Viking Age genomes
Ontology highlight
ABSTRACT:
PROVIDER: PRJEB27220 | ENA |
REPOSITORIES: ENA
Similar Datasets
Project description:Fur is known from contemporary written sources to have been a key commodity in the Viking Age. Nevertheless, the fur trade has been notoriously difficult to study archaeologically as fur rarely survives in the archaeological record. In Denmark, fur finds are rare and fur in clothing has been limited to a few reports and not recorded systematically. We were therefore given access to fur from six Danish high status graves dated to the Viking Age. The fur was analysed by aDNA and palaeoproteomics methods to identify the species of origin in order to explore the Viking Age fur trade. Endogenous aDNA was not recovered, but fur proteins (keratins) were analysed by MALDI-TOF and LC-MS/MS. We show that Viking Age skin clothing were often composites of several species, showing highly developed manufacturing and material knowledge. For example, fur was produced from wild animals while leather was made of domesticates. Several examples of beaver fur were identified, a species which is not native to Denmark, and therefore indicative of trade. We argue that beaver fur was a luxury commodity, limited to the elite and worn as an easily recognisable indicator of social status.
2022-06-07 | PXD030529 | Pride
Project description:Ancient DNA reveals the Arctic origin of Viking Age stockfish from Haithabu, Germany
| PRJEB20524 | ENA
Project description:Serial Depletion of Baltic Herring since the Viking Age
| PRJEB52723 | ENA
Project description:Population genomics of the Viking world
| PRJEB37976 | ENA
Project description:A Female Viking Warrior Confirmed by Genomics
| PRJEB22507 | ENA
Project description:Ancient Oral Pathogens Identified in Viking Teeth
| PRJEB75954 | ENA
Project description:The Viking Health Study – Shetland, together with ORCADES collectively termed VIKING, aims to identify genes influencing risk factors for common diseases such as heart disease, diabetes, glaucoma and stroke. The genetic research cohort study in Shetland was established to identify genetic variants, both common and rare, increasing risk of disease. This isolated population has a number of characteristics, the most important being the very large number of distant relatives, which are favourable for the identification of rare variants influencing disease risk. This study describes PCR-free paired end whole genome sequencing (TruSeq DNA PCR-Free, Illumina) run on a HiSeqX platform at 30X coverage on 500 individuals from VIKING. Unrelated individuals from the largest families were selected first, followed by those from smaller families, until eventually related individuals were selected to best represent the variation in the full cohort.
| EGAS00001003872 | EGA
Project description:Multi-isotope studies from human remains from Viking Age graves throughout Norway allow for a deeper understanding of mobility, livelihood, and social organization during the Viking Age (750-1050 CE). Based on a framework of radiocarbon dates (14C), the studied inhumation graves are distributed across a broad chronological and geographical scope, covering the Late Iron and Viking Age (c. 500-1050 CE). Results of multi-isotope analyses (δ18O/δ13C/δ15N) in tandem with a cultural historical approach question the hegemonic masculinity associated with the "violent Vikings" and the apparent preconception of stationary women and mobile males in Viking Age Norway, thus challenging conjectural behavioral distinctions between women, men, and children. The analysis points towards diversity following a north-south gradient in terms of dietary preferences (δ13C/δ15N), which demonstrates a higher degree of marine consumption in northern Norway, as opposed to the southern regions; similar patterns are also observed through the mobility study (δ18O), which uncovers high levels of migration in the study population.
| S-EPMC9579023 | biostudies-literature
Project description:The medieval Norsemen or Vikings had an important biological and cultural impact on many parts of Europe through raids, colonization and trade, from about AD 793 to 1066. To help understand the genetic affinities of the ancient Norsemen, and their genetic contribution to the gene pool of other Europeans, we analysed DNA markers in Late Iron Age skeletal remains from Norway. DNA was extracted from 80 individuals, and mitochondrial DNA polymorphisms were detected by next-generation sequencing. The sequences of 45 ancient Norwegians were verified as genuine through the identification of damage patterns characteristic of ancient DNA. The ancient Norwegians were genetically similar to previously analysed ancient Icelanders, and to present-day Shetland and Orkney Islanders, Norwegians, Swedes, Scots, English, German and French. The Viking Age population had higher frequencies of K*, U*, V* and I* haplogroups than their modern counterparts, but a lower proportion of T* and H* haplogroups. Three individuals carried haplotypes that are rare in Norway today (U5b1b1, Hg A* and an uncommon variant of H*). Our combined analyses indicate that Norse women were important agents in the overseas expansion and settlement of the Vikings, and that women from the Orkneys and Western Isles contributed to the colonization of Iceland.
| S-EPMC4275891 | biostudies-other
Project description:Knowledge of the range and chronology of historic trade and long-distance transport of natural resources is essential for determining the impacts of past human activities on marine environments. However, the specific biological sources of imported fauna are often difficult to identify, in particular if species have a wide spatial distribution and lack clear osteological or isotopic differentiation between populations. Here, we report that ancient fish-bone remains, despite being porous, brittle, and light, provide an excellent source of endogenous DNA (15-46%) of sufficient quality for whole-genome reconstruction. By comparing ancient sequence data to that of modern specimens, we determine the biological origin of 15 Viking Age (800-1066 CE) and subsequent medieval (1066-1280 CE) Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua) specimens from excavation sites in Germany, Norway, and the United Kingdom. Archaeological context indicates that one of these sites was a fishing settlement for the procurement of local catches, whereas the other localities were centers of trade. Fish from the trade sites show a mixed ancestry and are statistically differentiated from local fish populations. Moreover, Viking Age samples from Haithabu, Germany, are traced back to the North East Arctic Atlantic cod population that has supported the Lofoten fisheries of Norway for centuries. Our results resolve a long-standing controversial hypothesis and indicate that the marine resources of the North Atlantic Ocean were used to sustain an international demand for protein as far back as the Viking Age.
| S-EPMC5576834 | biostudies-literature