Six percent of UK population ‘have Viking DNA’, brand-new research study discovers

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    Composite image viking skeleton

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    Scientists analyzed over 400 Viking skeletons (Picture: PA)

    A brand-new research study has actually exposed popular misconceptions about Vikings as it’s exposed not all of them were blonde Scandinavians who pillaged their method throughout Europe.

    ‘State of the art’ DNA sequencing from 442 Viking skeletons discovered lots of had ‘high levels of non-Scandinavian ancestry’, with genes from somewhere else in Europe and even Asia.

    The legendary six-year research study, released today in science journal Nature, discovered 6% of the UK population might have Viking DNA, compared to 10% in Sweden.

    It likewise discovered that dark hair was more typical amongst Vikings than Danes today.

    University of Copenhagen Professor Eske Willerslev, who co-led the task, stated no-one might have forecasted such findings.

    ‘The results change the perception of who a Viking actually was. The history books will need to be updated,’ he stated.

    ‘We have this image of well-connected Vikings mixing with each other, trading and going on raiding parties to fight Kings across Europe because this is what we see on television and read in books – but genetically we have shown for the first time that it wasn’t that sort of world.

    A mass grave of around 50 headless vikings on a site in Dorset.

    A mass tomb of around 50 headless Vikings on a website in Dorset (Picture: PA)

    ‘This study changes the perception of who a Viking actually was – no one could have predicted these significant gene flows into Scandinavia from Southern Europe and Asia happened before and during the Viking Age.’

    Researchers sequenced the entire genomes of Viking Age males, ladies, kids and infants, utilizing their teeth and bones discovered in Viking cemeteries.

    They discovered that while some neighborhoods were born Vikings, others embraced the culture or had it thrust upon them.

    They found that stays at a well-known Viking burial website in Orkney, Scotland, were in fact regional individuals who might have handled Viking identities and were buried as such.

    Scientists think this reveals the Vikings were not constantly the harsh predators we view them as which some wanted to combine with other cultures who accepted their way of living.

    Undated handout photo issued by Vastergotlands Museum of a female skeleton named Kata found at a Viking burial site in Varnhem, Sweden. Not all vikings were from Scandinavia, not all of them were blonde, and up to 6% of the UK population may have viking DNA in their genes, a new study suggests. PA Photo. Issue date: Wednesday September 16, 2020. Researchers say the results of a six-year project debunk the modern image of vikings as brutal predators who travelled by sea from Scandinavia to pillage and raid their way across Europe and beyond. See PA story SCIENCE Vikings. Photo credit should read: Vastergotlands Museum/PA Wire NOTE TO EDITORS: This handout photo may only be used in for editorial reporting purposes for the contemporaneous illustration of events, things or the people in the image or facts mentioned in the caption. Reuse of the picture may require further permission from the copyright holder.

    A female skeleton called Kata discovered at a Viking burial website in Varnhem, Sweden (Picture: PA)

    ‘[Being a Viking] is not a pure ethnic phenomenon, it is a way of life that you can embrace whether you are non-Scandinavian or Scandinavian,’ stated Prof Willerslev.

    The research study verified the enduring view that the majority of Vikings in England originated from Denmark, while Swedish Vikings wandered the Baltic area and Vikings from Norway ventured to Ireland, Iceland, Greenland and the Isle of Man.

    However, the group say stays from Russia exposed some Vikings from Denmark likewise took a trip east.

    Professor Fernando Racimo, a lead author of the paper, stated the dataset is essential for the research study of the complex qualities and natural choice.

    He stated: ‘This is the very first time we can take an in-depth take a look at the advancement of versions under natural choice in the last 2,000 years of European history.

    ‘The viking genomes permit us to disentangle how choice unfolded in the past, throughout and after the viking motions throughout Europe, impacting genes related to essential qualities like resistance, coloring and metabolic process.

    ‘We can also begin to infer the physical appearance of ancient vikings and compare them to Scandinavians today.’

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