Migration has been part of the British story for millennia, and this is particularly true of the Early Medieval Period, when, following the ending of the Roman occupation of England, various waves of Germanic settlers migrated to the country. While this has been understood in broad terms for a long time, modern genetic archaeological methods are now providing us with a lot more detail about migrations during this period, by allowing us to determine how different populations, and individuals were related to one another.
In a paper published in the journal Antiquity on 13 August 2025, Duncan Sayer of the Institute for Materials and Investigative Sciences at the University of Lancashire, Joscha Gretzinger of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, John Hines of the School of History, Archaeology and Religion at Cardiff University, Michael McCormick of the Initiative for the Science of the Human Past at Harvard University, Keziah Warburton, also of the Institute for Materials and Investigative Sciences at the University of Lancashire, Erin Sebo of the College of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences at Flinders University, Katharina Dulias of the Institute of Geosystems and Bioindication at Technische Universität Braunschweig, and the School of Applied Sciences at the University of Huddersfield, Maria Pala, Martin Richards, and Ceiridwen Jane Edwards, also of the School of Applied Sciences at the University of Huddersfield, and Stephan Schiffels, also of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, discuss the discovery of a young female individual with immediate West African ancestry at Updown Anglo Saxon Cemetery near Eastry in Kent.
Updown Cemetery was excavated in two phases, the first under Sonia Hawkes of the University of Oxford (who had previously led excavations at the nearby Finglesham Cemetery) in 1976, and the second under Brian Philp of the Kent Archaeological Society in 1989, on both cases working ahead of development projects. During these excavations, 78 graves were uncovered. As well as Human remains, the site has yielded a range of grave goods, including weapons and personal goods; one individual had a Byzantine buckle which would have been an antique at the time it was buried. Uptown Cemetery is only a few kilometres from the larger Finglesham Cemetery, which dates from the same period, the two forming part of a cluster of Early Medieval cemeteries in East Kent.
Ancient DNA has been recovered from six individuals from Updown (from graves 34, 37, 45, 47, 48, and 52), with some of these being included in a previous study of genetic relationships across northern Europe. The Individual from Grave 47 (genetic ID EAS003) has not been included in previous studies, as the significance of what that individual's genome reveal was deemed significant enough to merit a separate publication.
The individual in Grave 47 is a subadult, determined from osteological evidence (examination of the skeleton) to have been between 11 and 13 years old at the time of death. Ancient DNA was recovered from the petrous bone (part of the base of the skull) of this individual revealed that this individual was female, and belonged to female mitochondrial U5b1c2b, which is common in Northern Europe.
Because mitochondrial DNA is found in the mitochondria, organelles outside the cell nucleus, it is passed directly from mother to child without being sexually recombined each generation, enabling precise estimations of when individuals shared common ancestors, at least through the female line; this is known as the female haplogroup. It is also possible to trace direct ancestry through the male line, using DNA from the Y chromosome, which is passed directly from father to son without sexual recombination; this is known as the male haplogroup. Since everyone has mitochondria, it is possible to determine the female haplogroup of all Humans, but generally only males have a Y chromosome and can be assigned to a male haplogroup.
Whilst ID EAS003 clearly belongs to a North European female haplogroup, her autosomal DNA (i.e. the DNA on her non-sex chromosomes) shows a clear admixture of non-European DNA. This non-European portion of her genome shows affinities with samples collected from individuals belonging the the Yoruba, Essen, Mandinka, and Mende ethnic groups, all of whom are found in West Africa. The Yoruba and Essen peoples are predominantly found in Nigeria, while the Mandinka are predominantly found in the Senegambia region and Mende in Sierra Leone, although both groups can trace their roots back to the Mali Empire. In total, somewhere between 20 and 40 percent of her autosomal genome appears to come from sub-Saharan Africa, implying she probably had one grandparent from this region.
Comparison of the genome of ID EAS003 to that of other individuals from Updown Cemetery, revealed that several were close relatives, with the woman in Grave 34 (EAS001) being her grandmother, and the woman in Grave 45 (EAS002) being an aunt. All three belong to mitochondrial haplogroup U5b1c2b, implying matrilinial decent. Furthermore, the male individual in Grave 52 (EAS006) appears to be the father of the woman in Grave 34, making him ID EAS003's great grandfather. This male belongs to the male haplogroup E-V13, which is common in southern Italy, Greece, and the Balkans, but unusual in Northern Europe. However, other than ID EAS003, none of these individuals show any genetic evidence for recent sub-Saharan ancestry.
Other than ID EAS003, all of these individuals draw the majority of their ancestry from a Continental Northern European profile, which is associated with Anglo Saxon migrations, and became dominant over much of England between the fifth and tenth centuries. They also have minor fractions of Continental Western European ancestry and Western British Irish ancestry, which is common for early Anglo Saxon cemeteries in eastern England, particularly Kent. This would imply that ID EAS003 was buried alongside members of her mother's lineage, but derived her African ancestry from her paternal side, no other members of which have yet been discovered. Furthermore, based upon the proportion of African DNA in her genome, Sayer et al. conclude that one of her paternal grandparents was entirely sub-Saharan African, at least in their genetic makeup.
