Researchers from the University of Warwick have made a surprising discovery that could shed light on the arrival of wheat in Britain. Researchers uncovered evidence that a group of ancient Britons living on the South Coast 8,000 years ago were apparently 2,000 years ahead of their time.   

Working with colleagues from a number of other institutions, they found that ancient Britons from the mesolithic period, living in an area that has since sunk beneath the sea, may have had access to wheat up to 2,000 years before the grassy crop plant was thought to have arrived in the country.

The wheat variety, called Einkorn, was commonly grown in Southern Europe at the time, but was not previously thought to have reached Britain. Einkorn DNA was preserved deep within sediment under the sea; the researchers used sensitive DNA analysis to gain an insight into the prehistoric landscape, and the communities that lived there.

Based on their findings, gained from studying a site under the Solent, which was previously a land-bridge between Britain and Mainland Europe, the scientists said that Britain’s ancient hunter-gatherer population may have been trading with the earliest Southern European farmers.

8,000 years ago, the last remaining land-links between Britain and mainland Europe were still intact, so the scientists believe that the most plausible explanation for the discovery of ancient wheat DNA at the site is the existence of trade networks across Europe that predate the establishment of farming in some areas.

The team pointed out that the introduction of farming is usually regarded as a defining historic moment for almost all human communities, which led to the development of modern societies.

Dr Robin Allaby, who led the work, commented, “8,000 years ago the people of mainland Britain were leading a hunter-gatherer existence, whilst at the same time in southern Europeans farming was gradually spreading across Europe.

“Common throughout Neolithic Southern Europe, einkorn is not found elsewhere in Britain until 2,000 years after the samples found at Bouldnor Cliff. For the einkorn to have reached this site there needs to have been contact between Mesolithic Britons and Neolithic farmers far across Europe.

“The role of these simple British hunting societies, in many senses, puts them at the beginning of the introduction of farming and, ultimately, the changes in the economy that lead to the modern world”.

Also commenting on the discovery, Garry Momber, Director of the Maritime Archaeology Trust, which was involved with the work at Bouldnor Cliff, said, “The material remains left behind by the people that occupied Britain as it was finally becoming an island 8,000 years ago, show that these were sophisticated people with technologies thousands of years more advanced than previously recognised. The DNA evidence corroborates the archaeological evidence and demonstrates a tangible link with the continent that appears to have become severed when Britain became an island.”

Dr Allaby’s team made a video to explain the significance of their discovery, which sheds new light on the complicated series of events leading to the arrival of farming in Britain.