FYI: Courtesy of Teresa Del Rios of El Salvador.  Paul Drake JD

Subject: Origins of Red Hair in the UK

Some of you might be interested in the several paras, below, which I've
taken from an article which appeared in a leading UK national daily
newspaper on 6 June.

"According to David Miles, a research fellow at Oxford University, the
first people to inhabit the British Isles had flame coloured hair and
pale, freckled skin. Archaeologist Mr Miles claims Scots can trace their
ancestors back to the red-headed nomads who arrived  in UK more than
14000 years ago. He said the first settlers came to Britain in about
12000 BC from parts of what are now Germany, the Netherlands and Denmark.
He added that these original hunter-gatherers would have been relatively
tall with very little body fat, athletic and would have had red hair.
Scotland has the highest percentage of redheads in the world, with some
estimates suggesting they make up as much as 13 % of the population.

Mr Miles believes 80% of the genetic characterist! ics of the average
white Briitish person can be traced to the first human settlers of the Ice
Age The other 20% derive from the Celts who he believes were a Semitic
race of farmers from Syria and Israel. These settlers had become a
population of millions before the arrival of the Vikings and other
incomers. Mr Miles said that subsequent invaders like the Anglo-Saxons,
Romans
and the Normans had very little genetic impact Their impact was largely
cultural and linguistic".

Mr Miles has expounded his ideas in a book, The Tribes of Britain,
based on a science apparently known as "archeogenetics".

To my mind the most interesting of Mr Miles remarks concern the Celts
who, he believes, were a Semitic race of farmers from Syria and Israel.
I've always speculated that my E3b Haplogroup (centrered in the Eastern
Mediterranean area) was the result of a Roman soldier's dalliance with
a Border wench whilst the soldier was part of the Hadrian Wall
garrisons. I now take back that speculation. That Haplogroup classification
seems no longer to be at odds with my red hair (when much younger) and
pale skin of the so-called typical Celt.

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