Vikings in Scotland
Telegraph:
Marauding warriors with horned helmets who slaughtered monks and carried off treasures are at the heart of the popular image of the Viking invasions of the British Isles.
However, a new study gives a more wholesome picture of the invasion, revealing how the far north was colonised by Viking families looking for somewhere new to set up home, especially those from the western seaboard of Norway where fertile land was in short supply.
Viking exploits are thought to have started with the sacking of the monastery at Lindisfarne, around AD 793. Evidence of how Vikings came to dominate coastlines stretching from Shetland and Orkney to the Hebrides comes from a study disclosing the genetic contribution of Viking women.
It is published in the journal Heredity by Dr Sara Goodacre, from the University of East Anglia, with colleagues in Oxford and Reykjavik.
The team surveyed 500 members of modern North Atlantic populations and combined the data with earlier studies.
The study showed the presence of two forms of Viking DNA: one - the Y chromosome - that is passed only from father to son, and another - mitochondrial DNA - that is only passed down female lineages.
The team discovered that the Viking settlements set up closer to their homeland, such as those on Shetland and Orkney, seem to have involved similar numbers of men and women.
Because the overall number of Vikings was lower in Orkney, the team suggests that there was a greater subsequent influx of people from the mainland to dilute the Viking blood.
The study also showed that the Viking genetic signature from the frontiers of their empire, such as the Scottish Western Isles, the Isle of Skye and Iceland was strongly male biased.
The pattern matched what one would expect of colonisation, said Dr Goodacre. More secure settlements close to colonial strongholds seem to have been founded by families, while more distant ones fit the popular image of male invaders who took local wives.
The work backs archaeological, place name and linguistic evidence that suggests complete Norse cultural dominance of Shetland and Orkney during the Viking period.
So much for claims that the Scots are a "Celtic" people.
Related news:
Revealed: The softer, caring side of the marauding Viking
posted by Diarmid @ 10:08 AM
5 comments
5 Comments:
Thanks for the link. I just finished reading about a genetic analysis saying that the Norse were already pretty closely related to the Celts!
Interesting stuff.
What research shows that the Norse are closely related to the Celts?
What an irretrievable racist! The only reason that you have published this is because you think that it legitimizes your claim that the protestant Irish who have been in Ulster for over 400 hundred years should be deported to Scotland.
If it were not so absolutely sickening, it would be humorous.
Your rantings would make Hitler blush.
Incidentally, do you not think that a similarly localised (this was conducted in the northen part of the Western Isles, and the Shetland isles) was done in and around Dublin some equally revealing results about the vikings would come to the fore?
You are quite a dangerous person.
What an irretrievable racist!
What is an "irretrievable racist"?
The only reason that you have published this is because you think that it legitimizes your claim that the protestant Irish who have been in Ulster for over 400 hundred years should be deported to Scotland.
No, I posted this because it was in the news.
If it were not so absolutely sickening, it would be humorous.
Why do you find the news "sickening"?
Your rantings would make Hitler blush.
Don't you think you might be exaggerating a little bit?
Incidentally, do you not think that a similarly localised (this was conducted in the northen part of the Western Isles, and the Shetland isles) was done in and around Dublin some equally revealing results about the vikings would come to the fore?
Since Dublin is no longer under British colonial rule, the results of such an analysis would be irrelevant.
You are quite a dangerous person.
Why? Because my opinions are different than yours?
An irritrievable racist is someone whose racism is so deeply imbedded that they are beyond help.
So you printed it because it was in the news? There were other stories in the news, why did you chose to print this one?
Seems that even you are ashamed of your racism.
You are dangerous because you are a nazi whose sole aim in these posts is to segregate nations along ethnic lines and deport those (as you say in your other posts about Scots) who do not conform to your political beliefs (the ones in Dublin are OK because they neatly conform to your views).
You are quite simply a nazi.
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