We can also begin to infer the physical appearance of ancient Vikings and compare them to Scandinavians today.” The genetic legacy of the Viking Age lives on today with six per cent of people of the UK population predicted to have Viking DNA in their genes compared to 10 per cent in Sweden.
A million Vikings still live among us: One in 33 men can claim to be direct descendants from the Norse warriors.
There are a few different ways that people today can test for their Viking heritage. One option is to research their family history and look for any ancestors who may have had Viking ancestry. Another option is to take a viking DNA test from a company that includes Viking ancestry in its analysis.
The Viking DNA
The DNA test shows that there is a strong Viking heritage on few countries in Europe from England, Ireland, and Iceland to Greenland. Samples of the DNA suggest links to Viking heritage. In Finland and Estonia, there are links for Swedish Viking heritage.
Who are the descendants of the Vikings? Viking settlements exist in different parts of the world, including Denmark, Greenland, Iceland, Great Britain, Ireland, Scotland, Normandy and Swedish parts of Finland, Estonia and Latvia.
While there is no direct evidence of black Vikings, it is possible that some Vikings may have been of African descent. The Vikings were known for their long-distance seafaring and trading, and they had interactions with various cultures, including the Islamic world, where there were people of African descent.
Through DNA testing, it is possible to effectively trace your potential inner Viking and discover whether it forms part of your genetic makeup or not. However, it's not 100% definitive. There's no exact Nordic or Viking gene that is passed down through the generations.
We can also begin to infer the physical appearance of ancient Vikings and compare them to Scandinavians today.” The genetic legacy of the Viking Age lives on today with six percent of people of the UK population predicted to have Viking DNA in their genes compared to 10 percent in Sweden.
Elsewhere, during the period, Viking voyages didn't just spread conquest and trade, but also genetic seeds that can still be seen in people today, with 6 percent of people in the UK estimated to have Viking DNA, and in Sweden, as much as 10 percent.
The Viking invaders may have also had a relatively high percentage of B gene, since many of the towns of Britain and western Europe that are linked to the coast by internal lines of communication such as large rivers, have a disproportional amount of blood group B when compared to the surrounding territory.
The genetic legacy of the Viking Age lives on today with six per cent of people of the UK population predicted to have Viking DNA in their genes compared to 10 per cent in Sweden.
A total of 54 of these DNA analyses are from people found in Norway – 16 in northern Norway, 24 in central Norway and 14 in southern Norway. A majority of the Norwegian people were also from the Viking Age.
Not only did many of the studied Vikings turn out to not be blond or blue-eyed, their genetic admixture shows they weren't a distinct ethnic group but rather a mix of various other groups, "with ancestry from hunter-gatherers, farmers, and populations from the Eurasian steppe."
"We find Vikings that are half southern European, half Scandinavian, half Sami, which are the indigenous peoples to the north of Scandinavia, and half European Scandinavians.
What did the Vikings look like? Overall, Scandinavians had softer brows and jawlines during the Viking Age. Fair hair and complexions were common, but not ubiquitous. Dark hair was common, and red hair had a higher prevalence in Norwegian Vikings compared to the general population of Europe.
The average height of Vikings as found by researchers and scholars, varied depending on a number of factors, including their age and gender. Typically, the average male Viking would usually be between 5 foot 7 and 5 foot 9, while the average female would be between 5 foot 1 and 5 foot 3.
Y-chromosome haplogroup R1a1 has been considered as a possible marker for Viking migrations because of its high frequency in peninsular Scandinavia (Norway and Sweden).
'Viking' is a catch-all term for the people who came from Scandinavia, what is now Norway, Denmark and Sweden, between the eighth and 11th centuries, more properly known as the Norse, or Norsemen.
And several individuals in Norway were buried as Vikings, but their genes identified them as Saami, an Indigenous group genetically closer to East Asians and Siberians than to Europeans.
The events of 1066 in England effectively marked the end of the Viking Age. By that time, all of the Scandinavian kingdoms were Christian, and what remained of Viking “culture” was being absorbed into the culture of Christian Europe.
The faces of men and women in the Viking Age were more alike than they are today. The women's faces were more masculine than women's today, with prominent brow ridges. On the other hand, the Viking man's appearance was more feminine than that of men today, with a less prominent jaw and brow ridges.
Old Norse: the Viking language
By the 8th century, Proto-Norse (which was spoken in Scandinavia and its Nordic settlements) developed into Old Norse – also known as Old Nordic or Old Scandinavian.
British and Irish ancestry was present across Scandinavia at the time, while eastern Baltic ancestry was contained in central Sweden and Gotland, a Swedish island in the Baltic Sea. Southern European ancestry appeared in remains from southern Scandinavia.