DNA study shows Celts are not a unique genetic group

daft said:

Wonder why nobody in Germany seems interested in such genetic studies, dear Domen.

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That's a good question. Neither do many people in Poland seem to be interested, but it doesn't really depend on them (the initiative has to come from the German side, because they have most of the population which is to be examined). Currently there is no general consensus but rather sharply contrasting views on Germanization of areas in question - on whether it occured mostly through population replacement or mostly through assimilation of locals.

Estimates on proportions vary from ~10% German / ~90% Slavic input to over 50% up to ~90% German input, check e.g. this link:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ostsiedlung_in_Pomerania#Ethnic_relations

Historians proved unable to reach a consensus, so perhaps the only way to answer this question is through genetic research.

This map shows the distribution of haplogroup R1b-L21 in Britain:

http://bsecher.pagesperso-orange.fr/genetique/Haplogroup-R1b-L21.gif


There is now a confirmation that this haplogroup was present in Celtic Britain 2000 years ago.

Authors of a recent study by Schiffels et. al. found R1b-L21 in two Iron Age skeletons from the archaeological site at Hinxton, England:

https://www.sciencenews.org/article/anglo-saxons-left-language-maybe-not-genes-modern-britons

When archaeological digs revealed ancient graves on the grounds of the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute in Hinxton, England, researchers there took it as a sign that they should analyze the ancient people’s DNA. Two skeletons were from men who were buried about 2,000 years ago.

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This has not yet been officially published, but unofficially it is already known that the two ancient men were both of R1b-L21 haplogroup:

It isn't out yet, but the Hinxton samples were released to the public domain before the paper, and the two Iron Age ones both seem to be R1b-L21. We'll be able to read about it in more detail when the paper comes out. It's the one by Schiffels et. al. - "Insights into British and European population history from ancient DNA sequencing of Iron Age and Anglo-Saxon samples from Hinxton, England."

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