This morning's reading: Robert Hedges' chapter on molecular evidence/methodologies for identifying post-Roman migration & demographic changepic.twitter.com/WjDqXnnBvC
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I was simultaneously taken aback & impressed by tenor of chapter - very frank summary of shortcomings & outlook for DNA etc.
often presented as 'magic bullet' for solving question of no. of ASs etc, but not convinced! Subsequent studies likewise >
> don't really convince e.g. the recent nature one:https://twitter.com/caitlinrgreen/status/578502346667347968 …
I moaned about assumptions made in Weale et al 2003 in book too, pp.124-5: lots of issues in my view! Isotopes equally >
> suspicious e.g. recent ones from Kent could be locals who ate lots of stews, or migrants from N. Denmark, or 'Saxons' >
> previously based on SW coast of France, as we know some were! E.g. textual sources & cem at Herpeshttps://mobile.twitter.com/caitlinrgreen/status/729046706059415555 …
> And even if ppl in cems all def migrants, still doesn't answer Q as what about majority of popn prob not in these graves?!
Fun thread. To me (a very nonexpert), a lot of isotope conclusions seem to take data past what it can support
Def can seem that way sometimes! For my money, results are of esp interest if exceptionally low or high, but >
> when within normal British/West European range, or only a bit above local etc, then more open to question...
This is v much my feeling too. Alex Woolf is great on such matters (sceptical but well-informed).
Heard a geneticist speak @ Leeds 2 years back, brilliantly dismissive of those headline-grabbing modern DNA studies
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