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SourceAberystwyth-born geneticist, Prof Steve Jones, concurs with the latest findings, saying the Welsh and the Irish are among the most homogeneous people in the world - though they remain markedly different from the English.
Prof Jones and colleagues at University College London, spent years creating a genetic map of the Y chromosome, which is passed by males from generation to generation.
The results show the Welsh are related to the Basques of northern Spain and southern France and to native Americans. All are descended from the Kets people of western Siberia.
Prof Jones, author of Y - The Descent of Man, said the Y chromosomes showed a marked difference between males on the Welsh and English side of the border.
"This shows that in the Dark Ages, when the Anglo-Saxons turned up, there was the most horrible massacre on the English side. They killed everybody and replaced them.
"The Welsh Y chromosome is similar to that of the Basques. In the male line, at least, the Welsh and the Basques are survivors or relics of a period before huge numbers of farmers filled Europe from the Middle East.
"There has been much less inter-breeding in Wales than you might expect. Wales and Ireland have the most homogenous group of males anywhere in the world."
The genetics show that the Welsh are not related to the Cornish, despite the similarity of their languages. "The Cornish are in effect Anglo-Saxons who for a time used a language that was hanging around."
The genes of Scottish males also showed considerable inter-mixing with outsiders. Prof Jones said genetics provided more reliable clues to the distant past than language. He said the Y chromosome common among Welsh males was an ancient one.
In 2001, scientists at the University of London, led by Professor David Goldstein, discovered that Welsh and Irish Celts were the "genetic blood-brothers of Basques".
Researchers concluded that the gene patterns of the three races passed down through the male line were all "strikingly similar".
Basques can trace their roots back to the Stone Age and are one of Europe's most distinct people, fiercely proud of their ancestry and traditions.
The research added to previous studies which have suggested a possible link between the Celts and Basques, dating back tens of thousands of years.
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