Bronze Age women altered genetic landscape of Orkney | HeritageDaily

An international team led by researchers at the University of Huddersfield has used ancient DNA to rewrite the history of the Orkney islands to show that Orkney actually experienced large-scale immigration during the Early Bronze Age, which replaced much of the local population.

The project was a close collaboration between genetic researchers in Huddersfield and Edinburgh, led by Professor Martin Richards and Dr Ceiridwen Edwards, and archaeologists living and working on Orkney.

Orkney is world-famous for its archaeological heritage. Around 5000 years ago, during the Neolithic period when…