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Post by Admin on Sept 23, 2017 19:27:08 GMT
Figure 3. The principal component analyses (PCA) was undertaken using EIGENSOFT v.6.0.1 (Patterson et al., 2006). The analyses were performed with pseudo-haploid genomes and excluding of transition sites. To obtain information on genetic affinities between the Birka individual and the modern populations, we performed f3-outgroup statistics using qp3Pop v. 204 (Patterson et al., 2012) and D statistics which were calculated using qpDstat of ADMIXTOOLS (Durand, Patterson, Reich, & Slatkin, 2011; Patterson et al., 2012). The results are summarized in Figure 4 and Supporting Information Figure S4.2a-b, S4.3, S4.4, Table S4.4, and Supplementary Excel Table. Maps visualizing the results of f3-statistic in which the individual from grave Bj 581 was compared to (a) Human Origins population reference panel (Lazaridis et al., 2014; Patterson et al., 2012) and (b) Population Reference Sample (POPRES) (Nelson et al., 2008). (c) The Birka warrior plotted against PC1 values for 21 Swedish subpopulations representing all counties and the total of 1525 individuals (Salmela et al., 2011). The three colours represent the conventional regional division to the southern Götaland (red), central Svealand (blue), and northern Norrland (green). Abbreviations for the different counties are as follows: BL—Blekinge län, GT—Gotlands län, HL—Hallands län, JN—Jönköpings län, KL—Kalmar län, KR—Kronobergs län, ÖS—Östergötlands län, SK—Skåne län, VG—Västra Götalands län, ÖR—Örebro län, SÖ—Södermanlands län, ST—Stockholms län, VL—Värmlands län, DL—Dalarnas län, UP—Uppsala län, VM—Västmanlands län, GV—Gävleborgs län, JM—Jämtlands län, VN—Västernorrlands län, NR—Norrbottens län, VB—Västerbottens län The Birka warrior was sequenced to mean 0.09× nuclear and 326.5× mitochondrial genome coverage. The mt-haplogroup was assigned to T2b (Vianello et al., 2013). The total of 11312749 reads mapped to the human genome. When corrected for clonality, the number of reads mapping to X and Y chromosomes were 248,170 and 247, respectively, resulting in the proportion of the alignments (RY) equal to 0.001 (SE = 0.0001). The cut-off value for identification of females is RY ≤ 0.016, showing that Bj 581 was a female (Skoglund et al., 2013) (Figure 3). Hence the individual in grave Bj 581 is the first confirmed female high-ranking Viking warrior. Finally, we note that both biological sex and mtDNA analyses support the single-individual origin of the analyzed cranial and postcranial remains (same sex and mt-haplogroup T) (Supporting Information Table S4.3). Figure 4. The Viking warrior female showed genetic affinity to present-day inhabitants of the British Islands (England and Scotland), the North Atlantic Islands (Iceland and the Orkneys), Scandinavia (Denmark and Norway) and to lesser extent Eastern Baltic Europe (Lithuania and Latvia) (Figure 4a,b and Supporting Information Figure S4.2a,b). Furthermore, the woman is significantly more similar to these modern northern Europeans than to southern Europeans (Supporting Information Table S4.5). All of those geographical locations are situated within the Viking World. A detailed comparison with modern-day Swedish individuals from across the entire country shows genetic affinities between the female warrior and southern and south-central Swedes (Figure 4c).
