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Post by Admin on Oct 31, 2015 14:40:13 GMT
With overpopulation straining resources in Scandinavian farming culture, people eventually took to looting their Southern neighbors for slaves and war booty. Result? The terrifying Viking reputation was created. Yet these bloody raids weren't the center of Viking culture — the ancient seafarers also set up elaborate trading networks, distributing walrus ivory and polar bear skins from Greenland, silks and spices from Constantinople, and amber from the Baltic throughout Europe and Asia. While Medieval sailors in the Mediterranean mostly hugged the shoreline to keep their bearings, Viking mariners sailed thousands of miles on the open seas with no clues from land to stay their course. What's more, Viking journeys skirted the Arctic Circle, meaning they could not rely on the stars to navigate in summer, when the sun never sets. To stay oriented in the land of the midnight sun, the expert navigators used sophisticated wooden sundials to travel along the north-south latitude. And on cloudy days when the sun didn't shine, they may have used "magic crystals" called Viking sunstones that polarized daylight to orient themselves. The Norse sagas recount tales of Berserkers, furious Viking warriors who are whipped up into an uncontrollable rage during battle. While these warriors may have "gone berserk" from the bloody spectacle of battle, a 1956 study in the American Journal of Psychiatry proposed that Berserkers' crazy behavior was the result of drugs: specifically a bad trip from hallucinogenic mushroom species known as Amanita muscaria. When Viking pirates invaded Ireland in the ninth century, they founded the Norse kingdom of Dublin, called Dyflin at the time, which they ruled for more than 300 years. Though the rulers ostensibly had Viking roots, they gradually melded with their Gaelic subjects, creating an amalgam culture. During much of their history, Vikings were pagans who believed in a pantheon of Gods, including Odin, his hammer-wielding son Thor, and fertility goddess Freya. The gods lived in Asgard, an alternate world connected to Earth by a rainbowlike bridge called the bifrost. Norse prophecy foretold that an epic end-times battle called Ragnarök would wipe out the Gods and unleash a cataclysmic flood that destroys the Earth. During the eighth through the 11th centuries, some of Vikings' favorite targets were treasure-filled, poorly defended monasteries and medieval churches along the coast of Europe. By the 12th century, most Vikings had converted to Christianity. It's no secret that the Vikings were amazing sailors. Despite manning lightweight longships that were easily diverted by wind and sea, the Vikings managed to cross the Atlantic Ocean repeatedly to settle Greenland and Iceland. Leif Ericson even reached Greenland and Canada about 500 years before Christopher Columbus ever set foot in the Americas.
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Post by Admin on Nov 1, 2015 9:25:06 GMT
Talks about King Ragnar Lothbrok's death in the fourth season of History Channel's "Vikings" have been going around since the end of season 3, but new reports claim that Travis Fimmel, the actor who portrays the role of the King of Denmark, is confirmed to be leaving the show by the end of the upcoming season. Vine Report recently revealed that Fimmel will soon have to leave the set of the historical action drama to work on the big movie adaptation of the popular video game series "Warcraft," which is set to be released on June 10, 2016. While there are no statements yet from the actor and the network, the previous statements from Fimmel and series showrunner Michael Hirst shared by the Hollywood Reporter after this year's San Diego Comic Con could be an indication that Ragnar might really die next season. According to the series showrunner, he has always seen the show even without Ragnar on it. "I thought it was very important when I started thinking about this whole thing that Ragnar had many sons and some of his sons became more famous than he was. So I can perfectly well envision a world without Ragnar and further adventures for the sons. Absolutely. That's something I really, really want to do," Hirst stated.
