Re: [tied] On the connection between archaeological and linguistic

>
> >
> > Archaeologists and linguists sometimes issue decrees that the

result

> > of the other discipline is irrelevant to those of their own. The

other

> > day I read such a statement by an archaeologist. As proof he

offered

> > the observation that if material culture and ethnicity were

correlated

> > then, since the population of the Roman empire switched from

cremation

> > to inhumation burial in the 2nd cent. CE, he would have had to

assume

> > a similar switch in the ethnic makeup of the Roman population.
> >
> > Aha.
>
>
> ***
> Patrick:
>
> Is there really anyone on this list who would defend the idea that

the

> ethnic makeup of Rome _did not_ change after a century or two of

empire?

>

No, I was just curious since in the present similar situation, of
appr. 200.000 muslims in Denmark, only appr. 5.000 are Danish
converts. I wondered if similar numbers had applied in the late
Roman empire. I know also that the first Christians were members of
the large Greek-speaking proletariat.


Torsten