Dissertation Research: Social Relations and Ethnic Interactions in Post-Roman Britain: A DNA Analysis of Human Skeletal Remains

论文研究：后罗马英国的社会关系和种族互动：人类骨骼遗骸的 DNA 分析

• 批准号: 9800691
• 负责人: Terence D'Altroy
• 金额: $ 1.2万
• 依托单位: Columbia University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 1998
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 1998-08-15 至 1999-07-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=9800691&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Dissertation; Research; Social; Relations; Ethnic

Under the direction of Dr. Terence D'Altroy, MS. Christine Flaherty will collect data for her doctoral dissertation. She will conduct DNA analyses on a series of human burials from the site of West Heslerton in North Yorkshire, England to determine the sex of the individuals and to reconstruct genetic relations among them. The late prehistoric inhabitants of Britain are included under the broad cultural designation of `Celtic.` The country was occupied by Roman political elite and troops who departed ca. 400 AD leaving a population termed `Briton` or `Romano-Britain.` In the following centuries Anglo-Saxons migrated from the European mainland into Britain and rapidly placed a strong new cultural stamp on British culture. Estimates indicate that the number of immigrants was quite small (perhaps fewer than 25,000 in comparison to a native population of ca. 4 million) and prehistorians wish to understand the interactions between the native and invading groups. MS Flaherty's research is directed towards this question. The Heslerton site consists of a cemetery and a rural village with important Romano-British and Anglo-Saxon components. The cemetery (ca. 475-625 AD) is about one hectare in size and contains about five hundred individuals of which 196 were excavated. The burials were partially arranged according to the social status or affiliation of the individuals. One row contains adult males with weapons; another juvenile burials, etc. Some of the dead were buried in coffins and about 130 of the burials contain grave goods. Thus the potential exists for detailed social reconstruction. Through a combination of grave good and DNA analysis MS Flaherty will be able to examine a number of questions which revolve around cultural interaction and the factors which govern relations between ethnic groups. The key questions include the following: how was the village settled in the 5th and 6th centuries? What were the relative proportions of native and migrant groups? How does the biological identity of individuals or groups compare to the representation of social identity in the burials? How, and in what ways, can these data be extrapolated to apply to the migration process in Britain at this time and elsewhere? This research is important because it addresses a central anthropological question. It provides an excellent example of how DNA analysis can be used in social science research and it will assist in training a promising student.

在Terence D'Altroy博士的指导下，Christine Flaherty女士将为她的博士论文收集数据。她将对英格兰北约克郡西赫斯勒顿遗址的一系列人类墓葬进行DNA分析，以确定个体的性别，并重建他们之间的遗传关系。史前晚期的不列颠居民被广泛地归入“凯尔特”文化范畴。这个国家被罗马政治精英和军队占领，他们在公元400年左右离开，留下了一个被称为“不列颠人”或“罗马-不列颠人”的人口。在接下来的几个世纪里，盎格鲁-撒克逊人从欧洲大陆移居到英国，并迅速在英国文化中打下了强大的新文化印记。据估计，移民的数量相当少（与大约40万的土著人口相比，可能不到2.5万人），史前学家希望了解土著和入侵群体之间的相互作用。弗莱厄蒂的研究就是针对这个问题。赫斯勒顿遗址由一个墓地和一个具有重要罗马-英国和盎格鲁-撒克逊成分的村庄组成。该墓地（约公元475-625年）占地约一公顷，约有500人，其中196人被挖掘出来。埋葬部分是根据个人的社会地位或隶属关系来安排的。一排是拿着武器的成年男性；另有少年葬等。一些死者被埋在棺材里，大约130个坟墓里有坟墓用品。因此，存在着详细的社会重建的潜力。通过结合坟墓和DNA分析，MS Flaherty将能够研究一些围绕文化互动和控制种族之间关系的因素的问题。关键问题包括：这个村庄在5世纪和6世纪是如何定居的？本地和移民群体的相对比例是多少？个人或群体的生物身份与墓葬中社会身份的表现相比如何？如何，以何种方式，将这些数据外推，适用于此时英国和其他地方的移民过程？这项研究很重要，因为它解决了一个核心的人类学问题。它提供了一个很好的例子，说明DNA分析如何在社会科学研究中使用，它将有助于培养有前途的学生。