"Racist" Anglo-Saxons

Do we really need this kind of needlessly inflammatory presentation? It would seem to say as much about the researchers' prejudices as their results:

'Apartheid' slashed Celtic genes in early England

A system of racial segregation imposed by early Anglo-Saxon invaders in England may have massively boosted the breeding of the Germanic interlopers, much to the detriment of the native Celtic race, researchers claim in a new study.

This from New Scientist; elsewhere it is even worse:

Anglo Saxons were the first apartheid racists who enforced ethnic segregation and discrimination and which eventually caused the disappearance of native Britons, new scientific research reveals.

The study in question would appear to be a theory spun in order to explain the genetic makeup of present-day England -- a theory based more on genetics than on historical evidence, and by no means the only possible explanation of why the Anglo-Saxons outbred the native Britons. As the New Scientist article notes:

In Kenya, for example, researchers have found a four-fold difference in birth rate between high and low-status nomadic Gabbra pastoralists.

As usual, take a look at Dienekes' Anthropology Blog for a more measured view -- don't skip the comments.

Posted by David on July 19, 2006 12:47 PM