West African ancestry found in medieval remains

DNA recovered from skeletons buried in a 7th-century cemetery on the south coast of England has revealed that the buried individuals had west African ancestry, raising further questions about early medieval migrations to Europe.

- VISHWAM SANKARAN

Archaeologists documented significant migration during this period into England from continental northern Europe, with historical accounts describing the settlement of Angles, Saxons, and Jutes. However, the extent of movement from further afield has remained unclear.

To further understand early medieval migration in Europe, researchers performed DNA analysis on individuals buried at two 7th-century cemeteries on England’s south coast - at Updown in Kent, and Worth Matravers in Dorset.

The findings, published in two studies in the journal Antiquity, show clear signs of non-European ancestry in two buried individuals with an affinity to present-day groups living in sub-Saharan west Africa.

While most of the individuals buried at the cemeteries had either northern European or western British and Irish ancestry, one person at each cemetery had a recent ancestor from west Africa, scientists said.