The Origins of the British: The New Prehistory of Britain (66 page)

Cardial Ware (Cardial Impressed Ware)

A style of pottery associated with the Late Mesolithic/Early Neolithic in the north-west Mediterranean region featuring patterns created by making impressions on the wet clay with the edge of a cockle (
Cardium
) shell.

Celt(ic)/celtic

(with a lower-case ‘c’, used for celtic languages in this book) ‘Keltoi’ (Greek) and ‘Celtae’ (Latin) were ethnic terms used in the classical period with varying inclusiveness to describe peoples in Western Europe including parts of Spain. Regions of Keltiké and Celtica were roughly coincident with Caesar’s Middle Gaul, south of the Seine. The term ‘Celt’ fell out of use after the classical period but was resurrected in the eighteenth century in association with so-called celtic languages. The linguistic association, the modern meaning of Celt and the geographical origins of classical Celts are all the subject of controversy, and are discussed in the first part of this book.

cognate

(from Latin for ‘born’) Two words are cognates if they match each other to some degree in sound and meaning and both can be dem onstrated to derive from a common root in an ancestral language, but do not descend one from the other.

comparative method

A method of comparative language study using systematic and regular sound changes in
cognates
from two or more languages to reconstruct an ancestral or proto-language. It is the most widely credited method used by historical linguists to reconstruct trees of relationship between languages, for example the
Indo-European
family. Several problems exist, e.g. assumption of strict tree-like branching, when in fact related languages can continue to affect each other by direct areal diffusion.

Corded Ware/Battle Axe Culture

A culture that extended across northern Europe from Russia to Germany from the Late Neolithic to the Bronze Age, named for its characteristic pottery, bearing the patterns of impressed cords, and the stone battleaxes found in single male burials.

Creswellian

A stone age culture coincident with the Late Upper Palaeolithic in Britain and characterized by trapezoidal backed blades called Cheddar and Creswell points, found at Creswell Crags in Derbyshire and elsewhere in England. It has contemporary parallels with the north-west European mainland and the
Magdalenian
of Southern Europe.

diffusionism

Cultural diffusion is the movement of cultural ideas and artefacts among societies (
see also
acculturation
). The view that major cultural innovations in the past were initiated at a single time and place (e.g. Egypt), diffusing from one society to all others, is an extreme version of the general diffusionist view – which is that, in general, diffusion of ideas such as farming is more likely than multiple independent innovations.
Compare
migrationism
.

founder analysis

A comparison of the
haplotypes
(gene types) in a region that has been settled with those in candidate source populations in order to identify specific migrating founder gene types. New gene types,
unique
to the target region but arising from such a founder type, are then used to date individual migration founding events.

founder effect

Frequencies of
alleles
or
haplotypes
(gene types) in founding groups are often unrepresentative of those in the source population. There are changes in frequency (to high or low) of particular gene types in a rapidly expanding population founded by a small ancestral group when one or more of the founders were, by chance, carriers of those types.

gene cluster

Term used in this book to describe a group of very closely related male STR
haplotypes
(gene types) clustering around a common root or modal type (used in the same sense as ‘cluster’
in Capelli et al. (2003) – technically meaning
putative clade
). Purpose here: to differentiate large clearly defined
haplogroups
(gene groups) into smaller clusters (or putative founder clades) with more local geographic specificity and ability to date founder events.
See
single tandem repeat
.

gene flow

The movement of genes from one population to another. Gene flow can be quantified as the proportion of
haplotypes
(gene types) or
alleles
that are derived from a different population.

gene group

Term used in this book to mean haplogroup –
see
haplogroup
.

gene lines

Term used in this book collectively to describe
haplogroups
(gene groups),
gene clusters
and
haplotypes
(gene types).

gene tree

A branching diagram displaying the relationships between different
haplotypes
(gene types) of the same region of DNA (e.g. mitochondrial DNA, or a particular gene), using the patterns of variation in the DNA sequences in that region (locus).
See
the figures in the Appendix.

gene type

Term used in this book to mean haplotype –
see
haplotype
.

genetic distance

An average measure of relatedness between populations, based on the frequencies of a number of different
alleles
or
haplotypes
(gene types). Genetic distances are used for understanding effects of
genetic drift
and
gene flow
, which should affect all alleles to the same extent and can be expressed graphically in
genetic distance maps
.

genetic drift

The process of random change of
allele
or
haplotype
(gene type) frequencies. These changes can lead to loss (or, alternatively, very high frequency) of certain alleles. The loss of certain alleles erodes genetic variability, and its effects are greatest in populations of small size.

genotype

The genetic make-up of an individual, as determined by the
alleles
present. In the example of blood groups, the blood group phenotype A may be the result of either AO genotype or AA genotype.
Compare
phenotype
.

glottochronology

A technique in linguistics which uses vocabulary comparison (lexico-statistics) to estimate the time of divergence of two related languages by comparing the numbers of shared
cognates
. It is analogous to the use of radiocarbon dating in that it uses decay as a measurement of time, but has been widely rejected by linguists, owing to variation in the rate of lexical decay. Recent modifications attempt to overcome this drawback.

