West African ancestry in seventh-century England: two individuals from Kent and Dorset
Duncan Sayer, Joscha Gretzinger, John Hines et al.
Publication Details
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Abstract
Summary of the research findings
Archaeogenetics, the study of ancient DNA, can reveal powerful insights into kinship and the movement of individuals in (pre)history. Here, the authors report on the identification of two individuals with genetic profiles consistent with recent sub-Saharan African ancestry, both of whom were buried in early-medieval cemeteries in southern Britain. Focusing primarily on a sub-adult female from Updown in Kent, the authors explore the societal and cultural contexts in which these individuals lived and died, and the widening geographic links indicated by their presence, pointing back to the Byzantine reconquest of North Africa in AD 533–534.
Analysis
Comprehensive review of ancestry and genetic findings
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