The debate on migration and identity in Europe. Antiquity 78 no. 300 (June 2004). 453-456. (original) (raw)
In one respect, the three volumes reviewed here are similar to one another: they are all sceptical of the idea of mass migrations, and ambiguous about the concept of ethnic identity and the possibility of inferring it from archaeological evidence. This reflects current intellectual fashion, and there are, of course, good scholarly reasons for the doubts and uncertainties expressed in these volumes. It is, however, an irony that exactly at the point where identity has become the key question of the post-modern world, and migration is fast becoming the key issue of post-Soviet Europe, academic archaeologists and historians have lost their own convictions and fail to provide the historical guidance that the general public is looking for. There is some evidence that the pendulum of the academic debate is swinging back. This is partly due to the use of scientific techniques, primarily DNA analysis. But there is another irony here. The first results from recent Y-chromosome analyses suggest large-scale population replacement in England following the Anglo-Saxon immigration. In other words: the most modern technique returns us to the oldest model. Those who ducked when the pendulum swung by just over a decade ago should prepare to duck again.
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