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. 2008 Nov 7;275(1650):2423-9; discussion 2419-21.
doi: 10.1098/rspb.2008.0352.

Is it necessary to assume an apartheid-like social structure in Early Anglo-Saxon England?

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Is it necessary to assume an apartheid-like social structure in Early Anglo-Saxon England?

John E Pattison. Proc Biol Sci. .

Abstract

It has recently been argued that there was an apartheid-like social structure operating in Early Anglo-Saxon England. This was proposed in order to explain the relatively high degree of similarity between Germanic-speaking areas of northwest Europe and England. Opinions vary as to whether there was a substantial Germanic invasion or only a relatively small number arrived in Britain during this period. Contrary to the assumption of limited intermarriage made in the apartheid simulation, there is evidence that significant mixing of the British and Germanic peoples occurred, and that the early law codes, such as that of King Ine of Wessex, could have deliberately encouraged such mixing. More importantly, the simulation did not take into account any northwest European immigration that arrived both before and after the Early Anglo-Saxon period. In view of the uncertainty of the places of origin of the various Germanic peoples, and their numbers and dates of arrival, the present study adopts an alternative approach to estimate the percentage of indigenous Britons in the current British population. It was found unnecessary to introduce any special social structure among the diverse Anglo-Saxon people in order to account for the estimates of northwest European intrusion into the British population.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
The solid curve represents the original total population P for Britain over the last two millennia (based on Pattison 2003). The dotted curve represents the modified population PC for the descendants of the indigenous British population (excluding 25% of the British Belgae).
Figure 2
Figure 2
The solid curve represents the cumulated percentage of immigrants and their descendants in Britain over the past two millennia. The dotted curve represents the three-point smoothed percentage rate of growth of the immigrants and their descendants per year (the curve has been magnified by a factor of 50).

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