I was reading
that the various sub-groups of people native to the British Isles aren't as genetically different as they generally think.

Apparently what happened is that archeologists might find, for example, that 10,000 years ago burial mounds only existed in the south of England, but 5,000 years ago they were in the north of England as well. Thus they'd conclude that the burial mound culture must have conquered the north of England and forced the existing people out.

But having done genetic tests and found not much difference, they now think that what happened was more likely that either the people in the north of England adopted the practice of burial mounds, or the burial mound culture conquered them and became the ruling class, rather than wiping them out (much like the Normans conquered England).

I wish I had a reference for this :(
(apeloverage committed the vile act of onanism on, Wed 3 Mar 2010, 20:52, 1 reply)

er, what about older chambered cairns in Scotland?
... not claiming that the Scots invented them or anything daft (given that the Scots didn't arrive til the Dark Ages) but if chambered burial cairns were built in Dumfriesshire/Aberdeenshire/Orkney etc in the Neolithic period, then the story of diffusion of culture through the British Isles after the last Ice Age may be just a bit more complex...
( writerblock ... embedding disabled by request on, Wed 3 Mar 2010, 23:25, closed)

Anything involving engineering or building or inventing
anything ever was done by The Scotch, particularly while they were being repressed by the Victorians, and had they remained independent after their Panamanian sojourn, Alex Salmond would these days wipe his arse with panda fur while the rest of the impoverished planet kneels before the might of his all conquering Jockotopia....or not the potato headed cnut, and don't get me started on Sturgeon.
(Oil Slick, Thu 4 Mar 2010, 1:04, closed)