Abstract
The settlement of Great Britain by Germanic-speaking people from continental northwest Europe in the Early Medieval period (early 5th to mid 11th centuries CE) has long been recognised as an important event, but uncertainty remains about the number of settlers and the nature of their relationship with the preexisting inhabitants of the island. In the study reported here, we sought to shed light on these issues by using 3D shape analysis techniques to compare the cranial bases of Anglo-Saxon skeletons to those of skeletons from Great Britain that pre-date the Early Medieval period and skeletons from Denmark that date to the Iron Age. Analyses that focused on Early Anglo-Saxon skeletons indicated that between two-thirds and three-quarters of Anglo-Saxon individuals were of continental northwest Europe ancestry, while between a quarter and one-third were of local ancestry. In contrast, analyses that focused on Middle Anglo-Saxon skeletons suggested that 50–70% were of local ancestry, while 30–50% were of continental northwest Europe ancestry. Our study suggests, therefore, that ancestry in Early Medieval Britain was similar to what it is today—mixed and mutable.
Funder
European Union’s Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions program
Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada
Canada Research Chairs
Canada Foundation for Innovation
British Columbia Knowledge Development Fund
Simon Fraser University
Publisher
Public Library of Science (PLoS)
Reference41 articles.
1. What do we mean by “Anglo-Saxon” and “Anglo-Saxons”?;S Reynolds;J Brit St,1985
2. Sheep, horses, swine, and kine: a zooarchaeological perspective of Anglo-Saxon settlement of England.;PJ Crabtree;J Field Archaeol,1989
3. Y chromosome evidence for Anglo-Saxon mass migration;ME Weale;Mol Biol Evol,2002
4. AY chromosome census of the British Isles.;C Capelli;Cur Biol,2003
5. Anglo-Saxon immigration and ethnogenesis.;H Härke;Med Archaeol,2011
Cited by
3 articles.
订阅此论文施引文献
订阅此论文施引文献,注册后可以免费订阅5篇论文的施引文献,订阅后可以查看论文全部施引文献