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Bryan Sykes is Professor of Human Genetics
Human genetics

Human genetics describes the study of inheritance as it occurs in human beings. Human genetics encompasses a variety of overlapping fields including: classical genetics, cytogenetics, molecular genetics, biochemical genetics, genomics, population genetics, developmental genetics, clinical genetics, and genetic counseling....
 at the University of Oxford
University of Oxford

The University of Oxford , located in the city of Oxford, Oxfordshire, England, is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation in the English-speaking world....
 and a Fellow of Wolfson College
Wolfson College, Oxford

Wolfson College is a Colleges of the University of Oxford of the University of Oxford in England. Quietly located in north Oxford along the River Cherwell, Wolfson is an all-graduate college with over sixty governing body fellows, in addition to both research and junior research fellows....
.

Sykes published the first report on retrieving DNA
DNA

Deoxyribonucleic acid is a nucleic acid that contains the genetics instructions used in the development and functioning of all known living organisms and some viruses....
 from ancient bone (Nature
Nature (journal)

Nature is a prominent scientific journal, first published on 4 November 1869. Although most scientific journals are now highly specialized, Nature is one of the few journals, along with other weekly journals such as Science and Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, that still publishes original research articles ac...
, 1989). Sykes has been involved in a number of high-profile cases dealing with ancient DNA, including those of Ötzi the Iceman
Ötzi the Iceman

?tzi the Iceman , and Similaun Man are modern names of a well-preserved natural mummy of a man from about 34th century BC . The mummy was found in 1991 in the Schnalstal glacier in the ?tztal Alps, near Hauslabjoch on the border between Austria and Italy....
 and Cheddar Man
Cheddar Man

Cheddar Man is the name given to the remains of a human male found in Gough's Cave in Cheddar Gorge, Somerset, England. The remains date to approximately 8th millennium BC, and it appears that he died a violent death, perhaps related to the cannibalism practised in the area at the time....
, and others concerning people claiming to be members of the Romanov
Romanov

The House of Romanov was the second and last monarchy dynasty of Russia, which ruled the country from 1613 to 1917. From 1762 until the February Revolution of 1917, the Russian Empire was ruled for five generations by a line of the House of Oldenburg descended from the marriage of a Romanov grand duchess to the Duke of Holstein-Gottorp....
s—the Russia
Russia

Russia , or the Russian Federation , is a list of countries spanning more than one continent country extending over much of northern Eurasia....
n royal family. His work also suggested a Florida accountant by the name of Tom Robinson was a direct descendant of Genghis Khan
Genghis Khan

Genghis Khan , born , was the founder, Khan and Khagan of the Mongol Empire, the World's largest empires contiguous empire in history....
, a claim that was subsequently disputed.

Sykes is best known outside the community of geneticists
Geneticist

A geneticist is a scientist who studies genetics, the science of heredity and genetic variation of organisms. A geneticist can be employed as a researcher or lecturer....
 for his bestselling books on the investigation of human history and prehistory through studies of mitochondrial DNA
Mitochondrial DNA

Mitochondrial DNA is the DNA located in organelles called mitochondrion. Most other DNA present in eukaryotic organisms is found in the cell nucleus....
.






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Bryan Sykes is Professor of Human Genetics
Human genetics

Human genetics describes the study of inheritance as it occurs in human beings. Human genetics encompasses a variety of overlapping fields including: classical genetics, cytogenetics, molecular genetics, biochemical genetics, genomics, population genetics, developmental genetics, clinical genetics, and genetic counseling....
 at the University of Oxford
University of Oxford

The University of Oxford , located in the city of Oxford, Oxfordshire, England, is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation in the English-speaking world....
 and a Fellow of Wolfson College
Wolfson College, Oxford

Wolfson College is a Colleges of the University of Oxford of the University of Oxford in England. Quietly located in north Oxford along the River Cherwell, Wolfson is an all-graduate college with over sixty governing body fellows, in addition to both research and junior research fellows....
.

