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onwards, and certainly during the first millennium AD, which we have covered here in such detail,
the past is filled with the continual feuding between rival clans. One of the genetic consequences of
the rise of powerful men is that they monopolize the women and have more children. I have even
argued in Adam’s Curse that therein lies the motivation for their procreative ambition. We can see
the evidence in the Isles in the Scottish clans of Macdonald and Macleod and in the Irish Ui Neill.
These are very dramatic examples of a process which has percolated throughout the history of the
Isles. That is why the diversity has been lost. It is because only comparatively few men have left
patrilineal descendants. So, the longer a clan has been in a place like the Isles, the more similar the
Y-chromosomes become. That is the reason our Celtic Y-chromosomes are so alike.
It is also the reason why most of the Wodan chromosomes are the opposite. They are usually
very diverse indeed in the Isles. Not because they have been here a long time, but because they are
comparatively recent. There are pockets of ‘old’ Wodans in Wales and Pictland, but in the east and
in the north above the Danelaw line, the Wodans, which reach 31 per cent in East Anglia, are
extremely varied. I scarcely found any two the same when I looked at the detailed fingerprints,
unless they had the same surname and were thus related to a common ancestor through that route.
The clan of Oisin still predominates in every part of England, but the bedrock is substantially
overlaid in the east. Because of the genetic similarity of Saxon, Dane and Norman, I cannot
discriminate so easily between them. But I estimate that approximately 10 per cent of men now
living in the south of England are the patrilineal descendants of Saxons or Danes, while above the
Danelaw line the proportion increases to 15 per cent overall, reaching 20 per cent in East Anglia.
Only a few of these men have surnames of Norman origin and, taking this into account, I estimate
the Norman Y-chromosome legacy at 2 per cent or below even in the south of England.
From this evidence the succession of Saxon/Danish invasions during the turbulent centuries
after the Romans departed did leave a mark on the stubbornly Celtic indigenous bedrock of parts of
England. It is a real presence, but it is by no means completely overwhelming. The gory chronicles
of Gildas do contain a grain of truth. The roughly twofold excess of Saxon/Danish Y-chromosomes
compared to their maternal counterparts hints at a partially male-driven settlement with some
elimination or displacement of the indigenous males. But the slaughter, if slaughter there was, was
not total and still there are far more people with Celtic ancestry in England, even in the far east,
than can claim to be of Saxon or Danish descent.
I have tried to find Roman Y-chromosomes, but they left very few traces that I can be sure were
theirs. Only one very rare patrilineal clan, without even a name, may be the faint echo of the first
legions. It is found in southern Europe, including Italy. What makes me think, as well as this link to
Italy, that it might be linked to the Romans is that it is entirely restricted to England. There are no
traces beyond the borders with Wales or Scotland. There may be others, but as was pointed out, the
tradition of recruiting legionaries and auxiliaries from Gaul and other parts of the Empire, as well
as from Britannia itself, makes them very difficult to spot among the descendants of later arrivals
from the same areas. But true Roman genes are very rare in the Isles.
Overall, the genetic structure of the Isles is stubbornly Celtic, if by that we mean descent from
people who were here before the Romans and who spoke a Celtic language. We are an ancient
people, and though the Isles have been the target of invasion and opposed settlement from abroad
ever since Julius Caesar first stepped on to the shingle shores of Kent, these have barely scratched
the topsoil of our deep-rooted ancestry. However we may feel about ourselves and about each