Britain was a nation of immigrants even in the Bronze Age

Immigrants were settling in Britain as far back as the Bronze Age, it has emerged, after archaeologists found remains of individuals from as far away as Africa in ancient burial pits in Suffolk.

The remains of immigrants from Scandinavia, the western Mediterranean and even North Africa were found at the burial site at Cliffs End Farm, near Pegwell Bay.

It is thought the individuals were alive around 3,000 years ago, before they were buried alongside people who grew up locally. In total the grave contained more than two dozen skeletons.

Mike Pitts, the editor of British Archaeology, the magazine publishing the research, said: "This is the first burial site of its type that we've found and it reveals that Britain was always part of a bigger landscape that includes most of Europe."

Andrew Millard, from Durham University, analysed oxygen and strontium isotopes in tooth enamel, which builds as a person grows up.

As the isotopes are derived from drinking water, the tooth enamel can be used to work out where the individual was living when it formed. [...] telegraph.co.uk/