LivingDNA Viking Upgrade

[Grace O'Malley]

Anyone interested in trying this? I have done the upgrade to see what results I get as I'm 100% Ireland on Living DNA.

https://i.imgur.com/8W3Xep4.png

Description
With our Viking DNA analysis we estimate the amount of DNA you share with the ancient Vikings, who lived 1,000 years ago in Scandinavia and spread across Northern Europe and over to Iceland, Greenland and even Canada. We also compute your genetic similarity against four Viking populations that we have identified (Norwegian Vikings, Swedish and Danish Vikings, British and North Atlantic Vikings, and Eastern European Vikings) and tell you which population group you are genetically closest to.

Is the Viking DNA Upgrade appropriate for me?
The Viking DNA Upgrade will provide a result specific to the DNA of the user. As Vikings were European, users that do not have any European ancestry may not find their Viking DNA Upgrade results particularly meaningful to them.

What does my Viking DNA Upgrade include?
The Viking DNA Upgrade tells you how Viking your DNA is. We compare your DNA to Viking population models derived from the DNA of ancient Viking remains.

First, we provide you with your Viking Index score. This number shows how much DNA you share with Ancient Vikings when compared to the DNA of ancient Vikings and non-Vikings. In order to interpret and contextualise the result we then compare it to those of all Living DNA users. This allows you to see where your result falls in comparison to the whole range of Viking Indexes across the Living DNA user base. For example, if your Viking Index is 80%, this means that you have more Viking DNA than 80% of all Living DNA customers.

Second, we tell you which of the 4 Viking Population groups we've identified is most similar to your DNA. These Viking groups are Norwegian Vikings, Swedish and Danish Vikings, British and North Atlantic Vikings, and Eastern European Vikings.

We also provide a brief introduction to Viking history, and information specific to the Viking population that is your closest DNA match. This includes a map of the geographic region that your Viking population originated, and we provide a description of our methods and cite the published sources we have used.

What does my Viking Index Score mean?
The Viking index tries to answer the question: "How much Viking DNA do you have?". This index shows the amount of DNA you share with the ancient Vikings that lived 1,000 years ago. First, the genetic similarities between your DNA and the DNA obtained from 446 ancient Viking samples are computed. This number shows how much DNA you share with Vikings when the particular part of the DNA which is different between the studied Vikings and non-Vikings is analysed. Then, in order to interpret and contextualise this calculation, we compare it to that of all Living DNA users, which gives you the Viking Index result. This allows you to see where your result falls in comparison to the whole range of Viking Indexes across the Living DNA user base. For example, if your Viking Index is 80%, this means that you have more Viking DNA than 80% of all Living DNA customers.

How do we estimate your closest Viking population group?
Ancient human remains from the Viking Age were excavated in a diverse set of archaeological sites within the current borders of the United Kingdom (including mainland Great Britain and the Orkney Islands), Ireland, Iceland, Denmark (mainland, the Faroe Islands and Greenland), Norway, Sweden, Estonia, Ukraine, Poland and Russia. The DNA data from 446 remains were used to derive distinct population models. We compare your DNA to these models in order to determine which population you are most similar to.

[Ellethwyn]

I haven't. I am curious, what were your results? :)

[Grace O'Malley]

I haven't. I am curious, what were your results? :)

I've just purchased them not long ago Ellethwyn so will post as soon as they are processed.

[Dick]

No, I'm not interested in dna as much as I used to be but you made me curious to log on to my Livingdna account which I haven't for almost two years and since you're the OP, this Irish as fuck match caught my eye. It probably goes back to the Dark Ages or some shit like that but still makes me curious as to how we're related anyway.

https://i.ibb.co/513DvWM/irish.png

[Grace O'Malley]

No, I'm not interested in dna as much as I used to be but you made me curious to log on to my Livingdna account which I haven't for almost two years and since you're the OP, this Irish as fuck match caught my eye. It probably goes back to the Dark Ages or some shit like that but still makes me curious as to how we're related anyway.

https://i.ibb.co/513DvWM/irish.png

In Ireland as well and you can't get a more Irish name than that. Yes you do lose your initial enthusiasm especially when you've done so many tests and uploaded your dna to loads of sites.

What I have been looking forward to is commercial dna testing companies comparing your dna to ancient genomes so this might be the start of the testing companies doing this.

It would be interesting to find out how you are connected with that Irish match.

[Grace O'Malley]

These are my results. I'd be interested to see what others get. Norway makes sense historically but I would have thought I'd get a much larger chunk of Vikings of Great Britain, Ireland and Iceland.

https://i.imgur.com/wgyrB9u.png

Vikings of Norway
Although we might think of the vikings as a single people, the inhabitants of Scandinavia who lived around 800 AD in regions that became the modern day countries of Denmark, Sweden and Norway were not actually a homogenous population. While these Norsemen did share their language, cultural traditions and craft styles, they were ruled through local kingdoms and lordships. Certain settlements, such as Hedeby in Denmark, Trondheim in Norway and Birka in Sweden are considered to be places of regional power, and associated with the development of metallurgy and trade.

