[extropy-chat] Romans (was Economic consensus on immigration)

[BillK]

On 5/22/06, Amara Graps wrote:
> In that Roman mixture was a good bit of Etruscan stuff [1]. The Romans
> assimilated them, absorbing and using alot of their (disparate, since
> the Etruscans were individual city-states like the Greeks) culture(s),
> such as the alphabet, calendar, building technology (arches, waterways).
> The fifth Roman king was Tarquinius Priscus, an Etruscan. The classic
> statue depicting the mythical founding of Rome, the Capitoline Wolf,
> which shows Romulus and Remus suckling at the she-wolf is not Roman, but
> Etruscan [2].
>
> How can you be so sure that the Romans didn't commit racial suicide?
>

This might interest you.
<http://news-service.stanford.edu/news/2006/may17/mountain-051706.html>

For the first time, Stanford researchers have used novel statistical
computer modeling to simulate demographic processes affecting the
population of Tuscany over a 2,500-year time span. Rigorous tests used
by the researchers have ruled out a genetic link between ancient
Etruscans, the early inhabitants of central Italy, and the region's
modern day residents.

The findings suggest that something either suddenly wiped out the
Etruscans or the group represented a social elite that had little in
common with the people who became the true ancestors of Tuscans, said
Joanna Mountain, assistant professor of anthropological sciences.
<snip>

BillK