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Abstract

The history of the British Isles and Ireland is characterized by multiple periods of


major cultural change, including the influential transformation after the end of


Roman rule, which precipitated shifts in language, settlement patterns and material


culture1. The extent to which migration from continental Europe mediated these


transitions is a matter of long-standing debate2–4. Here we study genome-wide ancient


DNA from 460 medieval northwestern Europeans—including 278 individuals from


England—alongside archaeological data, to infer contemporary population dynamics.


We identify a substantial increase of continental northern European ancestry in early


medieval England, which is closely related to the early medieval and present-day


inhabitants of Germany and Denmark, implying large-scale substantial migration


across the North Sea into Britain during the Early Middle Ages. As a result, the


individuals who we analysed from eastern England derived up to 76% of their ancestry


from the continental North Sea zone, albeit with substantial regional variation and


heterogeneity within sites. We show that women with immigrant ancestry were more


often furnished with grave goods than women with local ancestry, whereas men with


weapons were as likely not to be of immigrant ancestry. A comparison with present-


day Britain indicates that subsequent demographic events reduced the fraction of


continental northern European ancestry while introducing further ancestry


components into the English gene pool, including substantial southwestern


European ancestry most closely related to that seen in Iron Age France