Scientists raid DNA to explore Vikings’ genetic roots

 

Vikings were always known as warriors who plundered the coastline. However our culture portrays Vikings in movies are fictional. There was  DNA studies recently revealing the true genetic diversity of Vikings which the evidence suggested that they were a more powerful group of traders and explorers. The genetic data gathered from 442 humans whose remains were around 2400 B.C. to 1600 A.D buried in areas where Vikings were known to have been. Some places they were located at were Greenland and  Scandinavia with artifacts such coins, weapons, and entire boats. The DNA showed that they were a diverse group with ancestry from hunter, gathers, farmers, and populations from Eurasia. The analysis also showed that they didn’t interact as much within the Scandinavian region as much as they did outside. Which means they were more intimate with a broad range of people encountered in far travels. They found remains in Scotland with Vikings swords and equipment yet were not genetically connected to Scandinavia. What the DNA study does not resolve is the question of how the Viking phenomenon began. However with the confirmation of 442 Viking era humans that were genetically diverse, researchers can now search for Viking roots now. I think this article was very interesting because it shows in whole how human genetics can spread. As well as it spreads even after that era is done.  

Links:

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/history/2020/09/scientists-raid-viking-dna-explore-genetic-roots/ 

Viking Mice Marauders Swept Across Northern Europe

Researchers using the analysis of mitochondrial DNA or mtDNA from the modern house mice (Mus musculus domesticus) that are living in Iceland and Greenland. These samples were compared to the skeletons of mice which lived on the island during the rule of the Vikings which dates back about 1000 to 2000 years and Viking mice in Norway and the UK. All the mitochondrial DNA had come back exactly the same as the DNA from the days of the Vikings. The only place the mice are believed are not to have reached is Newfoundland because only about 20 Vikings ever reached there. This shows that the Norwegian mouse had expanded its range almost to the same extent of the Vikings by stowing away on the Viking ships. Without the ability to analysis mitochondrial DNA, we would not be able to link the modern house mice in these areas to the mice brought over by invading Vikings centuries ago.

Viking Mice

Where there’s a human, there’s a mouse. A house mouse to be exact. ScienceDaily posted an article displaying the “road trip” that house mice have taken with humans. By using genetic techniques on both ancestral and present day mitochondrial DNA from these mice, scientists were able to trace the timeline of mouse history.

It has been discovered that mouse colonization follows that of Viking colonization. When comparing mitochondrial DNA from mice from the Vikings time, approximately 10^th to the 12^th century, to present day samples, we are able to see the path these little hitchhikers took to get where they are today. Starting from Norway or the British Isles, they made there way, via Viking transportation, into Iceland and then into Greenland. In the article, a Dr. Eleanor Jones says that, "Human settlement history over the last 1000 years is reflected in the genetic sequence of mouse mitochondrial DNA. We can match the pattern of human populations to that of the house mice."