🏴 England Early Medieval Anglo-Saxon Hatherdene Close genetics
Reused burial ground, distinctive personal objects and varied ancestry illuminate a changing Cambridgeshire society.
📍 RegionRegion not specified
🧬 Closest modern matchIcelandic
⏳ Time periodEarly medieval period · c. AD 476–1000
Hatherdene Close: an early medieval community at Cherry Hinton
At Hatherdene Close in Cherry Hinton, early medieval people buried their dead in a landscape already marked by Roman funerary activity. The cemetery was used mainly in the later fifth and sixth centuries AD. Its clothing accessories, weapons and less familiar materials reveal both public display and practical knowledge within the community.
A new cemetery in an older landscape
The early medieval burial ground developed around a Roman cemetery containing both cremation and inhumation burials. Its use gave an existing funerary place a new role, even as burial customs changed. More than 120 early medieval skeletons were recovered during modern excavation.
Several graves held multiple burials, sometimes placed above one another. Brooches, wrist clasps, beads and weapons accompanied many bodies. A possible timber structure within the cemetery adds another element to a place whose arrangement was more complex than a simple field of isolated graves.
Chemical analysis identified birch bark tar among the objects from the cemetery. Making this substance required heating bark under controlled conditions. Its presence extends the documented use of this technology in Britain into the early medieval period.
The material may have had a practical or medicinal purpose, but its exact use at Hatherdene remains uncertain. Similar evidence from Ringlemere in Kent raises a broader historical question: whether knowledge of birch tar persisted from earlier periods or was reintroduced through later connections.
The published genomic study found substantial variation at Hatherdene: some people carried predominantly continental northern European ancestry, while others retained much more earlier British ancestry.
This diversity shows migration and local continuity operating within the same burial community, rather than in wholly separate societies.
What is England Early Medieval Anglo-Saxon Hatherdene Close DNA closest to?
In the World Genetics modern G25 comparison, the closest non-self match for England Early Medieval Anglo-Saxon Hatherdene Close is Icelandic. Other nearby references include Frisian Netherlands, Dutch Groningen, Norwegian, and Danish. This gives the England Early Medieval Anglo-Saxon Hatherdene Close profile its nearest modern genetic context inside the current reference database.
Closest Matches
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What does England Early Medieval Anglo-Saxon Hatherdene Close ancestry look like?
The ancestral breakdown below loads the best-fitting World Genetics calculator for the England Early Medieval Anglo-Saxon Hatherdene Close average. It should be read as a model of deep ancestry components, while the closest-match table is the better guide to which modern populations are most similar in G25 space.
Ancestral Breakdown
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Where is England Early Medieval Anglo-Saxon Hatherdene Close DNA closest on the map?
The heatmap gives the England Early Medieval Anglo-Saxon Hatherdene Close profile a geographic shape. Warmer areas mark regions where available modern reference populations sit closer to the England Early Medieval Anglo-Saxon Hatherdene Close average, while cooler areas represent more distant matches.
England Early Medieval Anglo-Saxon Hatherdene Close Genetics FAQ
What populations are genetically closest to England Early Medieval Anglo-Saxon Hatherdene Close?
The closest non-self match in this World Genetics comparison is Icelandic. Other nearby references include Frisian Netherlands, Dutch Groningen, Norwegian, and Danish.
Is England Early Medieval Anglo-Saxon Hatherdene Close DNA closest to Icelandic?
In the current modern G25 reference set, Icelandic is the closest listed match to the England Early Medieval Anglo-Saxon Hatherdene Close average after removing England Early Medieval Anglo-Saxon Hatherdene Close itself from the table.
What does the England Early Medieval Anglo-Saxon Hatherdene Close heatmap show?
The heatmap shows where modern reference populations are closer or farther from the England Early Medieval Anglo-Saxon Hatherdene Close G25 average, giving the closest-match results a geographic view.