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Post by Admin on Sept 25, 2017 19:00:52 GMT
DISCUSSION Birka embodies the conceptions of the Viking Age as a period of long distance connections, trade, crafts and warfare. The archaeological material provides a reference for the Viking Age. At Birka, grave Bj 581 was brought forward as an example of an elaborate high-status male warrior grave. This image of the male warrior in a patriarchal society was reinforced by research traditions and contemporary preconceptions (Moen, 2011). Hence, the biological sex of the individual was taken for granted. A first osteological analysis done in the 1970ies identified the skeleton as a female, but this could not generate further discussion as the skeleton could not securely be associated to a context. When the sex identification and a proper contextualisation was made, and set in relation to the objects (Kjellström, 2016), questions were still raised if the martial objects in the grave mirrored the identity of the deceased. Similar associations of women buried with weapons have been dismissed, arguing that the armaments could have been heirlooms, carriers of symbolic meaning or grave goods reflecting the status and role of the family rather than the individual (Gardeła, 2013). Male individuals in burials with a similar material record are not questioned in the same way. Furthermore, an argument can be put forward that the grave originally may have held a second, now missing, individual. In which case, the weaponry could have been a part of that individual's grave furnishings, while the remaining female was buried without any objects. However, the distribution of the grave goods within the grave, their spatial relation to the female individual and the total lack of any typically female attributed grave artefacts disputes this possibility. Do weapons necessarily determine a warrior? The interpretation of grave goods is not straight forward, but it must be stressed that the interpretation should be made in a similar manner regardless of the biological sex of the interred individual. Furthermore, the exclusive grave goods and two horses are worthy of an individual with responsibilities concerning strategy and battle tactics. The skeletal remains in grave Bj 581 did not exhibit signs of antemortem or perimortem trauma which could support the notion that the individual had been a warrior. However, contrary to what could be expected, weapon related wounds (and trauma in general) are not common in the inhumation burials at Birka (e.g., 2 out of 49 confirmed males showed signs of sharp force trauma). A similarly low frequency is noted at contemporaneous cemeteries in Scandinavia (e.g., Helgesson Arcini, 1996). Traces of violent trauma are more common in Viking Age mass burials (e.g., Loe, Boyle, Webb, & Score, 2014; Price et al., 2016). Although not possible to rule out, previous arguments have likely neglected intersectional perspectives where the social status of the individual was considered of greater importance than biological sex. This type of reasoning takes away the agency of the buried female. As long as the sex is male, the weaponry in the grave not only belong to the interred but also reflects his status as warrior, whereas a female sex has raised doubts, not only regarding her ascribed role but also in her association to the grave goods. Grave Bj 581 is one of three known examples where the individual has been treated in accordance with prevailing warrior ideals lacking all associations with the female gender (Jesch, 2009) (S1, S2, and S3). Furthermore, the exclusive grave goods and two horses are worthy of an individual with responsibilities concerning strategy and battle tactics. Our results caution against sweeping interpretations based on archaeological contexts and preconceptions. They provide a new understanding of the Viking society, the social constructions and also norms in the Viking Age. The genetic and strontium data also show that the female warrior was mobile, a pattern that is implied in the historical sources, especially when it comes to the extended households of the elite (cf. Steinsland, Sigurđsson, Rekdal, & Beuermann, 2011). The female Viking warrior was part of a society that dominated 8th to 10th century northern Europe. Our results—that the high-status grave Bj 581 on Birka was the burial of a high ranking female Viking warrior—suggest that women, indeed, were able to be full members of male dominated spheres. Questions of biological sex, gender and social roles are complex and were so also in the Viking Age. This study shows how the combination of ancient genomics, isotope analyses and archaeology can contribute to the rewriting of our understanding of social organization concerning gender, mobility and occupation patterns in past societies. Charlotte Hedenstierna-Jonson et al. A female Viking warrior confirmed by genomics, American Journal of Physical Anthropology (2017).
