From the end of the Roman occupation through the Anglo-Saxon and Viking invasions – a new way of testing DNA in ancient bones could force a rethink of key moments in Britain’s early history, say researchers.

Scientists could already track big alterations in DNA that occur over thousands or millions of years, helping us learn, for example, how early humans evolved from ape-like creatures.

Now researchers can identify subtler changes over just hundreds of years, providing clues as to how people migrated and interacted with locals.

They are using the new method to analyse human remains found in Britain, including from the time when Romans were replaced by an Anglo-Saxon elite from Europe.

Prof Peter Heather, from Kings College London, who is working on the project with the developers of the new DNA technique at the Francis Crick Institute in London, said the new technique could be “revolutionary”.

While the project will analyse the DNA of more than 1,000 ancient human remains of people who lived in Britain during the past 4,500 years, researchers have homed in on the time after the Romans left as a particularly interesting era to study.

What happened in this period more than 1,500 years ago is unclear from written and archeological records. Historians are divided in their views about the scale and nature of the Anglo-Saxon invasion, whether it was large or small, hostile or co-operative.

“It is one of the most contested and therefore one of the most exciting things to work on in the whole of British history,” according to Prof Heather.

“[The new method] will allow us to see the type of relations that are being found with the native population,” he said. “Are they co-operative, is there interbreeding, are the locals able to make their way into the elite?”