No direct dating is available for Grave 47 or its occupant, however, Grave 34, which lies in close proximity, and which contains the grandmother of the girl in Grace 47, has been radiocarbon dated to between 600 and 655 AD, with a confidence of 95.4%. The two graves lie on either side of a small barrow, which contained a type SX1-c seax (a seax, or sax, is a single bladed tool and/or weapon resembling a mixture between a bread knife and a short sword), which is typical of the early seventh century. The woman from Grave 34 is estimated to have been between 20 and 40 when she died, making it unlikely she outlived her granddaughter, but the proximity of the two graves suggests that their deaths were occurred within a few years of each other.
Updown Girl was buried with a knife, a spoon, a comb, a decorated pot, and some fragments of copper alloy, which may have been the remnants of the mounts of a bag. The decorated pot, which was placed next to her feet, was biconical, and was a fine, wheel-turned product. Such pots are common in early Anglo Saxon cemeteries in Kent, and are thought to have been mostly imported from Frankish Gaul, although the pattern on the pot suggests it may have been of local manufacture. The knife, spoon, comb, and bag fragments were found close to the left hip. The knife was a utilitarian item, common in Anglo Saxon graves of the period, but the other items may have more significance.
Spoons were significant items in Anglo Saxon England, used not just for eating, but often as pendants or amulets. High status burials, such as Sutton Hoo and the Prittlewell chamber grave, often contain Byzantine or European silver spoons made to Roman patterns. Small, spatulate, iron spoons are common in seventh century burials in Kent, having been found at sites such as Dover Buckland, Holborough, and Sibertswold, as well as Burwell in Cambridgeshire. The practice of carrying spoons appears to have been associated with the spread of Christianity in Anglo Saxon England.
Combs are also considered important in Anglo Saxon graves, and were found in both graves 47 and 45 at Updown Cemetery. The one recovered from Grave 47 was a three-piece, double-sided composite design made from antler; such combs are common from the fifth century onwards. Combs are typically found only with adult women (20 years and older) in Anglo Saxon burials. Hair type is one of the more notable differences between African and European populations, and hair and hair-care products often take on symbolic meaning in African populations living in countries with predominantly European populations. There is no evidence to suggest an African population in Early Anglo Saxon England large enough to have taken on its own cultural symbols, however, it is likely that Updown Girl had hair notably different from other members of her community, which may have been significant enough to them to justify her having her own comb at a young age.
Unfortunately, we do not have a good idea what Updown Girl may have looked like. She has only a partial skull, preventing any reconstruction of her facial features, and no trace of her hair or skin pigmentation is preserved (nor would we expect them to be). Nevertheless, it is likely that she differed in some ways from other members of her community. Any such differences did not, however, prevent her from being buried alongside other members of that community, who appear to have been relatively well-off and were living close to a royal centre.
The extent of contact between Europe and sub-Saharan Africa in ancient and medieval times is hard to assess. Much of North Africa was ruled at various points by Egypt, Carthage, Rome, the Vandals, Byzantium, and eventually the Islamic Caliphate, all of whom traded to varying extents with peoples south of the Sahara. The classical civilisations (Greece and Rome), were certainly aware of the area, which was noted for gold, ebony, ivory, and the beauty of its women, with later Roman scholars aware of the position of the River Niger, and that it flowed to the east.
This has led to speculation that these ancient civilisations might have had extensive trade with sub-Saharan Africa, particularly in the often mentioned gold. However, analysis of trace elements in gold coins and objects has found no evidence of any significant amount of African gold entering the Mediterranean world before the ninth century. Similarly, while the trade in slaves from across the Sahara appears to have become a major phenomenon in the Caliphate in the ninth and tenth centuries, but there is no evidence for such a trade in the sixth or seventh centuries. This is reflected south of the Sahara, where there is an archaeological record of trade routes associated with the ancient states of Ghana and Gao in modern Mali, which does not seem to include trans-Saharan routes before the seventh/eighth centuries, with these becoming important in the ninth.
Small amounts of African Red Slip Ware have been found in Early Medieval sites in western Britain. However, this originated from an area which covered modern Tunisia and neighbouring parts of Algeria and Libya. Similarly, the Plague of Justinian, which first appeared in Egypt in 541 AD, is known to have reached early Anglo Saxon England, indicating that there were at least indirect trade routes between England and North Africa during this period. Ivory found in Anglo Saxon graves in Lincolnshire has been identified as having come from Elephants which lived in East Africa in the fifth or sixth centuries, although these probably came via a Red Sea trade route, far from the Sahel Region of West Africa.
If a generation is assumed to be about 25 years, then it is possible that the African grandparent of Updown Girl left the southern Sahel region of West Africa some time in between the mid sixth and early seventh century AD, at which time most of North Africa would have been under Byzantine control. Byzantine artefacts such as coins and jewellery are fairly common in Anglo Saxon England (a Byzantine buckle has been found at Upton Cemetery), implying that trade between these two regions was a fairly common event, potentially providing a route for an adventurous sub-Saharan, or person of immediate sub-Saharan African decent, to make their way to Anglo Saxon England.
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