Genomic and Strontium Isotope Variation Reveal Immigration Patterns in a Viking Age Town

Current Biology : CB
Maja KrzewińskaAnders Götherström

Abstract

The impact of human mobility on the northern European urban populations during the Viking and Early Middle Ages and its repercussions in Scandinavia itself are still largely unexplored. Our study of the demographics in the final phase of the Viking era is the first comprehensive multidisciplinary investigation that includes genetics, isotopes, archaeology, and osteology on a larger scale. This early Christian dataset is particularly important as the earlier common pagan burial tradition during the Iron Age was cremation, hindering large-scale DNA analyses. We present genome-wide sequence data from 23 individuals from the 10th to 12th century Swedish town of Sigtuna. The data revealed high genetic diversity among the early urban residents. The observed variation exceeds the genetic diversity in distinct modern-day and Iron Age groups of central and northern Europe. Strontium isotope data suggest mixed local and non-local origin of the townspeople. Our results uncover the social system underlying the urbanization process of the Viking World of which mobility was an intricate part and was comparable between males and females. The inhabitants of Sigtuna were heterogeneous in their genetic affinities, probably reflecting both close ...Continue Reading

Citations

Sep 18, 2020·Nature·Ashot MargaryanEske Willerslev
Nov 9, 2019·Science·Margaret L AntonioJonathan K Pritchard
Jun 20, 2020·Nature·Lara M CassidyDaniel G Bradley
Jan 15, 2021·Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America·Dan Ju, Iain Mathieson
Sep 18, 2020·Nature Communications·Olivier François, Flora Jay

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