Posted on 05/28/2008 6:46:59 AM PDT by Red Badger
Although “Viking” literally means “pirate,” recent research has indicated that the Vikings were also traders to the fishmongers of Europe. Stereotypically, these Norsemen are usually pictured wearing a horned helmet but in a new study published in the journal PLoS ONE this week, Jørgen Dissing and colleagues from the University of Copenhagen, investigated what went under the helmet; the scientists were able to extract authentic DNA from ancient Viking skeletons, avoiding many of the problems of contamination faced by past researchers.
Analysis of DNA from the remains of ancient humans provides valuable insights into such important questions as the origin of genetic diseases, migration patterns of our forefathers and tribal and family patterns.
Unfortunately, severe problems connected with the retrieval and analysis of DNA from ancient organisms (like the scarcity of intact molecules) are further aggravated in the case of ancient humans. This is because of the great risk of contamination with abundant DNA from modern humans. Humans, then, are involved at all steps, from excavation to laboratory analyses. This means that many previous results have subsequently been disputed as attributed to the presence of contaminant DNA, and some researchers even claim that it is impossible to obtain reliable results with ancient human DNA.
Using freshly sampled material from ten Viking skeletons from around AD 1,000, from a non-Christian burial site on the Danish island of Funen, Dissing and colleagues showed that it is indeed possible to retrieve authentic DNA from ancient humans.
Wearing protective suits, the researchers removed the teeth from the jaw at the moment the skeletons were unearthed when they had been untouched for 1,000 years. The subsequent laboratory procedures were also carefully controlled in order to avoid contamination.
Analysis of the Viking DNA showed no evidence of contamination with extraneous DNA, and typing of the endogenous DNA gave reproducible results and showed that these individuals were just as diverse as contemporary humans. A reliable retrieval of authentic DNA opens the way for a valuable use of prehistoric human remains to illuminate the genetic history of past and extant populations.
Citation: Citation: Melchior L, Kivisild T, Lynnerup N, Dissing J (2008) Evidence of Authentic DNA from Danish Viking Age Skeletons Untouched by Humans for 1,000 Years. PLoS ONE 3(5): e2214. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0002214 ; http://www.plosone.org/doi/pone.0002214
Source: Public Library of Science
Lately I’ve been studying Viking weaponry and you’re quite right about the horned helmet bidness. Never happened. Likely it was a later costume designer for a Wagner opera that did that, and it stuck.
I’m interested in the actual fighting techniques that they might have used for sword & shield, axes and pole arms. Unfortunately not much in the way of documentation has survived, so it is difficult to say with any precision. Hank Reinhart has done a great deal of research on the topic and has some practical and sensible ideas of how it was done, but much of it is based by necessity on later medieval works, on the assumption that techniques with similar weapons later in time would likely have been similar to the earlier techniques on which they were based.
Anyway... it’s an interesting topic. I think it’s fair to say that Western Martial Arts as a discipline was every bit as practiced with deadly elegance as the better-known and documented Asian varieties.
While the Vikings were of course involved in raids and all sorts of violence, especially around the British isles and north and western Europe, they were also widely prolific ~traders~ all OVER the place. They pretty routinely traded all around the mediterranean at all points of the compass.
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2008/04/080408-viking-hoard.html
Viking DNA..............
Cool. They really loved that Damascus steel, too.
My viking DNA is a lot friendlier than your viking DNA.
Your Vikes are Yikes!
Viking DNA retrieved. None too soon!
I’d hit it.
Man, them’s was the good ol’ days!!!!!
CA....
The USG inflation calculations are already laughed at.
Hey, here’s a great idea. Let’s clone some Viking berserkers from the DNA for use in our military.
I'm ALL for it!.................
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