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Post by Admin on Jan 27, 2018 18:44:18 GMT
A HISTORY talk about the Vikings’ occupation of Wirral will take place in Weaverham next week. DNA and the Vikings, organised by the Weaverham History Society, will take place at The University Primary Academy on Tuesday, January 9, from 7pm. The talk will be held by Stephen Harding, who is a professor of Applied Biology University of Nottingham and a knight of the First Class of the Royal Norwegian Order of Merit. Professor Harding was awarded this honour in 2012 in recognition of all his work. He is noted for the discovery of high levels of Scandanavian genes in the ancestral population of north west England and helped organise the sailing of a Viking Longship from Norway to Wallasey in 2002. He has also been the Director of Macromolecular Hydrodynamics since its foundation in 1987 and is a member of the Centre of the Study of the Viking Age. On Tuesday, he will discuss what life was like in Wirral when the Viking settlers first arrived. A spokesman for the Weaverham History Society said: “At one time Wirral was a mini state with its own language – the old Viking language called Old Norse. “DNA analysis of samples taken from men from Wirral families has shown that nearly half have the strongest matches with Scandanavians.”
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Post by Admin on Nov 9, 2018 18:10:09 GMT
Let no one ever accuse Michael Hirst of playing it safe with History’s flagship scripted drama Vikings. Simultaneously synchronizing five separate storylines, the show’s creator and driving force still manages to seamlessly bring the threads together while forcefully propelling the overall narrative that features a clash of cultures. Ivar has his Christian, the beautiful nun turns out to be a cutthroat killer, and Floki plays “chicken” with Lagertha. Somewhere, the gods are smiling. “The Prisoner” opens with an eight-minute battle sequence of Saxon bluster, and as Aethelwulf triumphantly reclaims York. Shifting quickly to the sewers below the city, the camera shows us Ivar strategically preparing his men to emerge and commence the slaughter of the Christians, and we realize that one again the Saxons have been outsmarted. While this extended scene might seem a bit excessive, its steady pace matches that of the episode and series, and there’s never a feeling that the story is being held back with Vikings. There’s a lot packed into this eight minutes, not the least of which is the one-on-one Hvitserk momentarily engages in with King Aethelwulf; the future king Alfred also more than holds his own in the fray. Nevertheless, once it becomes clear the Norsemen have again routed the Saxons, ever the showman Ivar watches as Heahmund has his horse shot out from under him, leaving him alone and surrounded. “He is too great a warrior to fight on foot,” Ivar tells his men and commands that the bishop be given the Viking leader’s horse. His insistence on humiliating Heahmund before taking him prisoner stands in stark contrast to his father’s abduction of Athelstan. Though each briefly makes his god’s case, Ivar may be more interested in the bishop as a pawn than a source of spiritual enlightenment. On the one hand, it’s continually fascinating that the invading Vikings are viewed more sympathetically in their confrontations with Christianity, but what primarily comes out of this aspect of the narrative is the detail to which Ivar goes in constructing his battle plans. Though we rarely see him during the initial stages, time after time his successes show he has considered even the smallest detail and anticipated his foes' every move. He’s a brilliant military strategist, and watching Aethelwulf attempt to explain to the queen how their great army allowed itself to be defeated by the pagan horde is absolutely painful. “I thought that God had at last seen fit to be merciful unto us. I was wrong, Judith.” Though this may be the last we see of the Saxons and Aethelwulf, Ivar’s saga with Bishop Heahmund is only just beginning. While the suffering man of God lies chained helplessly on the floor, Ivar’s evil grin belies the depth of cruelty he possesses, and the crucifix he’s placed just out of reach of the bishop sends an unmistakable message. Your God can’t help you. Whether Ivar is capable of taking advice and learning from mistakes has been unclear, so when Hvitserk suggests returning to Kattegat rather than setting out to annihilate the Saxons, his willingness to listen to his brother’s suggestion shows growth. Ivar now has someone that he not only can trust, but whose proposals bear serious consideration. Vikings: Season 5 Pre-Premiere Live Show | History
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Post by Admin on Nov 10, 2018 18:13:42 GMT
