July 19th, 2006 | researchmaterial 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. Estimates range between 10,000 and 200,000 Anglo-
Saxons migrating into England between 5th and 7th Century AD,
compared with a native population of about two million. To
understand what might have happened all of 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 migrants. 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 Angl