The Vikings of coastal Norway were among the most adventurous, sailing and plundering westwards and settling the Faroe Islands, Orkney, the Shetlands Islands, and Ireland. In 841 it was Norwegian vikings who founded the city of Dublin. Between 879 and 920 AD a colony was also founded in Iceland. This became the origin for the colonisation of Greenland, and later North America. The remains of a Viking settlement at L’Anse aux Meadows in Newfoundland have been carbon dated to one millennia ago.

Some more information on their technique.

Our science team have been lucky enough to have access to data from 3 scientific papers which have studied Viking archeological sites across the UK, Ireland, Iceland, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Estonia, Ukraine, Poland, and Russia. In total 80 sites were covered by these studies.

This meant they were able to analyse the information from a whopping 446 genetic samples, mostly taken from the teeth and bones of the individuals buried in the 80 sites.

The ancient human remains were processed and DNA was extracted and sequenced in a similar way to the Living DNA sequence.

It’s important to note that most regions where Vikings lived often cremated their dead at the beginning of the Viking period, and only started burying them towards the end of the era, so our samples are skewed to being more recent Vikings.

It’s also important to remember that when ancient people were burying their dead, only the most wealthy or important individuals could afford a burial that would not only be visible to modern-day archaeologists, but also protect their remains for long enough for us to be able to perform these analyses.

The more important or wealthy people in society, even in the Viking era, would have had far wider social networks and been able to travel much further than the average person, which might also skew the data slightly towards our Vikings being social elite from later in the Viking era.

Anyway if anyone else is tempted to try this I'd be interested to see your results.

[J. Ketch]

As far as I can see this update doesn't really tell you anything, so I won't be forking out.

You can pretty much work out the amount of Norse/Viking ancestry you have just by looking at the estimates of ancient Scandinavian ancestry in the Viking paper, which in much of the UK was circa 10%; and known to be higher in Orkney/Shetland.

[Grace O'Malley]

As far as I can see this update doesn't really tell you anything, so I won't be forking out.

You can pretty much work out the amount of Norse/Viking ancestry you have just by looking at the estimates of ancient Scandinavian ancestry in the Viking paper, which in much of the UK was circa 10%; and known to be higher in Orkney/Shetland.

I know it's a bit of a gimmick but I wanted to try it and see the type of Viking it would give me. I wonder if English are more likely to get Danish Viking? It would just be interesting to see if there was any veracity to the results. A lot of these things are like using a calculator and they aren't using IBD.

[Russki]

Sneedings

[J. Ketch]

I know it's a bit of a gimmick but I wanted to try it and see the type of Viking it would give me. I wonder if English are more likely to get Danish Viking? It would just be interesting to see if there was any veracity to the results. A lot of these things are like using a calculator and they aren't using IBD.
It shouldn't be one type of Viking or the other though, while English Viking ancestry is majority Danish there was also Norwegian influence, particularly in Northwest; and Ireland is known to have a mixture of Danish and Norwegian influence.

[Grace O'Malley]

It shouldn't be one type of Viking or the other though, while English Viking ancestry is majority Danish there was also Norwegian influence, particularly in Northwest; and Ireland is known to have a mixture of Danish and Norwegian influence.

Also I should have got the British and North Atlantic Viking category so how are they getting what population is closest? Anyway I don't take these extra tests very seriously.

[J. Ketch]

It shouldn't be one type of Viking or the other though, while English Viking ancestry is majority Danish there was also Norwegian influence, particularly in Northwest; and Ireland is known to have a mixture of Danish and Norwegian influence.
Probably not important, but on AncestryDNA I get minor Sweden/Denmark (2-4% in the last two updates), which according to the ethnic inheritance comes from my Irish side, while my mother gets 7-9% Norwegian in the last two updates, and no Denmark.

[J. Ketch]

Despite the Danelaw, Danish ancestry in England is estimated to be no more than 6%, while Norwegian is c.4%. Looks like the St Brice's Day Massacre was effective in wiping out Danish blood in England. Danelaw areas might have been 20-25% Danish now if not for that, like the Norwegian ancestry in parts of Orkney.

That's just a thought though, may not have had that much impact.

[Grace O'Malley]

This test is just for fun because it isn't really showing you have Viking dna and the final result is just comparing you to LDNA customers. So my result just means I'm 52% similar compared to other LDA customers. Some people could get 100%.

It's not really telling you anything and is just a gimmick.

[Token]

Despite the Danelaw, Danish ancestry in England is estimated to be no more than 6%, while Norwegian is c.4%. Looks like the St Brice's Day Massacre was effective in wiping out Danish blood in England. Danelaw areas might have been 20-25% Danish now if not for that, like the Norwegian ancestry in parts of Orkney.

Perhaps it survived at higher degree among some coastal populations? Anthropologists in the 20th century reported some fishing communities with people who are strongly reminiscent of Scandinavian types. I feel like much micro-regional substructure might have exist in England which may have been largely erased in the modern era due to drastically increased mobility.

