Is it necessary to assume an apartheid-like social structure in Early Anglo-Saxon England?
- PMID: 18430641
- PMCID: PMC2603190
- DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2008.0352
Is it necessary to assume an apartheid-like social structure in Early Anglo-Saxon England?
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.
Figures
References
-
- Arnold C.J. 2nd edn. Routledge; London, UK: 1997. An archaeology of the Early Anglo-Saxon kingdoms.
-
- Atkinson Q.D, Gray R.D. Are accurate dates an intractable problem for historical linguistics? In: Lipo C.P, O'Brien M.J, Collard M, Shennan S.J, editors. Mapping our ancestors: phylogenetic approaches in anthropology & prehistory. Aldine Transaction; London, UK: 2006a. pp. 269–296.
-
- Atkinson Q.D, Gray R.D. How old is the Indo-European language family? Illumination or more moths to the flame? In: Forster P, Renfrew C, editors. Phylogenetic methods and the prehistory of languages. The McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research; Cambridge, UK: 2006b. pp. 91–109.
-
- Bassett S. How the west was won: the Anglo-Saxon takeover of the West Midlands. Anglo-Saxon Stud. Archaeol. Hist. 2000;11:107–118.
-
- Birchall A. The Aylesford–Swarling culture: the problem of the Belgae reconsidered. Proc. Prehist. Soc. 1965;31:241–367.
Publication types
MeSH terms
LinkOut - more resources
Full Text Sources