[Sca-cooks] Fwd: BBC story: AS teeth

[Laura C. Minnick]

Some of you might find this interesting.... -'Lainie

>Date:         Wed, 17 Mar 2004 10:13:42 -0500
>Reply-To: ANSAXNET Discussion Forum <ANSAX-L at LISTSERV.WVU.EDU>
>Sender: ANSAXNET Discussion Forum <ANSAX-L at LISTSERV.WVU.EDU>
>From: Stephen Harris <sharris at ENGLISH.UMASS.EDU>
>Organization: UMass Amherst
>Subject: BBC story: AS teeth
>To: ANSAX-L at LISTSERV.WVU.EDU
>
>An item of possible interest to Anglo-Saxonists. --Stephen
>
> > <<Teeth unravel Anglo-Saxon legacy
> >
> >                                                      By Paul Rincon
> >                                                       BBC News Online
> > science staff
> >
> > History books say Anglo-Saxons replaced the Britons in England
> >
> > New scientific research adds to growing evidence that the Anglo-Saxons did
> > not replace the native population in England as history books suggest.
> >
> > The data indicates at least some areas of eastern England absorbed very few
> > Anglo-Saxon invaders, contrary to the view in many historical accounts.
> >
> > Chemical analysis of human teeth from a Medieval cemetery in Yorkshire 
> found
> > few individuals of continental origin. Details of the work are described in
> > the scholarly journal Antiquity.  There are practices that are being 
> adopted
> > from continental Europe. To what extent is that a movement of people (into
> > Britain)? Probably not that much
> >
> >             Dr Paul Budd, University of Durham
> >     Researchers from the University of Durham and the British Geological
> > Survey looked at different types of the elements strontium and oxygen 
> in the
> > teeth of 24 skeletons from an early Anglo-Saxon cemetery at West Heslerton,
> > North Yorkshire that spans the fifth to the seventh centuries AD.
> >
> > These types, or isotopes, of oxygen in local drinking water vary across
> > Europe and locally within the British Isles.
> >
> > The differences are influenced by latitude, altitude, distance from the sea
> > and, to a lesser extent, mean annual temperature.
> >
> > Invasion of ideas
> >
> > This characteristic isotope composition gets set in people's teeth before
> > they are 12 years of age, and can therefore be used by scientists to
> > pinpoint a person's geographical origin.
> >
> > Of the 24 individuals sampled, a possible four had oxygen isotope values
> > outside the range for the British Isles. Following improvements in
> > calibration, the group now believes only one individual was from 
> continental
> > Europe.
> >
> > The results support the view of other researchers that the introduction of
> > Anglo-Saxon culture and language into Britain did not occur through
> > large-scale replacement of native populations by invading tribes.
> >
> > The isotopic composition of teeth can pinpoint geographical origin
> >      It seems more likely that there was a small-scale immigration from
> > continental Europe and that the existing British population adopted the
> > customs of these outsiders as their own.
> >
> > "There are practices that are being adopted from continental Europe. To 
> what
> > extent is that a movement of people (into Britain)? Probably not that 
> much,"
> > Dr Paul Budd of the University of Durham told BBC News Online.
> >
> > But the team did find evidence for migration into the area from other parts
> > of Britain during the period. While the isotopic composition of Bronze Age
> > remains from West Heslerton matched local drinking water isotope
> > compositions, the early Medieval group were more varied.
> >
> > Of the 20 locals, 13 had oxygen isotope signals consistent with an origin
> > west of the Pennines. Dr Budd puts this down to upheaval amongst the 
> British
> > population after the Romans withdrew their armies and administrators from
> > the country in the fifth century AD.
> >
> > "At the end of the Roman period there was a huge collapse of a
> > centuries-long organisation, in government and in how the landscape was
> > used. The population moves off elsewhere to exploit the landscape for
> > agriculture."
> >
> > The Anglo-Saxons supposedly began migrating into Britain en masse from the
> > fifth century. Their culture and language has long formed the basis for
> > English national identity.
> >
> > Genetic support
> >
> > The findings broadly agree with a large genetic survey of the British Isles
> > published in 2003. The study, led by Professor David Goldstein of 
> University
> > College London, found that the genetic stamp of the Anglo-Saxons on the
> > British Isles was weaker than expected.
> >
> > Professor Goldstein attributes less than half of the paternal input in
> > England to Anglo-Saxon migration.
> >
> > "I don't think there ever was evidence for a massive population 
> replacement.
> > From the genetics, it's pretty clear there was not complete replacement on
> > the paternal side in England," Professor Goldstein told BBC News Online.
> >
> > "Studies like this suggest that the number of individuals that came over is
> > small and even in burial sites that are Anglo-Saxon culturally, they're
> > actually natives."
> >
> > However, Dr Neal Bradman, also of University College London, suggested 
> that,
> > since the teeth of immigrants' descendents would take on the isotopic
> > composition of the local area, it was impossible to know whether the 
> burials
> > were of Britons or not without conducting genetic analysis.>>

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