From the arrival of the earliest modern humans over 40,000 years ago to the population of the present day, the story of the people of Britain is one of ongoing movement, migration and settlement. A new exhibition at Oxford University Museum of Natural History asks where we came from, and presents surprising answers through archaeological evidence, genetic analysis, and interactive data. Opening with a showcase of remains from the oldest known ceremonial burial in Western Europe, the 33,000-year-old ‘Red Lady’ of Paviland (actually a man), the Settlers exhibition charts the patterns of migration that have shaped Britain since the islands became continuously inhabited at the end of the last Ice Age, around 12,000 years ago. “The movement of people across international borders is the subject of much social and political debate across the world, and in Britain and Europe in particular,” says Professor Paul Smith, dir
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