An apartheid society existed in early Anglo-Saxon Britain, research
Scientists believe a small population of migrants from Germany,
Holland and Denmark established a segregated society when they
arrived in England. The researchers think the incomers changed the local gene pool by
using their economic advantage to out-breed the native population.
This may explain the abundance of Germanic genes in England today.
There are a very high number of Germanic male-line ancestors in
England's current population. Genetic research has revealed the
country's gene pool contains between 50 and 100% Germanic
Y-chromosomes. But this Anglo-Saxon genetic dominance has puzzled experts
because some archaeological and historical evidence points to only a
relatively small number of Anglo-Saxon migrants.
Estimates range between 10,000 and 200,000 Anglo-Saxons migrating
into England between the fifth and seventh Centuries AD, compared with a native
population of about two million.
To understand what might have happened all those years ago, UK
scientists used computer simulations to model the gene pool changes
that would have occurred with the arrival of such small numbers of
The team used historical evidence that suggested native Britons
were at a substantial economic and social disadvantage compared to
the Anglo-Saxon settlers. The researchers believe this may have led to a reproductive
imbalance giving rise to an ethnic divide. Ancient texts, such as the laws of Ine, reveal that the life of
an Anglo-Saxon was valued more than that of a native.
Dr Mark Thomas, an author on the research and an evolutionary
biologist from University College London (UCL), said: "By testing a
number of different combinations of ethnic intermarriage rates and
the reproductive advantage of being Anglo-Saxon, we found that under
a very wide range of different combinations of these factors we
would get the genetic and linguistic patterns we see today. The native Britons were genetically and culturally absorbed by
the Anglo-Saxons over a period of as little as a few hundred years.