According to historians, the Viking Age began on June 8, A.D. 793, at an island monastery off the coast of northern England. A contemporary chronicle recorded the moment with a brief entry: “The ravages of heathen men miserably destroyed God’s church on Lindisfarne, with plunder and slaughter.” The “heathen men” were Vikings, fierce warriors who sailed from Scandinavia and bore down on their prey in Europe and beyond in sleek, fast-sailing ships. In the centuries that followed, the Vikings’ vessels carried them deep into Russia and as far south as Constantinople, Sicily, and possibly even North Africa. They organized flotillas capable of carrying warriors across vast distances, and terrorized the English, Irish, and French coasts with lightning-fast raids. Exploratory voyages to the west took them all the way to North America. The Vikings’ explosion across Europe and Asia and into the Americas was the result of the right combination of tools, technology, adventurousness, and ferocity. They came to be known as an unstoppable force capable of raiding and trading on four continents, yet our understanding of what led up to that June day on Lindisfarne is surprisingly shaky. A recent discovery on a remote Baltic island is beginning to change that. Two ships filled with slain warriors uncovered on the Estonian island of Saaremaa may help archaeologists and historians understand how the Vikings’ warships evolved from short-range, rowed craft to sailing ships; where the first warriors came from; and how their battle tactics developed. “We all agree these burials are Scandinavian in origin,” says Marge Konsa, an archaeologist at the University of Tartu. “This is our first taste of the Viking era.” Between them, the two boats contain the remains of dozens of men. Seven lay haphazardly in the smaller of the two boats, which was found first. Nearby, in the larger vessel, 33 men were buried in a neat pile, stacked like wood, together with their weapons and animals. The site seems to be a hastily arranged mass grave, the final resting place for Scandinavian warriors killed in an ill-fated raid on Saaremaa, or perhaps waylaid on a remote beach by rivals. The archaeologists believe the men died in a battle some time between 700 and 750, perhaps almost as much as a century before the Viking Age officially began. This was an era scholars call the Vendel period, a transitional time not previously known for far-reaching voyages—or even for sails. The two boats themselves bear witness to the tremendous technological transformations in the eighth-century Baltic. In 2008, workers digging trenches for electrical cables in the tiny island town of Salme uncovered human bones and a variety of odd objects that they unceremoniously piled next to their trench. Local authorities at first assumed the remains belonged to a luckless WWII soldier, until Konsa arrived and recognized a spearhead and carved-bone gaming pieces among the artifacts, clear signs the remains belonged to someone from a much earlier conflict. Together with a small team, Konsa dug a little deeper and soon found traces of a boat’s hull. Nearly all of the craft’s timber had rotted away, leaving behind only discolorations in the soil. But 275 of the iron rivets holding the boat together remained in place, allowing the researchers to reconstruct the outlines of the 38-foot-long craft. Soon Konsa realized she had found something unique for this place and period. “This isn’t a fishing boat, it’s a war boat,” Konsa says. “It’s quite fast and narrow, and also quite light.” Based on radiocarbon dating of tiny fragments of boat timbers, Konsa estimates the vessel was built between 650 and 700, and perhaps repaired and patched for decades before making its final voyage. It had no sail, and would have been rowed for short stretches along the Baltic coast, or between islands to make the journey from Scandinavia to the seafarers’ hunting grounds farther east. From bones found inside the boat, Konsa pieced together the remains of the seven men, all between the ages of 18 and 45. She also found knives, whetstones, and a bone comb among the remains. The craft was a remarkable find—the first such boat ever recovered in Estonia, complete with the bodies of its slain crew. Two years later, Jüri Peets, an archaeologist at the University of Tallinn, uncovered evidence of another, far larger and more technologically sophisticated craft just 100 feet away from the first boat. Soon workmen were ripping up a nearby road to reveal the vessel they dubbed Salme 2—the smaller boat would later be called Salme 1. The Vikings’ tremendous geographic reach, from Nova Scotia to Constantinople, was made possible by their mastery of the ocean, particularly the sail. However, archaeologically speaking, there’s not a great deal of evidence for sailing in the Baltic until roughly 820, when researchers think a 60-foot-long vessel, called the Oseberg ship, was built. Discovered in 1904, the Oseberg ship was used for the burial of a high-ranking Viking woman in what is today Norway.
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