New_Scientist_3_08_2019

10 | New Scientist | 3 August 2019

THE Vikings weren’t all Nordic

natives. They comprised multiple

distinct groups of different

peoples, according to a major

study of ancient DNA.

“Viking genetics and Viking

ancestry is used quite a lot in

extremist right-wing circles,”

says Cat Jarman at the University

of Bristol in the UK, who wasn’t

involved in the study. Many white

supremacists identify with a

“very pure Viking race of just

people from Scandinavia, who had

no influence from anywhere else”.

In fact, the DNA evidence

suggests the Vikings were the

product of a diverse melting pot.

We know that the Vikings were a

seafaring people from Scandinavia

who were a major force in

northern Europe from about

AD 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 their contemporaries

(bioRxiv, doi.org/c8v7).

The researchers analysed DNA

from the remains of 442 people

from Europe and Greenland

who lived between 2400 BC and

AD 1600. This allowed them to

reconstruct Viking populations

as well as their movements.

“We have an embarrassment

of riches in the archaeogenetics

world at the moment,” says Martin

Richards at the University of

Huddersfield, UK. “This is another

very rich work, and the first one

to focus on the Vikings. There’s

a huge amount of new data.”

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.

“Although the basic genetic

pattern of Europe was established

by the Bronze Age, around

4000 years ago, there were

myriad migrations taking place

across Europe in the subsequent

millennia,” says Richards. “The

first millennium AD was a time

of massive upheaval,” partly

because of the Western Roman

Empire’s 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.

The DNA also shows that not

all 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 “Viking” is therefore an

umbrella term for several groups.

“It’s always been an

oversimplification, but I doubt

if people are going to stop using

it,” says Richards. “Clearly there

was a common pattern embraced

by many coastal communities

across Scandinavia, but equally

across the whole region there

were many people who had very

little to do with it.”

What’s more, the study also

found that some people buried

in Viking regalia had distinctly

un-Viking DNA, such as two

belonging to the Sami people

who now live in northern Norway,

Sweden and Finland. “Viking

identity isn’t necessarily a genetic

ancestry,” says Jarman. “They had

a couple of individuals who were

buried as if they were traditionally

Viking, but they had Sami DNA.”

The DNA findings line up

with newer archaeological

evidence that Vikings lived in

more advanced societies than

previously thought, says Jarman.

“You have these centres that are

really quite urban,” she says, like

Sigtuna in Sweden and Hedeby,

which was part of Denmark but

is now in Germany. It isn’t clear

how many people lived in them,

but the towns had widespread

trade, diverse populations and

centralised organisation.

Willerslev’s sample included

34 members of a Viking

expedition buried at Salme in

Estonia, along with their boats

and weapons. Four were brothers,

accompanied by a more distant

relative. Many other members

had 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 were wearing ceremonial

clothes and were “not really

dressed for a fight”, says Jarman.

She says it may have been more

of a diplomatic mission, as Viking

leaders often formed alliances

with one another. “You agree to

support this particular person

in that place if they agree not to

attack you or whatever,” she says. ❚

“The DNA findings line up

with other evidence that

Viking societies were more

advanced than thought”

News

Genetics

AF ARCHIVE/ALAMY

Origins of the Vikings

A major DNA analysis has found that the Vikings didn’t only come from

Scandinavia. Their story is far more intriguing, reports Michael Marshall

TV programme Vikings

depicts the exploits

of raiding warriors

The archaeology revolution

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newscientist.com/archaeology