Were the Anglo-Saxons darker-skinned than native Britons?

[ecptr]

Knowing that Insular Celts have the lightest skin in the world, the Anglo-Saxons had to reduce the frequency of skin type I.

[Septentrion]

The Angles, Saxons, Jutes came from Denmark, North-West Germany and the far-northern parts of what is now called the Netherlands. They looked like the people who lived there at the time. They were obviously not dark-skinned people. They had a pale skin, usually blond or blondish hair and blue or light-mixed eyes. Due the fact that Celts are as a whole the lightest-skinned people in the world. It doesn’t make other Northern Europeans such as Anglo-Saxons or Vikings, etc… dark-skinned. Get your facts straight. Not all Celts were palest either. See.

[Creoda]

That would have to be the least substantive change brought by Anglo-Saxons. Besides the greater number of very pale redheads amongst Britons there would be practically no discernable difference in skin colour.

People need to stop seeing that period as Anglo-Saxons vs Britons too, it was evidently a joint Anglo-Celtic racial invasion of Britain, with the Frankish/Gaulish element alongside the Anglo-Saxons.

[wzero]

Noyt!
Target: England_Saxon
Distance: 1.5192% / 0.01519204
71.8 DNK_Funen_VA
28.2 Bell_Beaker_England

Target: England_IA
Distance: 1.0111% / 0.01011079
63.0 Bell_Beaker_England
25.4 DNK_Funen_VA
11.6 Scotland_Megalithic

[Septentrion]

That would have to be the least substantive change brought by Anglo-Saxons. Besides the greater number of very pale redheads amongst Britons there would be practically no discernable difference in skin colour.

People need to stop seeing that period as Anglo-Saxons vs Britons too, it was evidently a joint Anglo-Celtic racial invasion of Britain, with the Frankish/Gaulish element alongside the Anglo-Saxons.

Ancient Britons and Gaelic people had a higher frequency of skin type 1 and 2 than Anglo-Saxons.

[Avicenna]

From what I gathered ancient Celts / bretons were very pale skinned but with darker hair and eyes , whilst the Anglo Saxon's were blonde blue eyed and skin tone like those of northern Europe , so light skin but tendency to tan and turn golden .

This is what I imagined the Celts to look like

https://i.ibb.co/ngcmL5q/skysports-liverpool-andrew-robertson-5488769.jpg (https://ibb.co/YRkQLq4)
https://i.ibb.co/pKYGq3m/1258088194.jpg (https://ibb.co/z2qjdSk)

Anglo Saxon's ( the ones who initially came and invaded the British isles)

https://i.ibb.co/2YWdTMn/methode-times-prod-web-bin-ba890a3c-cc7e-11ec-bb1d-4e283d8ec187.jpg (https://ibb.co/k65XtDH)

[Grace O'Malley]

From what I gathered ancient Celts / bretons were very pale skinned but with darker hair and eyes , whilst the Anglo Saxon's were blonde blue eyed and skin tone like those of northern Europe , so light skin but tendency to tan and turn golden .

This is what I imagined the Celts to look like

https://i.ibb.co/ngcmL5q/skysports-liverpool-andrew-robertson-5488769.jpg (https://ibb.co/YRkQLq4)
https://i.ibb.co/pKYGq3m/1258088194.jpg (https://ibb.co/z2qjdSk)

Anglo Saxon's ( the ones who initially came and invaded the British isles)

https://i.ibb.co/2YWdTMn/methode-times-prod-web-bin-ba890a3c-cc7e-11ec-bb1d-4e283d8ec187.jpg (https://ibb.co/k65XtDH)

They weren't darker eyed because the Celtic Fringe areas have higher percentages of blue eyes. They weren't particularly Celtic either as they are closer to Bronze Age populations. There is most probably no uniform colouring either just that Anglo-Saxons would have had a higher percentage of blond hair but there was still blond hair in Beaker populations.

[Monapps]

Yes.

Brythonic Celt:
https://www.naijaloaded.com.ng/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Rooney.jpg

Anglo-Saxon:
https://www.kentonline.co.uk/_media/img/TNG14Y4FZDLC8Y94MKDS.jpg

[wzero]

https://www.archaeology.org/images/News/1506/Scotland-Anglo-Saxon.jpg

https://www.archaeology.org/news/3431-scotland-saxon-man-facial-reconstruction

[Token]

"Insular Celts" are no lighter-skinned than other northern Europeans in parts of the body unexposed to the sun. In fact, the Irish have a greater minority of individuals with swarthy unexposed skins than Scandinavians. The only thing special about British skin is its tendency to become red when exposed to the sun accompanied by a physiological inability to tan in some individuals.

[Avicenna]

https://www.archaeology.org/images/News/1506/Scotland-Anglo-Saxon.jpg

https://www.archaeology.org/news/3431-scotland-saxon-man-facial-reconstruction

Is this reconstruction of a Saxon man during when exactly? Remember most of England became Anglo saxonised however I think the OP is talking about how the initial Anglo Saxons who invaded Britain looked like.

[Gallop]

In the end, they are most similar to the Irish and the Poles.

[wzero]

Is this reconstruction of a Saxon man during when exactly? Remember most of England became Anglo saxonised however I think the OP is talking about how the initial Anglo Saxons who invaded Britain looked like.

between A.D. 1035 and 1070

[Oliver109]

very pale skin is tied down to the brunn component, some anglo saxons would have been as light as the lightest Irish and Scots because the brunn race existed to quite a large extent along the north sea coast up to Sweden but largely bypassing Denmark. So some invading Saxons would have been lighter but the majority would probably have been similar or slightly less pale in skin color.

