The results of the largest ever DNA analysis of Viking remains have been published in a large studio published this week in the scientific journal Nature. The conclusions of the investigations give a lot of relevant information both on the genetic characteristics of the Vikings and on their migratory habits, revealing that it was a much more diverse population than what we have imagined so far. According to Professor Eske Willerslev, the well-known geneticist who is director of the Center of Geogenetics of the University of Copenhagen and a member of St. John’s College of the University of Cambridge, the history books “will have to be updated” because the research findings “will change the perception of who really was a Viking.”
The word “Viking” comes from the Scandinavian word “vikingr”, which means “pirate”. And indeed, from what had been reconstructed until today, the Vikings were warriors and explorers from Scandinavia who had made themselves known mainly in the period between the year 800 and 1050, the so-called “Viking period”. Even in the collective imagination it has always been thought that the Vikings came exclusively from Scandinavia and therefore had the typical features of the populations of those territories.
The researchers, on the other hand, pointed out that from a strictly genetic point of view it was not known who the Vikings were. In accordance to he told Willerslev, who is the first author of the study, from the genetic analysis of the remains it emerged “quite clearly” that the Vikings were not a homogeneous group of people, but indeed many of them were “mixed individuals” and did not necessarily have hair. blondes nor did they have only Scandinavian roots.
– Read also: Did the Vikings use crystals as compasses?
The study was conducted by several researchers from the University of Cambridge (England) and the University of Copenhagen (Denmark) and the analyzes were carried out both in the UK and in other countries. In over six years of research, the remains of 442 Vikings have been analyzed, mostly adult males, but also women, boys and children, found in different parts of northern Europe. In particular, the investigations involved the teeth and part of the temporal bone of the skeletons, which were found in Viking cemeteries and several burial sites, such as that of Orkney, Scotland.
#DNA sequencing of more than 400 Viking skeletons finds they weren’t all Scandinavian: https://t.co/dkochj5hgb@stjohnscam @CamZoology @uni_copenhagen @nature #Vikings
— Cambridge University (@Cambridge_Uni) September 17, 2020
One of the most surprising results of the research is that in the DNA of the analyzed remains there are genetic traits of indigenous populations of Scandinavia (Sami) but also of populations from southern Europe and Asia: something that, as another co- author of the study, Martin Sikora, “had never been contemplated before” – if not through literary reconstructions such as that of “black viking», A historical figure who really existed about whom, however, certain information has never been obtained.
Researchers have estimated that Viking genetic material is still present in around 6 percent of British and 10 percent of Danes today. According to Fernando Racimo, a researcher at the University of Copenhagen who participated in the study, this information could allow us to further investigate the selection and changes that occurred before, during and after the movements of the Vikings in Europe.
– Read also: What Viking graves tell us about women
In addition to shedding light on the physical characteristics of the Vikings, DNA analysis also gave interesting news about their “forays”. The Vikings, in fact, were best known for their expeditions by sea. They often raided villages and monasteries, but also traded goods, such as skin, whale fat, and tusks. Through genetic analysis it was observed that some Viking populations had moved to Ireland, Scotland, Iceland and Greenland from the lands of present-day Norway, while others migrated from the current Danish territories to England, and still others from ‘ current Sweden to the Baltic territories.
The investigation conducted on the remains of four skeletons found inside a funeral boat in Estonia, found to be brothers, allowed the researchers to understand that in most cases the expeditions of the Vikings were conducted by members of the same family. In other cases, the similar genetic makeup found allowed researchers to conclude that the expeditions were carried out by people who came from the same village or group of people.
Thanks to the analysis on the funerary remains of some skeletons found in the north of Scotland, it was also possible to reconstruct something more about the population of pitti, who lived in the area of present-day northeastern Scotland in the late Bronze Age. Some of them, found buried with the typical customs of the Vikings, had taken on the habits of the Viking populations without however having the genetic heritage.
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