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Post by Admin on Nov 23, 2015 7:52:47 GMT
The journey would have taken the Vikings, also called the Norse, from L'Anse aux Meadows on the northern tip of the same island to a densely populated part of Newfoundland and may have led to the first contact between Europeans and the indigenous people of the New World. "This area of Notre Dame Bay was as good a candidate as any for that first contact between the Old World and the New World, and that's kind of an exciting thing," said Kevin Smith, deputy director and chief curator of the Haffenreffer Museum of Anthropology at Brown University. Evidence of the voyage was discovered by a combination of archaeological excavation and chemical analysis of two jasper artifacts that the Norse used to light fires. The analysis, presented at the annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology in Honolulu, suggests the jasper used in the artifacts came from the area of Notre Dame Bay. The jasper artifacts were found L'Anse aux Meadows and the Norse explorers likely set out from that outpost. They would've headed due south, traveling some 143 miles (230 kilometers) to Notre Dame Bay. When they reached their destination Norse would have set foot in an area of Newfoundland that modern-day researchers know was well inhabited. "This area of Notre Dame Bay [is] archaeologically the area of densest settlement on Newfoundland, at that time, of indigenous people, the ancestors of the Beothuk," a people who, at the time, lived as hunter-gatherers, Smith told LiveScience. Aside from likely encountering the ancestral Beothuk, the Norse would probably have been impressed by the landscape itself. The coastline had fjords, inlets and offshore islands, with lots of forests. Birds, sea mammals and fish also would have been plentiful. "For anyone coming from the nearly treeless islands of the North Atlantic, this would have potentially been a very interesting zone," Smith said. "There are a lot of trees; there's a lot of opportunities for cutting things down; it's a bit warmer; it's an interesting mix of resources," Smith said. For any Norse voyagers who had been to Norway, it would have been familiar. It still would have made an impression though, since the lands the Norse had occupied in their journey across the North Atlantic tended to be more barren.
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Post by Admin on Dec 3, 2015 7:38:56 GMT
In Europe, haplogroup Q1a is believed to have been brought by the Huns, the Mongols and the Turks, who all originated in the Altai region and around modern Mongolia. Haplogroup Q has been identified in Iron Age remains from Hunnic sites in Mongolia by Petkovski et al. (2006) and in Xinjiang by Kang et al. (2013). Modern Mongols belong to various subclades of Q1a, including by order of frequency Q1a2a1c (L330), Q1a1a1 (M120), Q1a1b (M25) and Q1a2a* (L53). Haplogroup Q represents a minor but distinctive Scandinavian lineage. It is found especially in the Danelaw, Orkney and Shetland, but also around Scotland, Lancashire, southern England, and, tellingly, Normandy. The Q1a2b1 (L527) subclade in particular is found almost exclusively in Scandinavia and in places settled by the Vikings. Q1a2a1a2 (L804) is also found in West Germanic countries and may have been brought by the Anglo-Saxons. Note that Q1b1a (L245) has also be found at trace frequencies in the British Isles, but may not be of Germanic origin. L245 is thought to have spread to Europe from the Middle East via the Phoenicians and the Jews, among others. Götaland and Gotland in southern Sweden now have the highest frequency of haplogroup Q in Europe (5%) and almost all of it belong to the Q1a2b1 (L527) subclade. The Romans reported that the Huns consisted of a small ruling elite and their armies comprised mostly of Germanic warriors. Gotland and Götaland is the presumed homeland of the ancient Goths. In the 1st century CE, some Goths migrated from Sweden to Poland, then in the 2nd century settled on the northern shores of the Black Sea around modern Moldova. The Huns conquered the Goths in the Pontic Steppe in the 4th century, forcing some of them to flee the Dnieper region and settled in the Eastern Roman Empire (Balkans). It would not be improbable that some Goths and Huns moved back to southern Sweden, either before invading the Roman Empire, or after the fall of the Western Roman Empire, displaced by the Slavic migrations to Central Europe. After all, even ancient people kept the nostalgia of their ancestral homeland and knew exactly where their ancestors a few hundreds years earlier came from.
