A Middle Eastern drift among the Vikings is at least plausible, as so many served as mercs for the Byzantine emperors. But half? Not bloody likely!Ancient DNA may be misleading scientistsA group of researchers at the Henry Wellcome Ancient Biomolecules Centre of the University of Oxford, in Britain, made the finding while studying Viking specimens. They found that about half of the specimens had DNA that suggested they were of Middle Eastern origin.
by Danny Kingsley
Tuesday, 18 February 2003
But more detailed analysis revealed that many of the genetic sequences in the double helix molecule, which carries the genetic information of every individual, were damaged at a key base that separates European sequences from Middle Eastern genetic types - damage which made the skeletons appear to have originated in the Levant.
But that is the thing that my curiousity drives me to all of a sudden ask: What does that phrase you just said really mean? That Germans are middle eastern? Meaning an Arab or a Persian or a Jew is the same as a German? If so, why is it not classified really as that?