The genetic history of Scandinavia from the Roman Iron Age to the present

[Grace O'Malley]

Highlights
• British-Irish ancestry has an impact on Scandinavia from the Viking period onward

• Eastern Baltic ancestry is more localized to Gotland and central Sweden

• Modern Scandinavians have less non-local ancestry than Viking Age samples

• The north-south genetic cline is mainly due to differential levels of Uralic ancestry

Summary
We investigate a 2,000-year genetic transect through Scandinavia spanning the Iron Age to the present, based on 48 new and 249 published ancient genomes and genotypes from 16,638 modern individuals. We find regional variation in the timing and magnitude of gene flow from three sources: the eastern Baltic, the British-Irish Isles, and southern Europe. British-Irish ancestry was widespread in Scandinavia from the Viking period, whereas eastern Baltic ancestry is more localized to Gotland and central Sweden. In some regions, a drop in current levels of external ancestry suggests that ancient immigrants contributed proportionately less to the modern Scandinavian gene pool than indicated by the ancestry of genomes from the Viking and Medieval periods. Finally, we show that a north-south genetic cline that characterizes modern Scandinavians is mainly due to the differential levels of Uralic ancestry and that this cline existed in the Viking Age and possibly earlier.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/scienc...422014684#mmc1

[Grace O'Malley]

Just reading this but its nice to have a more recent dna plot of Europe.

[Jingle Bell]

Oh yeah, finally a cool thread abt genetics

[Beowulf]

i read somewhere that in roman era started some commerciants links with Nords and Romans and in that era can be found a little bit of genes from southern Europe but those genes are more in important in Viking era

[Grace O'Malley]

What is interesting in the study is that there was more non-Scandinavian geneflow into Scandinavian in the Viking period but Scandinavian ancestry has bounced back to some extend.

Götherström suggests that what the data reveal about the nature of the Viking period is perhaps most intriguing. The migration from the west impacted all of Scandinavia, and the migration from the east was sex biased, with movement primarily of female people into the region. As the researchers write, the findings overall “indicate a major increase [in gene flow] during the Viking period and a potential bias toward females in the introduction of eastern Baltic and, to a lesser extent, British-Irish ancestries.

“Gene flow from the British-Irish Isles during this period seems to have had a lasting impact on the gene pool in most parts of Scandinavia,” they continued. “This is perhaps not surprising given the extent of Norse activities in the British-Irish Isles, starting in the 8th century with recurrent raids and culminating in the 11th century North Sea Empire, the personal union that united the kingdoms of Denmark, Norway, and England. The circumstances and fate of people of British-Irish ancestry who arrived in Scandinavia at this time are likely to have been variable, ranging from the forced migration of slaves to the voluntary immigration of more high-ranking individuals such as Christian missionaries and monks.”

https://www.classicult.it/en/2000-ye...to-modern-day/

[Stryglogg]

Just reading this but its nice to have a more recent dna plot of Europe.

If we are closer to the Polish than to the Irish, I think the term 'Northwestern European' is obsolete.

[Beowulf]

What is interesting in the study is that there was more non-Scandinavian geneflow into Scandinavian in the Viking period but Scandinavian ancestry has bounced back to some extend.

Götherström suggests that what the data reveal about the nature of the Viking period is perhaps most intriguing. The migration from the west impacted all of Scandinavia, and the migration from the east was sex biased, with movement primarily of female people into the region. As the researchers write, the findings overall “indicate a major increase [in gene flow] during the Viking period and a potential bias toward females in the introduction of eastern Baltic and, to a lesser extent, British-Irish ancestries.

“Gene flow from the British-Irish Isles during this period seems to have had a lasting impact on the gene pool in most parts of Scandinavia,” they continued. “This is perhaps not surprising given the extent of Norse activities in the British-Irish Isles, starting in the 8th century with recurrent raids and culminating in the 11th century North Sea Empire, the personal union that united the kingdoms of Denmark, Norway, and England. The circumstances and fate of people of British-Irish ancestry who arrived in Scandinavia at this time are likely to have been variable, ranging from the forced migration of slaves to the voluntary immigration of more high-ranking individuals such as Christian missionaries and monks.”

https://www.classicult.it/en/2000-ye...to-modern-day/

a good example for this is Iceland wich mostly of their genetic is Scandinavian and other part British like genes that's for the slaves they brought to the isle probably most of those slaves were Gaelic/Scottish but some of them were Anglo Saxons too

[Beowulf]

If we are closer to the Polish than to the Irish, I think the term 'Northwestern European' is obsolete.

the swedes seems to have more Baltic like genes than Norwegians or Danes

[Grace O'Malley]

If we are closer to the Polish than to the Irish, I think the term 'Northwestern European' is obsolete.

Obsolete for who? I'm Northwestern European.

Swedes have more Baltic ancestry but it is nice to have a dna plot with Icelanders. It is also interesting from the study to know that Scandinavian ancestry bounced back in the direction to what it was before the Viking period.

[Graham]

The way its looking these days Scandinavia has more of our genes than we got from them.