Genomic history and selection in Roman and early medieval Britain
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2026.04.28.721361v1.full.pdf
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18.84 MB
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Resource type
Journal article
Creator (person)
Silva, Marina
Booth, Thomas
Anastasiadou, Kyriaki
McCabe, Jesse
Barrington, Christopher
Kelly, Monica
Williams, Mia
Mohamedy, Yusuf
Masters, Mackenzie
Gilardet, Alexandre
Johnston, Sarah
Tait, Frankie
Swali, Pooja
Peto, Jessica
Glocke, Isabelle
Leggett, Sam
Koster, Lucy J
Fewlass, Helen
van Tiel, Britta
Bealin-Kelly, Emer
Crawford, Margaret R
Aldred, Oscar R
Allen, Martyn G
Biddulph, Edward
Booth, Christopher
Boston, Ceridwen V
Bricking, Adelle
Brown, Lisa
Buckland, Katherine
Clarke, Ciara
Craig-Atkins, Elizabeth
Curtis, Neil G W
Davie, Alex
Delbarre, Gabrielle
Preez, Johan Du
Evis, Laura H
Falys, Ceri
Gibson, Mark
Gilbert, David
Hemer, Katie A
Hood, Andy
Hoole, Maya
Kreisheh, Amal N R H
Knight, Matthew G
Mays, Simon
Parfitt, Keith
Pryor, Alexander J E
Redfern, Rebecca
Sayle, Kerry L
Seaman, Jo
Shell, Colin
Stark, Sarah
Stoakley, Megan C
Teoaca, Adelina C
Thompson, Jess E
Walker, Don
Western, Gaynor
Wilmott, Hugh
Witkin, Annsofie
Young, Andrew
Clough, Sharon J
Sheridan, J Alison
Grzybowska, Milena A
Loe, Louise
Holst, Malin R
Schulting, Rick J
Britton, Kate
Noble, Gordon
Armit, Ian
Buckberry, Jo
Barnes, Ian
Brace, Selina
Thomas, Mark G
Girdland-Flink, Linus
Maldonado, Adrià¡n
Heather, Peter
Lee, James C
Speidel, Leo
Skoglund, Pontus
Date published
2026
Abstract
Leading biomedical resources rely on genome variation in Britain , but the historical processes that shaped present-day fine-scale diversity remain debated . Here we sequenced 1039 ancient shotgun genomes from Britain (median 1.4-fold coverage), primarily dating to the first millennium CE. We imputed ∼660 million variants in the UK Biobank and employed genealogy-based ancestry reconstruction. We found an association between Iron Age consanguinity and matrilineal burial practices , later disrupted following the Roman Conquest. Despite this societal impact, only 20% of Roman-period individuals carried detectable ancestry from outside Britain. In contrast, from the 6th century CE we detect widespread influx of ancestry in over 70% of individuals in southern’Anglo-Saxon’ Britain, with limited local admixture. We find previously underappreciated heterogeneity, with ancestries associated with Central and Southern Europe rising in prevalence from the 7th century CE. We demonstrate distinct Scandinavian-related ancestry in many Viking-associated contexts, but show that the population-level impact of the Viking Age in Britain was limited. Finally, we detect pre-medieval selection on variants linked with key immunity genes and . These results identify population-level and selective processes that shape variation and disease risk in Britain today.
Journal title
bioRxiv
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openRxiv
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This article is a preprint and has not been certified by peer review