The Ancient Roman Teenager Girl from Lunt Street: Blonde Hair, Blue Eyes, and African DNA?
In 2015, various popular publications reported on the skeleton of a Roman teenage girl who lived in Londinium, a city now known as London, in the 4th century CE. The remains were found in a Roman cemetery on Lunt Street, hence the scientific nickname «Lunt Street Girl».
A macromorphoscopic analysis of the skull and skeleton of this 14-year-old girl was conducted. The results were published in the Journal of Archaeological Science. The conclusion was that the Lunt Street girl was of «probable African origin». Preliminary DNA analysis showed that the girl had blue eyes and blonde hair (according to the HIrisPlex test).
Isotope analysis of chemicals in the Lunt Street Girl's teeth suggested she grew up in North Africa, lived there until age 10, and then moved to Britain. However, a re-examination of the analysis revealed that she spent her early childhood in the southern Mediterranean and lived in Londinium from at least age 9. It was also established that she ate fish, vegetables, and grains. Pathogens in the Lunt Street Girl's bones revealed that she had rickets, a childhood disease caused by a lack of calcium and vitamin D in the diet. This condition caused her to have bowed legs. Like most Londoners of the Roman era, she had periodontal disease, which likely accounted for her bad breath. She died at age 14 of unknown causes.
The burial of the Lunt Street Girl suggests she came from a wealthy family. She was buried on a chalk bed. Two glass vessels, possibly for perfume or incense, were placed near her head. She also carried a wooden box with bronze trim and ivory inlays, carved with an image of Vesta, the Roman goddess of the hearth. She also possessed a rare folding knife with an iron blade and an ivory handle carved in the shape of a leopard or panther. Such a valuable item may have been imported from Carthage. A small bronze key was attached to the knife on a bronze chain.
The BBC immediately stated: «there were things about her skeleton that suggested some she had Sub-Saharan African ancestry». Thus, the Lunt Street teenager became «Black British». Such publications constantly make use of such cases, justifying replacement migration in Europe with the rare remains of Black people and people of partial Black descent discovered during excavations.
However, here we are dealing with a shameless substitution of concepts: isotope analysis data, which reveals the region in which a person may have lived during life, was presented as data from DNA testing and anthropological research. This was then used to create a tabloid sensation about a «Black British girl».
When the DNA analysis results were released, showing that the girl was white European, this was no longer reported in the tabloids. Yes, the «Black British girl» with blue eyes and blond hair predictably turned out to be White European. As for the girl's mitochondrial haplotype, it turned out to be HV6, which is found in Southern and Eastern Europe, Western Asia, and Northeast Africa.
It should be noted here that some Negroid admixture in a Roman woman of the late period would not have been a sensation. During the Imperial period, Middle Eastern and North African migrations to Rome became commonplace. But even such Romans with Negroid admixture remained a statistical error, and attempts by left-wing journalists to find historical justification for modern replacement migration in such Romans of the period of decline are an utter failure.
⛓ Scholarly sources:
1. Ridgeway, V., Leary, K., and Sudds, B. (eds) 2013: Roman Burials in Southwark. Excavations at 52–56 Lant Street and 56 Southwark Bridge Road, London SE1, PCA Monograph 17, London.
2. Redfern RC, Marshall M, Eaton K, Poinar HN. ‘Written in Bone’: New Discoveries about the Lives and Burials of Four Roman Londoners. Britannia. 2017;48:253-277. doi:10.1017/S0068113X17000216.
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