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In parts of Europe they are still shunned as disruptive outsiders or patronised as little more than an exotic source of music and dance, but scientists have now proved the continent's Gypsies have ancient roots stretching back more than a millennium.

A genetic analysis of 13 Gypsy groups around Europe, published in the Current Biology journal, has revealed that the arrival on the continent of Gypsy forebears from northern India happened far earlier than was thought, around 1,500 years ago.