Department of Biology, University of York, PO Box 373, York YO105YW, UK.
Proc Biol Sci. 2009 Dec 22;276(1677):4287-94. doi: 10.1098/rspb.2009.1422. Epub 2009 Sep 30.
Recent genetic studies have challenged the traditional view that the ancestors of British Celtic people spread from central Europe during the Iron Age and have suggested a much earlier origin for them as part of the human recolonization of Britain at the end of the last glaciation. Here we propose that small mammals provide an analogue to help resolve this controversy. Previous studies have shown that common shrews (Sorex araneus) with particular chromosomal characteristics and water voles (Arvicola terrestris) of a specific mitochondrial (mt) DNA lineage have peripheral western/northern distributions with striking similarities to that of Celtic people. We show that mtDNA lineages of three other small mammal species (bank vole Myodes glareolus, field vole Microtus agrestis and pygmy shrew Sorex minutus) also form a 'Celtic fringe'. We argue that these small mammals most reasonably colonized Britain in a two-phase process following the last glacial maximum (LGM), with climatically driven partial replacement of the first colonists by the second colonists, leaving a peripheral geographical distribution for the first colonists. We suggest that these natural Celtic fringes provide insight into the same phenomenon in humans and support its origin in processes following the end of the LGM.
最近的遗传研究对英国凯尔特人的祖先在铁器时代从中欧扩散的传统观点提出了挑战，并提出了一个更早的起源，即他们是人类在末次冰期结束后对英国重新殖民的一部分。在这里，我们提出小型哺乳动物可以提供一个类似的案例来帮助解决这一争议。之前的研究表明，具有特定染色体特征的普通鼩鼱（Sorex araneus）和具有特定线粒体（mt）DNA谱系的水鼠（Arvicola terrestris）具有西部/北部边缘分布，与凯尔特人的分布非常相似。我们表明，另外三种小型哺乳动物（田鼠 Myodes glareolus、草原田鼠 Microtus agrestis 和鼩鼱 Sorex minutus）的 mtDNA 谱系也形成了一个“凯尔特边缘”。我们认为，这些小型哺乳动物最有可能在末次冰期结束后经历了两个阶段的过程殖民英国，第一个殖民者因气候原因被第二个殖民者部分取代，从而为第一个殖民者留下了一个边缘地理分布。我们认为，这些自然的凯尔特边缘为人类中同样的现象提供了深入的了解，并支持其起源于末次冰期结束后的过程。
