The Vikings weren鈥檛 all Nordic natives. They comprised multiple distinct groups of different peoples, according to a major study of ancient DNA.
鈥淰iking genetics and Viking ancestry is used quite a lot in extremist right-wing circles,鈥� says聽Cat Jarman at the University of Bristol in the UK, who wasn鈥檛 involved in the study. Many white supremacists identify with a 鈥渧ery聽pure Viking race of just people from Scandinavia, who had no influence from anywhere else鈥�.
In fact, the DNA evidence suggests the Vikings were the product of a diverse melting pot.
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We know that the Vikings were a seafaring people from Scandinavia who were a major force in northern Europe from about AD聽750 to 1050: the Viking Age. They are famous for their violent raids on the British Isles and elsewhere, and their epic sagas.
To better understand their origins, Eske Willerslev at the University of Copenhagen in Denmark and his colleagues studied DNA from Vikings and聽their contemporaries.
The researchers analysed DNA from the remains of聽442 people from Europe and Greenland who聽lived between 2400 BC and AD 1600. This allowed them to reconstruct Viking populations as聽well as their聽movements.
鈥淲e have an embarrassment of聽riches in the archaeogenetics world at the moment,鈥� says Martin Richards at the University of Huddersfield, UK. 鈥淭his is another very rich work, and the first one to聽focus on the Vikings. There鈥檚 a聽huge amount of new data.鈥�
The team found that, in the centuries preceding the Viking Age, Scandinavian peoples acquired many new gene variants from elsewhere in Europe. This suggests a major migration from the region around what is now Germany into Denmark, Sweden and the rest of Scandinavia.
鈥淎lthough the basic genetic pattern of Europe was established by the Bronze Age, around 4000聽years ago, there were myriad聽migrations taking place across Europe in the subsequent millennia,鈥� says Richards. 鈥淭he first millennium AD was a time of聽massive upheaval,鈥� partly because of the Western Roman Empire鈥檚 collapse.
It is a bit early to speculate on who the people who moved into Scandinavia were, says Richards, but we do know that invading nomadic Huns caused a lot of population displacement in Europe around this time.
Diverse Vikings
The DNA also shows that not all聽Vikings were alike. There were three major groups, centred in Sweden, Norway and Denmark, and they sailed to different places. Danish Vikings tended to visit England, Swedish Vikings roamed the Baltic, while Norwegian Vikings went to Ireland, and further afield to Iceland and Greenland. The term 鈥淰iking鈥� is therefore an umbrella term for several groups.
鈥淚t鈥檚 always been an oversimplification, but I doubt if聽people are going to stop using it,鈥澛爏ays Richards. 鈥淐learly there was a聽common pattern embraced by many coastal communities across Scandinavia, but equally across the whole region there were聽many people who had very little to do with it.鈥�
What鈥檚 more, the study also found that some people buried in聽Viking regalia had distinctly un鈥慥iking DNA, such as two belonging to the Sami people who聽now live in northern Norway, Sweden and Finland. 鈥淰iking identity isn鈥檛 necessarily a genetic ancestry,鈥� says Jarman. 鈥淭hey had a couple of individuals who were buried as if they were traditionally Viking, but they had Sami DNA.鈥�
The DNA findings line up with聽newer archaeological evidence that Vikings lived in more advanced societies than previously thought, says Jarman.
鈥淵ou have these centres that are really quite urban,鈥� she says, like Sigtuna in Sweden and Hedeby, which was part of Denmark but is聽now in Germany. It isn鈥檛 clear how many people lived in them, but the towns had widespread trade, diverse populations and centralised organisation.
Willerslev鈥檚 sample included 34聽members of a Viking expedition buried at Salme in Estonia, along with their boats and聽weapons. Four were brothers, accompanied by a more distant relative. Many other members had聽similar genetic profiles. This implies that such expeditions were undertaken by groups of close relatives. Based on their expensive weapons and clothes, they were high-status.
The expedition may not have been a raiding party, as the Vikings聽were wearing ceremonial clothes and were 鈥渘ot really dressed for a fight鈥�, says Jarman. She says it may have been more of聽a diplomatic mission, as Viking leaders often formed alliances with one another. 鈥淵ou agree to support this particular person in聽that place if they agree not to attack you or whatever,鈥� she says.
搁别蹿别谤别苍肠别:听bioRxiv,
