DNA study finds London was ethnically diverse from start

A DNA study has confirmed that London was an ethnically diverse city from its very beginnings, BBC News has learned. The analysis reveals what some of the very first Londoners looked like and where they came from. These initial results come from four people: two had origins from outside Europe, another was from continental Europe and one was a native Briton. The researchers plan to analyse more of the 20,000 human remains stored at the Museum of London. According to Caroline McDonald, who is a senior curator at the museum, London was a cosmopolitan city from the moment it was created following the Roman invasion 2,000 years ago.

"The thing to remember with the original Londoners is that they were not born here. Every first-generation Londoner was from somewhere else - whether it was somewhere else in Britain, somewhere else on the continent, somewhere else in the Mediterranean, somewhere else from Africa," she said. "So the stories we can tell about our ancient population are absolutely relevant to modern contemporary London because these are our stories - these are people just like us." Working with scientists at Durham University and an ancient DNA lab at McMaster University in Canada, museum researchers were able to reconstruct the DNA of four individuals. They come from a collection of 20,000 human remains from London stretching back 5,500 years.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-34809804

Hahaha. Does that mean that Tommy Monk is descended from a black man?Perhaps his avatar is a selfie!