[Avicenna]

between A.D. 1035 and 1070
That's 500 years after the Anglo Saxons invaded Britain

[Septentrion]

"Insular Celts" are no lighter-skinned than other northern Europeans in parts of the body unexposed to the sun. In fact, the Irish have a greater minority of individuals with swarthy unexposed skins than Scandinavians. The only thing special about British skin is its tendency to become red when exposed to the sun accompanied by a physiological inability to tan in some individuals.

False! This is a Nazi (Germanic-biased) lie! The Irish and Scottish people as a whole are lighter-skinned than other Northern Europeans ( Scandinavians included!!). Only in Celtic countries that skin type 1 and 2 make up the large majority. This is linked to their very high frequency of redheads and freckled people. Scandinavians have the highest frequencies for blondness on earth, but still have the ability to tan well in most cases. Do you even why British skin has such a high tendency to turn red? It is because it is high vascular and very fair. Scandinavians have slightly more melanin in their skins than British or Irish people. This is linked to the adaptation of more icy climate where tanning is still needed to protect against sunlight. Celtic skin is the fairest ( skin type 1!).

[Septentrion]

very pale skin is tied down to the brunn component, some anglo saxons would have been as light as the lightest Irish and Scots because the brunn race existed to quite a large extent along the north sea coast up to Sweden but largely bypassing Denmark. So some invading Saxons would have been lighter but the majority would probably have been similar or slightly less pale in skin color.

As a whole, slightly less pale and more prone to tanning. Not just the Brunn! Celtic skin in its proper definition doesn’t tan at all, thus lighter than the Brunn. The Aran Nordid type of Western Ireland which is an exaggerated form of the Celtic Nordid has no equal on the continent. With this type, there is an excess of blue eyes, of red and golden hair. Saxons were never pale. Celts were known by the ancient people as those with «*milky-white*» skin.

[Token]

False! This is a Nazi (Germanic-biased) lie! The Irish and Scottish people as a whole are lighter-skinned than other Northern Europeans ( Scandinavians included!!). Only in Celtic countries that skin type 1 and 2 make up the large majority. This is linked to their very high frequency of redheads and freckled people. Scandinavians have the highest frequencies for blondness on earth, but still have the ability to tan well in most cases. Do you even why British skin has such a high tendency to turn red? It is because it is high vascular and very fair. Scandinavians have slightly more melanin in their skins than British or Irish people. This is linked to the adaptation of more icy climate where tanning is still needed to protect against sunlight. Celtic skin is the fairest ( skin type 1!).

Your mental retardation is so severe that I will not even bother to respond you.

[Septentrion]

Your mental retardation is so severe that I will not even bother to respond you.

Correction, it is rather my superior mentality that overwhelms you. Yeah, don’t bother, you ain’t smart enough. Get informed first. OK.

[slaog]

I know pale, blond Germans. Paler than me but I've that reddish skin while they are just white. Not that I'm tanned they're just milky white.

[Creoda]

I know pale, blond Germans. Paler than me but I've that reddish skin while they are just white. Not that I'm tanned they're just milky white.
Inb4 Septentrion, reddish white skin is the least melanated. So transluscent you're seeing the blood cells. Maybe that's pop anthropology but it makes sense to me.

[Septentrion]

Inb4 Septentrion, reddish white skin is the least melanated. So transluscent you're seeing the blood cells. Maybe that's pop anthropology but it makes sense to me.

Yep, it is called vascularity. Fairest skins are very vascular.
Note C..S. Coon words on the British skin :

«*More characteristic of British skin than freckling, even, is its tendency to become red when constantly exposed to the air. This extreme vascularity, although without doubt partly climatic, must be racial to a certain extent, since it is accompanied by a physiological inability to tan.*»

[Septentrion]

Knowing that Insular Celts have the lightest skin in the world, the Anglo-Saxons had to reduce the frequency of skin type I.

Yes, for sure the Anglo-Saxons and Vikings played a role in reducing the frequency of skin type 1 in Isles. Not just skin type 1, but also the frequency of red or reddish hair, and of freckled skins. All of these which reach their maximum in the Celtic Fringe. Nevertheless, these Teutonic tribal groups played a role in the increase of the frequency of blond or fair hair, light blue or gray eyes which reaches it maximum in the eastern part of Britain ( historical Danelaw) where the highest incidence of fair hair in Isles is found. The «*Celtic type*» so to speak is less frequent in England, but is occasionally found.

[Septentrion]

Is this reconstruction of a Saxon man during when exactly? Remember most of England became Anglo saxonised however I think the OP is talking about how the initial Anglo Saxons who invaded Britain looked like.

The initial Anglo-Saxons came from Denmark, northwestern Germany and northern parts of Netherlands. These in turn intermingled over time with the Romano-Briton population whom they subdued. A new genetic study published in 2022 clearly points that approximately 75% of the population native to East and South England was made up of migrant families whose ancestors must have originated from continental regions bordering the North Sea, including the Netherlands, Germany and Denmark. This corresponds exactly with the frequency of red hair gene to be lowest in these parts of England, therefore pale skin as well. As we all know, that red hair gene is linked to the fairest skin colour in European populations. It is also evident that a large part of what makes up England scores less than 30% for red hair genes, while it is not the case for most of the rest of Britain.