Genetics and the Origins of the British Population

One might imagine that the new discipline of archaeogenetics
has essentially mapped out the demographic history of
the British Isles, given the spate of books that have aimed to
use genetic variation in the people of the British Isles to
depict the population history of the islands, but in fact this is
far frombeing the case. The claims of these works are based
to a large extent on unpublished data analyses that have not
been checked by the peer review process, and are considered
too challenging to be feasible by many colleagues. Thus they
should be regarded as primarily speculative reconstructions
at present. However, the authors of peer-reviewed literature
themselves are hardly immune from criticism on methodological
grounds. Among the academic literature there has
been some fierce debate, which we must pick through by
examining some of the assumptions that have underpinned
the research.