Thursday, March 18, 2004

Saxon is the new Roman

These days I fall asleep in front of The Time Team. This is the second sign that you are getting old. (The first is when you start watching The Time Team, and the third is when they come round and dig you up.)

What I have seen of the programme suggests the old idea that the Ancient Britons were driven westwards by wave upon wave of invaders from mainland Europe is simply wrong. On the whole, people stayed put and adopted the mode of living of their overlords, be they Roman or Saxon.

Support for this revisionist view comes from the excavation of a Medieval cemetery in Yorkshire reported on the BBC website.

It's always nice to see your teachers proved wrong, and those of us who revel in a multicultural Britain will have to stop using the "we have always been a nation of immigrants" argument.

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