Durbin
mesh_terms: D001106:Archaeology; D004641:Emigration and Immigration; D004739:England; D005828:Genetics, Population; D015894:Genome, Human / Q000235:genetics*; D006801:Humans; D006113:United Kingdom; D044465:White People