Sykes published the first report on retrieving DNA
DNA

Deoxyribonucleic acid is a nucleic acid that contains the genetics instructions used in the development and functioning of all known living organisms and some viruses....
 from ancient bone (Nature
Nature (journal)

Nature is a prominent scientific journal, first published on 4 November 1869. Although most scientific journals are now highly specialized, Nature is one of the few journals, along with other weekly journals such as Science and Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, that still publishes original research articles ac...
, 1989). Sykes has been involved in a number of high-profile cases dealing with ancient DNA, including those of Ötzi the Iceman
Ötzi the Iceman

?tzi the Iceman , and Similaun Man are modern names of a well-preserved natural mummy of a man from about 34th century BC . The mummy was found in 1991 in the Schnalstal glacier in the ?tztal Alps, near Hauslabjoch on the border between Austria and Italy....
 and Cheddar Man
Cheddar Man

Cheddar Man is the name given to the remains of a human male found in Gough's Cave in Cheddar Gorge, Somerset, England. The remains date to approximately 8th millennium BC, and it appears that he died a violent death, perhaps related to the cannibalism practised in the area at the time....
, and others concerning people claiming to be members of the Romanov
Romanov

The House of Romanov was the second and last monarchy dynasty of Russia, which ruled the country from 1613 to 1917. From 1762 until the February Revolution of 1917, the Russian Empire was ruled for five generations by a line of the House of Oldenburg descended from the marriage of a Romanov grand duchess to the Duke of Holstein-Gottorp....
s—the Russia
Russia

Russia , or the Russian Federation , is a list of countries spanning more than one continent country extending over much of northern Eurasia....
n royal family. His work also suggested a Florida accountant by the name of Tom Robinson was a direct descendant of Genghis Khan
Genghis Khan

Genghis Khan , born , was the founder, Khan and Khagan of the Mongol Empire, the World's largest empires contiguous empire in history....
, a claim that was subsequently disputed.

Sykes is best known outside the community of geneticists
Geneticist

A geneticist is a scientist who studies genetics, the science of heredity and genetic variation of organisms. A geneticist can be employed as a researcher or lecturer....
 for his bestselling books on the investigation of human history and prehistory through studies of mitochondrial DNA
Mitochondrial DNA

Mitochondrial DNA is the DNA located in organelles called mitochondrion. Most other DNA present in eukaryotic organisms is found in the cell nucleus....
. He is also the founder of Oxford Ancestors, a genealogical DNA test
Genealogical DNA test

A genealogical DNA test examines the nucleotides at specific locations on a person's DNA for genetic genealogy purposes. The test results are not meant to have any informative medical value and do not determine specific genetic diseases or disorders ; they are intended only to give genealogical information....
ing firm.

Blood of the Isles

In his 2006 book Blood of the Isles (published in the United States and Canada as Saxons, Vikings and Celts: The Genetic Roots of Britain and Ireland), Sykes examines British genetic "clans". He presents evidence from mitochondrial DNA, inherited by both sexes from their mothers, and the Y chromosome
Y chromosome

The Y chromosome is the Sex-determination system chromosome in most mammals, including humans. In mammals, it contains the gene SRY, which triggers testicle development, thus determining sex....
, inherited by men from their fathers, for the following points:

  • The genetic makeup of Britain and Ireland is overwhelmingly what it has been since the Neolithic
    Neolithic

    The Neolithic period was a period in the development of human technology, beginning about 9500 Before the Christian Era in the Middle East that is traditionally considered the last part of the Stone Age....
     period, and to a very considerable extent since the Mesolithic
    Mesolithic

    The Mesolithic or Middle Stone Age was a period in the development of human technology in between the Paleolithic or Old Stone Age and the Neolithic or New Stone Age....
     period, especially in the female line.


  • The contribution of the Celts of continental Europe to the genetic makeup of Britain and Ireland was minimal.


  • The Picts
    Picts

    The Picts were a confederation of tribes in what was later to become eastern and northern Scotland from Roman Empire times until the 10th century....
     were not a separate people: the genetic makeup of the formerly Pictish areas of Scotland shows no significant differences from the general profile of the rest of Britain.


  • The Anglo-Saxons
    Anglo-Saxons

    Anglo-Saxons is the term usually used to describe the invading tribes in the south and east of Great Britain starting from the early 5th century AD, and their creation of the English nation, lasting until the Norman conquest of England of 1066....
     made a substantial contribution to the genetic makeup of England, but in Sykes's opinion it was under 20 percent of the total, even in southern England.


  • The Vikings (Danes and Norwegians) also made a substantial contribution, which is concentrated in central, northern, and eastern England - the territories of the ancient Danelaw
    Danelaw

    The Danelaw, as recorded in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle , is a historical name given to the part of Great Britain in which the laws of the "Danes" dominated those of the Anglo-Saxons....
    . There is a very heavy Viking contribution in the Orkney and Shetland Islands, in the vicinity of 40 percent. Women as well as men contributed substantially in all these areas, showing that the Vikings engaged in large-scale settlement.


  • The Norman
    Normans

    The Normans were the people who gave their names to Normandy, a region in northern France. They descended from Viking conquerors of the territory and the native population of mostly Frankish and Gallo-Roman stock....
     contribution was extremely small, on the order of 2 percent.