In the fishing villages of the Yorkshire coast, where local dialects are spoken in which much Scandinavian still remains, and where the older fishermen still wear T-shaped amulets around their necks reminiscent of Thor's hammer, pure Norwegian and Danish physical types are common, and the same is true in the Orkneys and Shetlands.

In the large, regional studies of British eye color, 62 per cent of English are called light eyed, and 34 per cent dark. On this basis the fishermen of the English North Sea coast have as much as 90 per cent of light eyes, and, at the same time, the Cornish run as low as 55 per cent. Other ratios of 55 per cent to 60 per cent occur in towns and cities scattered throughout England, and seem typical of urban populations. The Cornish, who are the darkest eyed of the English, are still predominantly a light-mixed eyed people, as are the English as a whole. No typically brunet population may be found in England.
https://www.theapricity.com/snpa/chapter-X3.htm

[J. Ketch]

Perhaps it survived at higher degree among some coastal populations? Anthropologists in the 20th century reported some fishing communities with people who are strongly reminiscent of Scandinavian types. I feel like much micro-regional substructure might have exist in England which may have been largely erased in the modern era due to drastically increased mobility.

In the fishing villages of the Yorkshire coast, where local dialects are spoken in which much Scandinavian still remains, and where the older fishermen still wear T-shaped amulets around their necks reminiscent of Thor's hammer, pure Norwegian and Danish physical types are common, and the same is true in the Orkneys and Shetlands.

In the large, regional studies of British eye color, 62 per cent of English are called light eyed, and 34 per cent dark. On this basis the fishermen of the English North Sea coast have as much as 90 per cent of light eyes, and, at the same time, the Cornish run as low as 55 per cent. Other ratios of 55 per cent to 60 per cent occur in towns and cities scattered throughout England, and seem typical of urban populations. The Cornish, who are the darkest eyed of the English, are still predominantly a light-mixed eyed people, as are the English as a whole. No typically brunet population may be found in England.
https://www.theapricity.com/snpa/chapter-X3.htm
Perhaps it was localised selection for lightness in the pre-Industrial era, as much as any different ancestry. I'm a little skeptical of drastic ancestral differences within England, the POBI showed homogeneity of multigenerational local people in most of the country, including North Sea areas. The genetics and anthropology are also sometimes at odds seemingly, the fairest part of England from many studies is the Northeast (Northumberland and Durham, and Brythonic Cumbria is also one of the lightest counties), despite being one of the less Germanic regions genetically, both in Anglo-Saxon and Danish blood. Evidently pigmentation in Britain is not as simple as how much Germanic influence a place has.

[Token]

Perhaps it was localised selection for lightness in the pre-Industrial era, as much as any different ancestry. I'm a little skeptical of drastic ancestral differences within England, the POBI showed homogeneity of multigenerational local people in most of the country, including North Sea areas. The genetics and anthropology are also sometimes at odds seemingly, the fairest part of England from many studies is the Northeast (Northumberland and Durham, and Brythonic Cumbria is also one of the lightest counties), despite being one of the less Germanic regions genetically, both in Anglo-Saxon and Danish blood. Evidently pigmentation in Britain is not as simple as how much Germanic influence a place has.

I agree that there may be inconsistencies, such as Northumberland and Durham (not sure about Cumbria), but overall most studies I've seen show a clear concentration of blondism in the eastern coast counties of England (from north to south). It is also telling that Wales and the tip of Cornwall, the peak of Brythonicness, are by far the most brunet place of Britain.

[Slavic Italian]

Your viking index is 29%
You are most closely associated with the Vikings of Denmark and Sweden

[Catkin]

I may change my name to Helga ;). Though as it seems with many Brits, I got the highest similarity with probably the least likely Viking group for us. A strange test.


https://i.ibb.co/bXmTg5n/E649-B18-B-F55-D-4-EF4-B04-E-43-DDD756-C251.jpg

[JamesBond007]

These are my results. I'd be interested to see what others get. Norway makes sense historically but I would have thought I'd get a much larger chunk of Vikings of Great Britain, Ireland and Iceland.

https://i.imgur.com/wgyrB9u.png





https://i.postimg.cc/C5jRc5B8/Screenshot-20220721-202358-2.png

Target: Kevin_scaled

Distance: 2.6374% / 0.02637406 | ADC: 0.25x RC
73.2 Scandinavia
12.4 Ireland
12.4 South_France
1.0 Oceania
1.0 South_Africa

https://www.exploreyourdna.com/calculateur/30/g25-modern-europe-20-by-celtibero-italico.htm

Target: Kevin_scaled
Distance: 1.1073% / 0.01107338 | R4P
46.2 Denmark_Funen
32.4 ISL_Viking_Age_Pre_Christian
18.6 FRA_IA
2.8 MNG_EIA_5

https://www.exploreyourdna.com/calculateur/29/g25-vikings-in-the-world-nicolas.htm



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yMFvahxi138

[Zlatan]

so I won't be forking out.



must be a Scottish Viking

[JamesBond007]

must be a Scottish Viking

:lmao that is funny. Tight fisted stingy Scots.