Viking world population genomics

[Peterski]

Link: https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/703405v1

"Abstract

The Viking maritime expansion from Scandinavia (Denmark, Norway, and Sweden) marks one of the swiftest and most far-flung cultural transformations in global history. During this time (c. 750 to 1050 CE), the Vikings reached most of western Eurasia, Greenland, and North America, and left a cultural legacy that persists till today. To understand the genetic structure and influence of the Viking expansion, we sequenced the genomes of 442 ancient humans from across Europe and Greenland ranging from the Bronze Age (c. 2400 BC) to the early Modern period (c. 1600 CE), with particular emphasis on the Viking Age. We find that the period preceding the Viking Age was accompanied by foreign gene flow into Scandinavia from the south and east: spreading from Denmark and eastern Sweden to the rest of Scandinavia.

Despite the close linguistic similarities of modern Scandinavian languages, we observe genetic structure within Scandinavia, suggesting that regional population differences were already present 1,000 years ago. We find evidence for a majority of Danish Viking presence in England, Swedish Viking presence in the Baltic, and Norwegian Viking presence in Ireland, Iceland, and Greenland. Additionally, we see substantial foreign European ancestry entering Scandinavia during the Viking Age. We also find that several of the members of the only archaeologically well-attested Viking expedition were close family members. By comparing Viking Scandinavian genomes with present-day Scandinavian genomes, we find that pigmentation-associated loci have undergone strong population differentiation during the last millennia.

Finally, we are able to trace the allele frequency dynamics of positively selected loci with unprecedented detail, including the lactase persistence allele and various alleles associated with the immune response. We conclude that the Viking diaspora was characterized by substantial foreign engagement: distinct Viking populations influenced the genomic makeup of different regions of Europe, while Scandinavia also experienced increased contact with the rest of the continent."

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More:

"In order to explore the genomic history of the Viking era, we shotgun sequenced 442 ancient human
remains, from the Bronze Age c. 2400 BC to the Medieval Age c. 1600 AD (Fig. 1). The majority of
these individuals (n=376) were sequenced to between 0.1 and 11X average depth of coverage. The
dataset includes Bronze Age (n=2) and Iron Age (n=10) individuals from Scandinavia; Early Viking
Age (n=43) individuals from Estonia (n=34), Denmark (n=6) and Sweden (n=3); ancient individuals
associated with Norse culture from Greenland (n=23), VA individuals from Denmark (n=78), Faroe
Islands (n=1), Iceland (n=17), Ireland (n=4), Norway (n=29), Poland (n=8), Russia (n=33), Sweden
(n=118), UK (n=42), Ukraine (n=3) as well as medieval individuals from Faroe Islands (n=16), Italy
(n=5), Norway (n=7), Poland (n=2) and Ukraine (n=1). The VA individuals were supplemented with
additional published genomes (n=21) from Sigtuna, in Sweden6. The skeletons originate from major
archaeological sites of VA Scandinavian settlements and activities from Europe to Greenland
(Supplementary Table 1). The data from the ancient individuals were analyzed together with
previously published data from a total of 3,855 present-day individuals across two reference panels,
and data from 922 individuals of ancient origin (Supplementary Note 6)."

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Edit:

Vikings sorted by Polish admixture:

https://www.biorxiv.org/content/bior...?download=true

I think that VK157, VK156 and VK154 have similar results to what I would score here (or my mother, as she has strong "Finnish / Fennoscandian" admix):



In other words, VK157, VK156 and VK154 were probably like your average modern North-Western Pole (such as my aunt from Tuchola; I need to test her).

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In Gotland 5/18 Viking samples (or ca. 28%) have over 50% of Polish-like admixture. Unexpected. Here is the PCA:



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Funen island (Denmark), one man is autosomally Polish (this is consistent with historical records and existence of Slavic toponyms on the island), he has R1a-L1029:



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I'm surprised that the authors used only Poles - without Lithuanians - in the PCA and in other comparisons, but at the same time they claim that those people could be Balts rather than Baltic Slavs. It should not be difficult to distinguish Balts from West Slavs, GEDmatch calculators can do it easily.

Slavic-inhabited part of the Baltic Sea coast during the Viking Age extended from present-day Wendtorf in Kreis Plön (54°25′N 10°0′E - the name Wendtorf literally means "Slavic village" and was probably the westernmost Slavic town along the Baltic coast) in the region of Wagrien (Wagria) in what is now Holstein, all the way to Lipa (Liep / Kahlberg, present-day Krynica Morska), 54°22′57″N 19°26′40″E. The islands of Fehmarn, Rügen, Usedom and Wolin were also Slavic.

Wendtotf (Coordinates: 54°25′N 10°18′E) in the region of Wagria:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wendtorf

Wagria was Pagan and Slavic until the 12th century when it was conquered by crusaders.

Helmold, "Slavic Chronicle", Chapter 57 - "Foundation of the city of Lübeck" - about German conquest and colonization of Wagria:



"(...) Count Adolf started building the castle of Segeberg and fortified it. Because the land was ravaged, he sent messengers to many regions, namely to Flanders, Holland, Utrecht, Westphalia and Frisia, with a message that if they needed more land they were free to come with their families, and they would be given a lot of good fertile land, full of fish and game, rich in vast pastures. He also told Holsatians and Sturmarians: 'Aren't you the ones who conquered Slavic land and obtained it through deaths of your brothers and relatives? So why should you settle as the last ones? Be first, start migrating to this desired land, settle it and benefit from its resources' (...). After that call, huge crowds of people from various nations started coming, together with their families and property, to the land of the Wagrians ruled by Adolf, who promised to give them land.

