Viking Descendants

Viking Descendants exist today and relish in their heritage

Through their extensive sea travel and territory conquest, the Vikings had an incredibly pervasive influence in lands stretching from the Baltic Sea to the upper reaches of North America. They left a lasting influence in the form of living, breathing ancestors, who make up the populations of Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Iceland, Finland, Newfoundland, even England and parts of France (Downham 2012: 2).  So where are these descendants now, and how can we find them?


Tracing Vikings with Disease


The word Viking conjures the classic image of burly men with bronzed skin, glistening blonde hair, and bulging muscles. However, a recent study of the inflammatory, degenerative nerve disease multiple sclerosis, which results in loss of brain and motor function over a period of years, found it to be more common amongst Viking descendants in Western Europe and across the Atlantic (Poser 1995: 11). Researchers hypothesize that the Vikings were instrumental in disseminating the genetic weaknesses and abnormalities that lead to this disease. This path can be traced from Scandinavia, where the majority of the modern-day population is descended from Vikings; the first Viking voyages were funded by Scandinavian elite, and the spread of multiple sclerosis can probably be attributed to this cultural group. (Downham 2012: 5) Even though this puts a damper on the view of the Vikings as a strong, infallible culture, discovering this link provides a unique method of tracing Viking influence through existing descendant populations.




Iceland and Greenland
Evidence of Descendant Viking population not only found in human remains
       
The term Viking is the commonly used term to categorize the 9th-10th century Scandinavians Northern Europe.  However, in the Nordic countries it is much more common for people to differentiate between the small group which went abroad to rape and plunder, where as the much larger group stayed behind and or colonized uninhabited lands (Vésteinsson 2005:1).  This theory therefore makes the assumption that the settlers of Iceland were not Vikings, but possibly ex-Vikings, according to the Icelandic sense of the word Viking.
Ancient discoveries and evidence shows that Iceland was settled in the late 9th and early 10th centuries, primarily by people of the Norse, i.e. Viking origin (Nofi and Dunnigan 1997:1).  The notorious Vikings, traveled/explored, traded and fought for land all over Europe, and during this time period they managed to settle in land of the North Atlantic, particularly Iceland and Greenland (Vésteinsson 2005:1). They began colonizing Iceland in the late 800’s and descendants are still believed to be there. 

Rat DNA was used to verify Viking descendents

With all of the archaeological finds of ancient Viking goods and human remains, a recent discovery shows there are other ways to prove descendant population in a certain area.  A recent study has shown and given evidence that there are in fact descendants of Viking population still in Iceland and Greenland. The evidence here is mice, and as astonishing and surprising as it may seem, scientist have compared modern mouse DNA with ancient samples from mouse bones found at archaeological sites (Waugh 2012:1).  Scientists have found that these common rodents of Iceland are descendants from the 10th century Vikings. 


 Dr Eleanor Jones, from the University of York, said: ‘Human settlement history over the last 1,000 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’ (Waugh 2012:1).  The most obvious explanation for this is the mice simply made their way onto the Viking ships and long boats during the Vikings exploration, and when the Vikings settled in Iceland and Greenland, so did the mice.  As out of the ordinary as this may seem, it gives people yet more understanding and answers about past cultures, in this case the mighty Vikings.  This goes to show that archaeologists do not always have to discover human remains, treasures, or other buried goods to learn about ancient cultures and their descendant populations.




Sources

Downham, Clare. "Viking Ethnicities: A Historiographic Overview." History Compass 10.1 (2012):   1-12. Print.
Nofi and Dunnigan.  1997.  “Vikings and Normans.”  Retrieved from: http://www.hyw.com/books/history/vikings_.htm  April 19, 2012. 
Orri Vésteinsson. Where have remains of the Vikings been found?“. The Icelandic Web of Science 5.3.2005. (Skoðað 19.4.2012).   Retrieved from: http://www.why.is/svar.php?id=4790.  April 19, 2012. 
Poser, C. M. "Viking Voyages: The Origin of Multiple Sclerosis?: An Essay in Medical History." Acta Neurologica Scandinavica 91.S161 (1995): 11-22. Web. 23 Apr. 2012.
Waugh, Rob.  March 19, 2012.  How the Vikings invaded with fire, the sword... and MICE: Rodents 'hitched lifts' on longboats in 10th Century.  Retrieved from: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/  April 15, 2012.