Expert: John Shea - 8/20/2006

Question
John. Is it possible to describe in general terms (archetype) the race that once populated Britain and already present when the Celts arrived (supposing there really was a massive influx of a distinct race or culture that we refer to as Celtic, and supposing there was just one distinct earlier people present at the time). I am thinking of head shape, height and build, maybe even typical hair and eye color. Is it supposed these people were the decendants of pre-last-ice age people? What date might those people have arrived (started arriving?) in Britain, and were there earlier-still Homo Sapiens types in Britain and when did THEY arrive? If so, were those earlier-still people likely assimilated into the usurpers society?
Or any relevant comments re the above.
Thanks  

Answer
Dear Tony
This is a really difficult issue to sort out.  One problem, of course, is that we have neither artistic evidence nor soft-tissue evidence for either pre-Celtic (Iron Age) or Celtic populations themselves.  The second problem is that such charcteristics as skin color, hair form, skull shape, stature, etc. can change rapidly among small populations.  This was famously demonstrated in studies of immigrants to the USA in the early 20th Century.  So, it is difficult to tell if any changes we see in the archaeological record (mostly changes in skeletal morphology) are the result of indigenous evolution or if there is significant gene flow from immigrant populations.
A subsidiary issue is that Bronze Age cultures seem to have practiced a fair amount of cremation, so bone preservation is weak for that period.
The second issue that your question raises is the difficulty of detecting migration vs. "diffusion" in the archaeological record.  Early archaeologists, drawing on the European colonial experience of the 18th-19th centuries, tended to explain change in the past in terms of migration and conquest.  20th Century archaeologists realized that language and material culture can spread independently of biology.  So, what earlier archaeologists thought to have been a massive invasion of Celtic populations is now thought to have been small-scale population movements, trade, and the adoption of foreign cultural elements (much like western business attire has supplanted indigenous clothing in many parts of the world).
A third issue is that England and Scotland, comprising an island, during times of high sea level, is an unlikely place for there to have been long term population continuity in Ice Age times.  Big predatory mammals, like humans, tend to do poorly when isolated on islands.  From what we can tell, there appear to be long "gaps" in the UK archaeological record.  The island was probably colonized and abandoned repeatedly prior to the postglacial period. Bottom line: I think it unlikely that the pre-Homo sapiens populations of Britain have descendants among the living populations of that country.
I hope this answers your question.  If not, I suggest you look up the books of Colin Burgess. He is an eminent scholar of British Bronze and Iron Ages.
Cheers,
John Shea