  • There are only sparse traces of the Roman occupation
    Roman Britain

    Roman Britain refers to those parts of the island of Great Britain controlled by the Roman Empire between AD 43 and 410. The Romans referred to their province as Britannia....
    , almost all in southern England
    England

    native_name =|conventional_long_name = England|common_name = England|image_flag = Flag of England.svg|image_coat = England COA.svg|symbol_type = Royal Coat of Arms...
    .


  • In spite of all these later contributions, the genetic makeup of the British Isles remains overwhelmingly what it was in the Neolithic
    Neolithic

    The Neolithic period was a period in the development of human technology, beginning about 9500 Before the Christian Era in the Middle East that is traditionally considered the last part of the Stone Age....
    : a mixture of the first Mesolithic
    Mesolithic

    The Mesolithic or Middle Stone Age was a period in the development of human technology in between the Paleolithic or Old Stone Age and the Neolithic or New Stone Age....
     inhabitants with Neolithic
    Neolithic

    The Neolithic period was a period in the development of human technology, beginning about 9500 Before the Christian Era in the Middle East that is traditionally considered the last part of the Stone Age....
     settlers who came by sea from Iberia
    Iberian Peninsula

    The Iberian Peninsula, or Iberia, is located in the extreme southwest of Europe and includes modern-day Spain, Portugal, Andorra and Gibraltar and a very small area of France....
     and ultimately from the eastern Mediterranean.


  • There is a difference between the genetic histories of men and women in Britain and Ireland . The matrilineages show a mixture of original Mesolithic inhabitants and later Neolithic arrivals from Iberia, whereas the patrilineages are much more strongly correlated with Iberia. This suggests (though Sykes does not emphasize this point) replacement of much of the original male population by new arrivals with a more powerful social organization.


  • There is evidence for a "Genghis Khan
    Descent from Genghis Khan

    Descent from Genghis Khan is traceable primarily in Central Asia. His four sons and other immediate descendants are famous by names and by deeds....
     effect", whereby some male lineages in ancient times were much more successful than others in leaving large numbers of descendants.


Some quotations from the book follow. (Note that Sykes uses the terms "Celts" and "Picts
Picts

The Picts were a confederation of tribes in what was later to become eastern and northern Scotland from Roman Empire times until the 10th century....
" to designate the pre-Roman inhabitants of the Isles who spoke Celtic and does not mean the people known as Celts in central Europe
Central Europe

Central Europe is the region lying between the variously and vaguely defined areas of Eastern Europe and Western Europe Europe. In addition, Northern Europe, Southern Europe and Southeastern Europe may variously delimit or overlap into Central Europe....
.)


Japanese clans

Sykes is currently using the same methods he used in The Seven Daughters of Eve
The Seven Daughters of Eve

The Seven Daughters of Eve is a book by Bryan Sykes that presents the theory of Human mitochondrial genetics to a general audience. Sykes explains the principles of genetics and human evolution, the particularities of mitochondrial genetics, and analyses of ancient DNA to genetically link modern humans to prehistoric ancestors....
 to identify the nine "clan mothers" of Japan
Japan

Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, People's Republic of China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south....
ese ancestry, "all different from the seven European equivalents."

Books by Bryan Sykes



See also

  • Adam's Curse
    Adam's Curse

    Adam's Curse: A Future Without Men is a 2003 book by Oxford University human genetics professor Bryan Sykes expounding his hypothesis that with the declining infertility#Male infertility in men and the continual atrophy of the Y chromosome, within 5,000 generations the male of the human species will become extinct....
  • The Seven Daughters of Eve
    The Seven Daughters of Eve

    The Seven Daughters of Eve is a book by Bryan Sykes that presents the theory of Human mitochondrial genetics to a general audience. Sykes explains the principles of genetics and human evolution, the particularities of mitochondrial genetics, and analyses of ancient DNA to genetically link modern humans to prehistoric ancestors....


External links

  • , by Ian Johnston, The Scotsman
    The Scotsman

    The Scotsman is a Scotland national newspaper, published in Edinburgh.It has an audited circulation of 53,513. This represents a significant drop from an approximately 100,000 circulation in the 1980s....
    .
  • , Daily Mail
    Daily Mail

    The Daily Mail is a United Kingdom newspaper, currently published in a tabloid format. First published in 1896 by Alfred Harmsworth, 1st Viscount Northcliffe, it is the United Kingdom's second biggest-selling daily newspaper after The Sun ....
    , 20 September 2006.