THE genetic make-up of modern Britons has hardly changed from the Ice Age hunter-gatherers who were the country’s original inhabitants, a leading archeologist claims in a new book.

According to the theory, 80% of the genetic characteristics of the average white British person can be traced back to a few hundred nomads who arrived here about 14,000 years ago.

David Miles, formerly chief archeologist at English Heritage, claims the other 20% of traits derive ultimately from the Celts, whom he argues were a Semitic race of farmers from what is now Syria and Israel.

These two waves of people expanded into a population of millions before further significant arrival of immigrants, such as the Vikings, who had little effect on the existing gene pool.

“Subsequent invasions like the Anglo-Saxons, the Romans and Normans had very little genetic impact. Their impact was largely cultural and linguistic,” said Miles.

Miles also argues that the more recent waves of non-white immigration since the 1950s will have little effect on the gene pool in the long term because of small numbers relative to the native population.

His book, The Tribes of Britain, is based on a branch of science known as “archeogenetics”. DNA samples are taken from human skeletal remains to discover ethnic groupings and physical characteristics.

Miles, a research fellow at Oxford University, says the first human settlers arrived around 12000 BC as Britain was thawing from the last ice age. They were from parts of what is now western Germany, the Netherlands and Denmark. They followed herds of animals they were hunting, eventually moving across a land bridge to what is now eastern England.

“These original hunter-gatherers would be relatively tall with very little body fat, athletic, fair-skinned and would have red hair,” said Miles. He cited examples of people retaining the attributes today as Chris Evans, the DJ and television presenter, and Miranda Richardson, the actress.

Miles said: “The Scots have the most red-haired people in the world. That’s probably because the hunter-gatherers who settled in the Highlands remained far more isolated and as a result interbred less.”

The Celts, who arrived after about 6500 BC, when the hunter-gatherers would have numbered about 5,000, were the first farmers to move across Europe from their homeland in the Middle East. They migrated in search of new farmland as their expanding population caused land to become infertile.

The movement from the Middle East, which took thousands of years, brought crops and the first farm animals such as sheep to Britain by about 5000 BC.

“Remember, as they moved westwards they would have interbred with local population, their language would pick up influences. I believe they brought the Celtic language and a religion based around farming and the seasons, movement of the heavens and the concept of resurrection,” said Miles.

He argues that the farmer settlers were slightly fatter, shorter and lived for fewer years, with an average life span of 23. The hunter-gatherers, however, lived on average for 30 years.

“Farming is unhealthy for you. They brought diseases like measles, which you catch from animals. Because of farming, they brought with them the concept of hard work. The hunter-gatherers did not have to work that long, they had it easy,” said Miles. However, the hunter-gatherers later adopted farming because their lifestyle was making animals scarcer.

This weekend, Miles’s theories attracted some support, but also criticism. Francis Pryor, a director of archeology at the Fenland Archeological Trust, said farming might have been adopted by the indigenous population rather than brought by immigrants.

“I think what happened was that the concept of farming was imported to Britain by a small group of people,” he said. “There may not have been a migration of a people which would then make 20% of the population.”

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