Study shows how Viking age left mark on genetics of Scandinavians
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[January 06, 2023]
By Will Dunham
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Viking age, spanning the 8th to 11th
centuries AD, left a lasting mark on the genetics of today's
Scandinavians, according to scientists who also documented the outsized
genetic influence of women who arrived in the region amid conquests by
Norsemen in Europe.
A study published on Thursday explored the genetic dynamics of people in
Norway, Sweden and Denmark dating back two millennia based on 297
genomes from ancient human remains and data from 16,638 modern
Scandinavian men and women.
The findings provided insight into migration patterns and gene flow
during the Viking age, when Norsemen journeyed from Scandinavia aboard
timber longships, staged raids and monastic plundering across a wide
region and even reached North America.
The study found that females from the east Baltic region and to a lesser
extent the British and Irish isles contributed more to the gene pool of
Scandinavia than the males from these regions during this period.
"We have no way to know with our data the number of women involved or if
these women with east Baltic and British-Irish ancestries were in
Scandinavia voluntarily or involuntarily," said molecular archaeologist
Ricardo Rodriguez-Varela of Stockholm University's Center for
Palaeogenetics, lead author of the study published in the journal Cell.
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Historians have documented slave trading by the Vikings as the seafarers
conquered numerous territories and developed extensive trading networks.
"Slaves is one group, of several, that could explain the patterns. We
simply do not know exactly who these people were," added Center for
Palaeogenetics molecular archaeologist and study co-author Anders
Gotherstrom.
The Viking age extended from about 750 to 1050 AD. An important early
event was a devastating Viking raid in 793 on a Christian monastery on
the English island of Lindisfarne, with later attacks at numerous sites
including Paris and Constantinople and trade contacts all the way to the
Middle East.
The study showed that British-Irish ancestry was widespread in
Scandinavia starting during the Viking age. Ancestry from the eastern
Baltic region - modern Lithuania and parts of western Russia and perhaps
Ukraine - was found to be concentrated in central Sweden and in Gotland,
Sweden's largest island. Ancestry from southern European locales like
Sardinia was concentrated in people in southern Scandinavia.
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![](../images/010623PIX/news_e7.jpg)
The Oseberg ship is seen inside The
Viking Ship Museum, in Oslo, Norway September 12, 2022.
REUTERS/Victoria Klesty
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"The Viking age is associated with a marked increase
in the flow of goods, customs, technology and people to and from
Scandinavia," Rodriguez-Varela said.
"It was Scandinavian societies, initial pagan but eventually
Christian, that founded their economy on small farms, internal and
external trade, and plundering. The Vikings were the first people to
visit four continents," Gotherstrom added.
The genetic contribution of outsiders was found to have waned in
Scandinavians after the Viking age.
The researchers wrote that their findings offered "tentative
evidence that gene flow into Scandinavia of eastern Baltic ancestry
and, to a lesser extent, also British-Irish ancestry was female
biased."
"The increase of eastern Baltic ancestry in these regions during the
Viking age is consistent with historical sources attesting to
contacts such as tributary relations and treaties. Therefore, we
don't see any evidence with the present data to support that women
were abducted and brought back during raids," Rodriguez-Varela said.
Men serving as Christian missionaries or monks also may have been
arriving in Scandinavia during this period but may not have
contributed much to the gene pool, the researchers added.
The oldest of the ancient genomes used in the study dated from the
first century AD and the most recent from the 19th century. Some
ancient genomes came from people who died aboard the large Swedish
warship Kronan, sunk in a 1676 battle. Others came from Sandby borg,
a fortress on the Swedish island of Oland where an apparent 5th
century massacre occurred, as well as from human remains inside
ceremonial burials of Viking ships.
"Vikings were an interesting group of people, existing for some
two-and-a-half centuries and impacting the world in ways we still
need to understand," Gotherstrom said.
(Reporting by Will Dunham; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)
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