Split Between English and Scots Older Than Thought

The ancient split between the English and Scots is older than previously thought, an Oxford don said today.

Traditionally the difference between the English and Scots, Welsh, Irish and Cornish was attributed to the foreign influence of invading forces such as the Anglo-Saxons, Celts and Vikings settling in different areas of Britain hundreds of years ago.

But Professor Stephen Oppenheimer of Oxford University, believes the difference originates much further back in history.

In a book tracing humankind from its origins in Africa 80,000 years ago, Prof Oppenheimer develops a theory of the original inhabitants of Britain.

The professor of clinical sociomedical sciences at Oxford University said the Celts of Western Scotland, Wales, Ireland and Cornwall are descended from an ancient people living on the Atlantic coast while Britain was still attached to mainland Europe, while the English are more closely related to the Germanic peoples of the interior.

As evidence he cites genetic data showing the Celts are more closely related to the Basque people of south west France and the Celts of Brittany and Spain, while the English are closer to the Germans descended from the Anglo Saxons.

In the past the split was attributed to “migration, invasion and replacement”, but Prof Oppenheimer said the difference was established long before Britain was even an island.

He said: “The first line between England and the Celts was put down at a much earlier period, say 10,000 years ago.”

The professor, who is speaking at the Edinburgh Science Festival tonight, said Britons are descended from the original settlers, rather than later invasions, and as such were already split by the western divide.

He said: “The English are the odd-ones-out because they are the ones more linked to continental Europe.

“The Scots, the Irish, the Welsh and the Cornish are all very similar in their genetic pattern to the Basque.”

However, the professor did say later invasions will have influenced the developing cultures in different areas of Britain.

He said: “The people themselves may have been more conservative about their movement but accepted new cultures coming in at different dates.”

The revelations are all part of Prof Oppenheimer’s controversial theory, expanded in his book The Real Eve: Modern Man’s Journey Out of Africa, that humans migrated from Africa and populated the planet.

The professor will speak about his theory in a talk entitled Out of Eden at the Apex International Hotel in the Grassmarket tonight

Hellow man, Don`t mind my bad English. Firstly I want to make clear that the berber(we call oure self Amazigh) wich means free people are NOT Lybians!! There are berber tribes in Libia butt that is it. I am from berber origin (Atlas Mountains Morocco) now living in Holland. I am trying to search my identity. I red some artikels obout the Picts Living in Scotland that I found very interesting. I also red in another artikel written by a Scottish missionary, he wrote the article "The Berber oure distant cousins". I know that the Scottish people are a proud an heroic race that are not afraid. The berber are known for this also. Is Sean Connary ( I probably spelled it wrong) typically Scot because he lookes very much 100% like my grand father. I am not kidding. There are many berbers in my environment that look a lot like Scots. There are a lot of stories about Picts and Berbers. In the article from the Scot above was mentioned a tale about a Scot sailor that stranded(1850 +/-) at the coast of Morocco(were berber live) The custom of the berber was to kill every body who was strange to them. And what happened the berbers did not killed the scot. He was able to communicate with them. And he learned the berber a lot off crafts. He lived his whole life with these people and is considerd a Saint. The place Mogador was named after him. A missionary who travelled to morocco at that time met the Scot an identified his language as an old Gealic dialect. The missionary later travelled back and wrote the story named "the berber oure distant cousins". The missionary did some research about Scottisch names of the 7 greates tribes like Mac Donald etc. and found out that the biggest berber tribes living in the atlas mountains have almost the same names and also start the name with the distict Mac = M` I remember Mac Doughlas = M`Dougha I probably got the names wrong. The thing is that I lost the article that is very important for me and maybe for scots also. Anyhow does any wone off you knows more about this? Or have a different explenation why my grandfather lookes like oo7 Sean Connery??? Azul(berber for hellow)

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