Holsatians were given safe areas to the west of Segeberg, near the Trave river, including the Zuentineveld [modern Bornhöved] fields as well as everything between the river Schwale up to Agrimesov [modern Grimmeisberg] and up to Lake Plön.

The region of Dargun [modern Warder and Ahrensbök/Stoob] was settled by Westphalians.

The region of Utyn [Eutin] was settled by Hollanders.

The region of Süsel [south-east of Eutin] was settled by Frisians.

The region of Plön still remained depopulated for the time being.

Regions of Starogard [Oldenburg] and Lutjenburg as well as other areas along the sea coast were left for farming to the Slavs, who now had to pay rent to Count Adolf (...)"

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Ukrainian sample VK541 from Lutsk (autosomally >95% Polish, Y-DNA R1a-L1029) was a prince:

[Matxe92]

Danish DNA researcher Eske Willerslev says that it doesn't look like so far that there is evidence for genetic legacy from danish vikings in england. He said that in 2017.

[Leto]

Russia (n=33)

I'm really curious what kind of Russians they are.

[XenophobicPrussian]

Garbage PCA plots, and I mean absolute steaming pile of shit garbage. The Distinct Spheres of Influence in the Viking World on page 27 is really interesting though.

Hopefully Davidski will upload them to G25 instead of blogging about Finno-Ugrics or other shit no one cares about, I'm really curious about the Foggia sample from medieval southern Italy(which wasn't a Viking btw, either mixed or native).

[Creoda]

Danish DNA researcher Eske Willerslev says that it doesn't look like so far that there is evidence for genetic legacy from danish vikings in england. He said that in 2017.

And there may never be, thanks to their similarity to Anglo-Saxons. Norwegian influence however is apparently around 4% across the British Isles

Outside of Scandinavia, the genetic legacy of the Vikings is consistent, though limited. A small
500 component is present in Poland (up to 5%) and the south of Europe. Within the British Isles, it is
501 difficult to assess how much of the Danish-like ancestry is due to pre-existing Anglo-Saxon ancestry;
502 however, the Norwegian-like ancestry is consistently around 4%. The Danish-like contribution is
503 likely to be similar in magnitude and is certainly not larger than 16% as found in Scotland and Ireland.
504 The lack of strong variation in ancestry from Scandinavia makes sense if the Vikings did not maintain
505 a diaspora identity over time but instead integrated into the respective societies in which they settled.
506 The genetic impacts are stronger in the other direction. The ‘British-like’ populations of Orkney
507 became ‘Scandinavian’ culturally, whilst other British populations found themselves in Iceland and
508 Norway, and beyond. Present-day Norwegians vary between 12 and 25% in their ‘British-like’
509 ancestry, whilst it is still (a more uniform) 10% in Sweden.

How much of these figures can be taken literally (a result of Viking era migrations)?

[Peterski]

This is interesting (and remember that it is based on a comparison of actual DNA from Pre-Viking Scandinavians and modern Scandinavians - modern Scandinavians, especially West Norwegians, have British admixture that was apparently absent from Pre-Viking Scandinavia): "(...) The genetic impacts are stronger in the other direction. The ‘British-like’ populations of Orkney became ‘Scandinavian’ culturally, whilst other British populations found themselves in Iceland and Norway, and beyond. Present-day Norwegians vary between 12 and 25% in their ‘British-like’ ancestry, whilst it is still (a more uniform) 10% in Sweden. (...)"

My guess is that Vikings from Orkney and other areas which became culturally Viking later migrated a lot to Scandinavia proper, and this is how this British DNA was absorbed.

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Also North-East Europeans moved to parts of Scandinavia:

[Grace O'Malley]

So the Irish DNA Atlas was correct after all about the Norse input into Ireland. Also Connacht appears as much affected as Dublin.

[Creoda]

This is interesting (and remember that it is based on a comparison of actual DNA from Pre-Viking Scandinavians and modern Scandinavians - modern Scandinavians, especially West Norwegians, have British admixture that was apparently absent from Pre-Viking Scandinavia):

"(...) The genetic impacts are stronger in the other direction. The ‘British-like’ populations of Orkney
became ‘Scandinavian’ culturally, whilst other British populations found themselves in Iceland and Norway, and beyond. Present-day Norwegians vary between 12 and 25% in their ‘British-like’
ancestry, whilst it is still (a more uniform) 10% in Sweden. (...)"

My guess is that Vikings from Orkney and other areas which became culturally Viking later migrated a lot to Scandinavia proper, and this is how this British DNA was absorbed.

Interesting theory that could be true, but I find those numbers hard to believe.

[Peterski]

This study confirms the presence of Slavic Vikings (mercenaries) in Denmark:

https://periklisdeligiannis.wordpres...h-mercenaries/

VK139 is from Funen, Denmark, but with R1a-L1029 and autosomally Polish:



Y-DNA haplogroups:



Edit:

So the Irish DNA Atlas was correct after all (...)

I think the maps show the ancestry of the Viking era samples tested, represented by black dots.

IMO these maps sadly have nothing to do with the DNA of the current population of these locations.

[Creoda]

So the Irish DNA Atlas was correct after all about the Norse input into Ireland. Also Connacht appears as much affected as Dublin.

What were they correct about? That there is Norse input? Hardly revelation of the century.