Charles River Editors

Among the most significant water displacement phenomena in the Western world was Doggerland on the northern European continent. The notable inundation occurred in both a steady and eruptive fashion covering a vast stretch of former tundra, a land bridge between today’s British Isles and the European continent. The event brought about the modern English Channel and an expanded North Sea, and unlike the early supercontinents, the inundation of Doggerland took place after the appearance of people. Incrementally submerged since roughly 18,000 years ago as the climate warmed, the patch of sea between Britain and Europe is the subject of much recent scientific scrutiny. Several fields are participating in the inquiry as to how and why the inundation took place, and the nature of the peoples that settled there. This encompasses earliest man to Neanderthals and on through the Mesolithic prototype of the modern European. 

 Wales is a whimsical country with a powerful, complex, myth-filled and oft disputed history. In 2004, geneticists working with geographers and archaeological colleagues undertook a “People of the British Isle” study. They sought out thousands of volunteers, all four of whose grandparents had been born in the same place, and they analyzed their genetic make-up. “Modern genetic analysis can read the patterns of variation in our complete set of DNA . . . that change subtly over time,” producing a genetic signature that reveals geographical origins. This provides a window into history and helps explain why Wales is so singular and self contained. (Settlers: Genetics, geography and the peopling of Britain N D). The results of this project confirmed that the Welsh are unique, despite the common belief that the term “Celtic” is an homogenous concept that can be used as an overall term that includes the Irish, the Welsh, the Scottish clans, and Cornwellians. “Celtic” is much more nuanced.

Jesse Steinberg

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