The Anglo-Saxons shaped the culture of the British Isles from the 5th century onwards. So far, however, it has been a matter of dispute to what extent the immigrants from continental Europe were involved. Analyzes of skulls from this period now show that the Anglo-Saxons were by no means of uniform descent. Instead, Anglo-Saxon was more a matter of common culture than genetics and origins.
Historical chronicles report that there was a mass invasion of the British Isles in the 5th century. Germanic speaking ethnic groups from the European continent came to England in large numbers and quickly displaced the original population and culture. In doing so, they benefited from the power vacuum that had arisen after the collapse of the Roman Empire – such as the events described in Anglo-Saxon chronicles.
Contradictions to historical sources
But there are some archaeological and genetic findings that have long raised doubts about such an invasion by the Anglo-Saxons. “Some archaeologists report that the changes that accompanied the arrival of the Germanic-speaking settlers took place rather slowly and that they are not compatible with a complete replacement of Roman-British culture,” explains Kimberly Plomp of Simon Fraser University in Canada and their colleagues. “Another reason for the prevailing ambiguity is the contradiction between the early historical texts and biomolecular markers of ancient skeletons, which indicated rather low immigrant numbers.”
In order to find out how many settlers from the continent actually came to Britain and what their relationship was like with the local population, Plomp and her team have now used another method of origin analysis. For their study, they examined the skull base of 239 dead from the period 800 BC and the year 900 who had been buried in Great Britain, Northern Germany and Denmark. “Earlier studies by paleoanthropologists have shown that the shape of the skull base creates a specific signature that can be used to reconstruct the relationships between different human populations as well as with DNA,” explains Plomp.
Melting pot instead of invasion
The comparisons revealed that at the beginning of the Anglo-Saxon period in England around two thirds of the dead buried according to Anglo-Saxon custom were immigrants from northwestern continental Europe, only around one third were of local origin. Contrary to previously assumed, it did not stay that way: around 200 years later, from 660 onwards, the ratio was almost reversed: “In the cemeteries from the middle Angelsachen period, 50 to 70 percent of the dead were of local origin and 30 to 50 percent originally came from continental Europe, ”reports the researchers.
From these data, Plomp and her colleagues conclude that, contrary to historical tradition, there cannot have been any displacement of the locals through a mass invasion or even a population exchange. Instead, newcomers and long-time residents mingled and the latter adopted the immigrant culture over time. “Our results suggest that early Anglo-Saxon society consisted of a mixture of both and that a process of acculturation then set in through which the Anglo-Saxon language and culture was also accepted by the local population,” explains Plomp’s colleague Mark Collard.
“Our findings tell us that it was more a question of culture and language than genetics whether or not someone was Anglo-Saxon,” says Collard. In the time of the Anglo-Saxons, Great Britain was a similar melting pot as it is today: people of very different origins shared a culture and language.
Source: University of Sydney; Technical article: PLoS ONE, doi: 10.1371 / journal.pone.0252477