Goidelic (Gaelic)

A branch of
insular-celtic
languages formerly widespread in Ireland (Irish Gaelic) and Scotland (Scottish Gaelic).

Gravettian

A cultural phase of the Upper Palaeolithic in Europe dating from about 28,000 to 22,000 years ago and distinguished by a variety of stone tools such as backed blades and points. Named after the archaeological site at La Gravette, in the Dordogne region of France.

Hallstatt culture

A culture of Central Europe spanning the Late Bronze to the Early Iron Age, from about 1200 to 500
BC
, associated with salt-mining and intricately fashioned metal weapons and jewellery. It preceded the Iron Age
La Tène culture
; both are still widely and controversially regarded as ‘Celtic’ homelands in the reference literature. Named after the village of Hallstatt in Upper Austria, the site of an extensive Iron Age cemetery.

haplogroup (gene group
in this book
)

A group of
haplotypes
(gene types) that share a common genetic ancestor. An example is R1a1 (shown in Appendix C, in Figures A3 and A6).

haplotype (gene type
in this book
)

A set of closely linked
alleles
(or genes) that tend to be inherited together as a unit; in this book a haplotype is called a ‘gene type’ and the term is extensively used in relation to individual combinations of STR types (
see
single tandem repeat
).

Holocene

The most recent geological epoch, also known as the postglacial era, which followed the
Pleistocene
and commenced with the end of the last Ice Age, conventionally about 10,000 radiocarbon years ago, although much deglaciation had already occurred by then (
see
discussion of corrected dates on p. 154).

Indo-European

A language family to which belong most of the languages of Europe, the Near and Middle East, and South Asia, including such languages and language groups as Germanic (including English), celtic, Italic (including Latin), Greek, Baltic, Slavic and Sanskrit.

insular-celtic

A branch of celtic languages comprising those spoken or having originated in the British Isles, and divided into the
Goidelic
and
Brythonic
groups. Although primarily a geographical description, in some definitions it also implies the ‘insular hypothesis’ – that the Brythonic and Goidelic language branches evolved together in those islands, having a common ancestor more recent than any shared with the Continental celtic languages.

Iron Age

A cultural phase following the
Bronze Age
, associated with the introduction of implements made of iron. In Britain the Iron Age began about 3,000 years ago and lasted into the Roman period.

La Tène culture

A Late Iron Age culture, originally of Western and Central Europe, which developed around 500
BC
out of the earlier
Hallstatt culture
and by the turn of the millennium had spread to Britain and Asia Minor. Like the Hallstatt, it was characterized by intricately patterned metalwork. It is named after the archaeological site of La Tène, on the north side of Lake Neuchatel in Switzerland.

Last Glacial Maximum (LGM)

The peak of the last Ice Age, between 22,000 and 17,000 years ago, during which time the British Isles were mostly covered in ice and were almost certainly cleared of their populations.

Late Glacial

The period, from about 16,000 years ago, between the major thaw following the last Ice Age, and the
Holocene
, during which the recolonization of Britain may have begun. It coincided with the cultural phase of the
Late Upper Palaeolithic
.

Late Upper Palaeolithic (LUP)

In Britain, the period of the Upper
Palaeolithic
lasting from the end of the Last Glacial Maximum, about 17,000 years ago, until the
Mesolithic
.

Linearbandkeramik
(LBK)

An Early Neolithic culture of Central Europe, associated with a style of pottery decorated with distinctive straight or linear bands.

Magdalenian

A culture of the Late Upper Palaeolithic, starting towards the end of the last Ice Age from about 18,000 years ago, which spread through Western Europe. It was characterized by tools of flint, bone, antler and ivory, and is named after the archaeological site of La Madeleine, in the Dordogne region of France.

Mesolithic

A cultural phase following the
Palaeolithic
and associated in particular with the introduction of microliths – small flint blades. Dates given for its commencement vary from 15,000 to 10,000 years ago. In this book, it is taken to have begun at the end of the
Younger Dryas
, 11,500 years ago.

migrationism

The view that major cultural changes in the past were caused by movements of people from one region to another carrying their culture with them. It has displaced the earlier and more warlike term
invasionism
, but is itself out of archaeological favour.
Compare
diffusionism
.