Who Were Britain’s First People? The Story of Mesolithic Britain and Ireland

MyHeritage is running a special promotion for a limited time! Click the link https://bit.ly/DanDavis_MH or scan the QR code, and use the coupon code DD19 to get your DNA kit for just $19! 10,000 years ago, Mesolithic hunter-gatherers lived across Britain and Ireland, connected to Europe through the lost landscape of Doggerland before it was lost beneath the sea. In this video I tell you about their lives, tools, movement, and beliefs, from seasonal camps to complex burials. Using ancient DNA, including the famous Cheddar Man, we examine the genetics of WHG (Western Hunter-Gatherers) and what it reveals about their appearance and origins. Far from being simple or static, these people shaped their environments. This is the epic story of the Mesolithic hunter-gatherers of Britain and Ireland. *If you enjoy my videos please consider supporting the channel* Become a YouTube Channel Member: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCUVwT8zcS5Z_rYXnpomlbfg/join Support me on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/dandavisauthor All my books on Amazon: https://amzn.to/3xngwz5 Thank you to Ancient Europeans for his artwork https://www.instagram.com/ancienteuropeans2/ *Sources* The Oxford Handbook of Mesolithic Europe https://amzn.to/3OmI7xI The Mesolithic in Britain https://amzn.to/41CAtCs Star Carr Volume 1 and 2 https://universitypress.whiterose.ac.uk/books/e/10.22599/book1 Lazaridis, I., Patterson, N., Mittnik, A. et al. Ancient human genomes suggest three ancestral populations for present-day Europeans Fu, Q., Posth, C., Hajdinjak, M. et al. The genetic history of Ice Age Europe Charlton, S., Brace, S., Hajdinjak, M. et al. Dual ancestries and ecologies of the Late Glacial Palaeolithic in Britain. (2022) Brace, S., Diekmann, Y., Booth, T.J. et al. Ancient genomes indicate population replacement in Early Neolithic Britain. Nat Ecol Evol 3, 765–771 (2019). Milner, N., Conneller, C. and Taylor, B. (eds), 2018. Star Carr Volume 1: A Persistent Place in a Changing World. York: White Rose University Press. Olalde, I., Altena, E., Bourgeois, Q. et al. Lasting Lower Rhine–Meuse forager ancestry shaped Bell Beaker expansion. Nature (2026). CONNELLER C, GRIFFITHS S. Time and Change in Mesolithic Britain c. 9800–3600 cal bc. Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society. MITHEN S. How Long was the Mesolithic–Neolithic Overlap in Western Scotland? Evidence from the 4th Millennium bc on the Isle of Islay and the Evaluation of Three Scenarios for Mesolithic–Neolithic Interaction. Olalde I, et al Lasting Lower Rhine-Meuse forager ancestry shaped Bell Beaker expansion. Nature. 2026 Liu, J., et al (2024). Skin colour: A window into human phenotypic evolution and environmental adaptation. Posth, C., et al. Palaeogenomics of Upper Palaeolithic to Neolithic European hunter-gatherers. Nature 615, 117–126 (2023). Little, Aimee Patrice, et al. (2017) Stone dead: uncovering evidence of Early Mesolithic mortuary rites, Hermitage, Ireland. Woodman, P, et al 2018, 'Archaeological excavations at Killuragh Cave, Co. Limerick: A persistent place in the landscape from the Early Mesolithic to the Late Bronze Age', Mullan, G. and Wilson, L. 2007 'Possible Mesolithic cave art in southern England' in A. Mazel, G. Nash and C. Waddington (eds) Art as Metaphor: The Prehistoric Rock-Art of Britain Milner, N., et al. 2016 A Unique Engraved Shale Pendant from the Site of Star Carr: the oldest Mesolithic art in Britain Finlay N, et al. Calling Time on Oronsay: Revising Settlement Models Around the Mesolithic–Neolithic Transition in Western Scotland, New Evidence from Port Lobh, Colonsay. Bello SM, et al (2021) Knapping tools in Magdalenian contexts: New evidence from Gough’s Cave (Somerset, UK). Karstens, J., et al. Revised Storegga Slide reconstruction reveals two major submarine landslides 12,000 years apart. Commun Earth Environ 4, 55 (2023) Bondevik, S., et al. Contamination of 8.2 ka cold climate records by the Storegga tsunami in the Nordic Seas. Nat Commun 15, 2904 (2024) Use HIrisplex and read the user manual here https://hirisplex.erasmusmc.nl/ The above includes affiliate links so we may make a small commission from your purchases at no additional cost to you which is a way to support the channel. *Video Chapters* 00:00 Mesolithic Britain and Ireland 02:39 Sponsorship 04:26 Part 1 - Doggerland 12:52 Part 2 – Mesolithic Life 18:02 Star Carr 21:45 Mesolithic Diets 25:55 Niche Construction 30:44 Part 3 - Mesolithic Technology 37:58 Part 4 - Mesolithic Burial 41:49 Cheddar Man 45:48 What did they look like? 52:38 Part 5 – Mesolithic Ritual 1:00:11 Part 6 – The End of the Mesolithic