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Duncan Sayer, Professor in Archaeology, University of Central Lancashire

Updown girl: DNA research shows ancient Britain was more diverse than we imagined

People took long voyages to start a new life in Britain in early medieval times Dm_Cherry/Shutterstock

When you imagine life for ordinary people in ancient Britain, you’d be forgiven for picturing quaint villages where everyone looked and spoke the same way. But a recent study could change the way historians think about early medieval communities.

Most of what we know about English history after the fall of the Roman Empire is limited to archaeological finds. There are only two contemporary accounts of this post Roman period. Gildas (sixth century) and Bede (eighth century) were both monks who give narrow descriptions of invasion by people from the continent and neither provide an objective account.

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