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Post by Admin on Jan 19, 2016 6:43:29 GMT
Early attempts to retrieve DNA from ancient sources involved molecular cloning [1]–[3], however, with the invention of the PCR technique [4] sensitivity was dramatically improved and soon a sense that “everything” was possible led to numerous reports on DNA sequences from species thousands or even millions of years old (for review see [5]). Eventually it became clear that many of these early results were in fact due to contaminating modern DNA. This was especially true for results on ancient humans because of the abundance of modern human DNA [5]–[7]. In the past few years several studies have taken previous mistakes into account and it has been shown that when strict measures are observed, the recovery of authentic ancient human DNA may be possible [8]–[16]. Recently researchers have pointed out that the generally accepted laboratory “rules” (see e.g. [17]), which are well suited to avoid or account for laboratory derived contamination, may not be sufficient to detect more worrisome contamination added to the material during excavation and subsequent handling (pre-laboratory contamination) [18]–[20]. Furthermore, Sampietro at al. 2006 [19] showed that modern contaminating sequences after about 10 years of storage may show the same amount of damage as is seen in ancient DNA (aDNA), so that “damage patterns” no longer can be argued as an authentication criterion. We are currently analyzing aDNA from human remains from the Danish and Greenland past to shed light on population heterogeneity, population affinity and family relationships. We have obtained mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) sequence results on subjects from an early Christian cemetery (AD 1,000–1,250), two Roman Iron Age settlements (AD 0–400) and from Greenland Inuit (AD ∼1,450) 14, 16, 21. In the present work we had the opportunity to obtain samples for aDNA analysis from ten Viking Age [22] subjects that at the time of sampling were untouched by humans for 1,000 years. The exhumation of ten subjects was performed in a way as to prevent contamination with modern human DNA. Laboratory staff was present during the exhumations and removed the last layer of soil from the skulls and extracted two teeth (preferably premolars or canines) from the jaw wearing full body suit, shoe covers, hairnet, filter-containing facemask, and gloves while being the only persons near the subject (Fig. 3). The sampled teeth were immediately transferred to sealed sterile tubes and transported to the laboratory. Soil samples were taken in close proximity to subjects G1–G3 (see below). The remaining exhumation of each individual was carried out using standard archaeological procedures. Due to the sandy soil the skeletal remains were not cleaned by washing but only brushed. Sexing and aging (performed by Pia Bennike) were performed at the Laboratory of Biological Anthropology, Institute of Forensic Medicine, University of Copenhagen, using a number of anthropological standard criteria when possible [23]–[27] . After the archaeological and anthropological manipulation a third “handled” tooth was sampled from eight of the ten subjects by a researcher from the Research Laboratory using disposable gloves and face mask, and placed in a sealed sterile tube. We have assessed mtDNA variation in ten Viking subjects from Galgedil, ca. AD 1,000, in the northern part of Funen, Denmark. All subjects were untouched by humans at the time of sampling and additional precautions were taken to minimize the risk of pre-laboratory contamination. mtDNA was extracted independently from two teeth, PCR amplified, cloned and sequenced. No bands were observed for PCR blanks or mock extractions (Fig. 4). Reproducible sequence results were obtained from the two teeth from each subject and alignment of multiple clones showed no evidence of contamination (Tables 1 and S2 and Fig. 5). It should be noted, however, that there is a match between G9 and R2 (Table 2) who shares a frequent haplotype in haplogroup T2. R2 has not been involved in the sampling of teeth or the analysis of the aDNA and a uniform contamination of these two teeth and a third tooth mentioned below with DNA from R2 is highly unlikely. Scattered substitutions, which usually accumulate in aDNA as a result of post-mortem spontaneous damage reactions were observed [36]–[41], while consistent substitutions shared by all clones for a given segment were believed to represent the authentic ancient sequence. Furthermore, a test of the laboratory procedures during the study using an ancient Inuit tooth showed the typical Inuit substitution at nt 16111 in the A-segment for all clones [16], [42]. These results allowed the unequivocal assignment of a specific haplotype to each of the ten subjects (Table 1). In contrast with the above results, mtDNA extracted from a third “handled” tooth, which was obtained from the skulls after standard archaeological and anthropological manipulations, showed evidence of contamination with extraneous human DNA; diverging sequences were observed among the authentic sequences in extracts from four out of eight teeth (Fig. 5 and Table S2). Surprisingly, none of these diverging sequences matched the staffs involved in the handling steps, and the origin of these sequences remains unclear (Table 2). The possibility of old human contamination was considered. However, analysis of soil samples taken in close proximity to subjects G1, G2 and G3 at the time of excavation showed no evidence of human DNA; also it is unlikely that an old contamination would only affect the “handled” teeth. The absence of staff related sequences may reflect awareness among the archaeological staff about the risk of contamination and the fact that the remains were only brushed (due to the sandy soil) and not washed as is normally the case during the archaeological rinsing of skeletal remains. We have assessed mtDNA variation in ten Viking subjects from Galgedil, ca. AD 1,000, in the northern part of Funen, Denmark. All subjects were untouched by humans at the time of sampling and additional precautions were taken to minimize the risk of pre-laboratory contamination. mtDNA was extracted independently from two teeth, PCR amplified, cloned and sequenced. No bands were observed for PCR blanks or mock extractions (Fig. 4). Reproducible sequence results were obtained from the two teeth from each subject and alignment of multiple clones showed no evidence of contamination (Tables 1 and S2 and Fig. 5). It should be noted, however, that there is a match between G9 and R2 (Table 2) who shares a frequent haplotype in haplogroup T2. R2 has not been involved in the sampling of teeth or the analysis of the aDNA and a uniform contamination of these two teeth and a third tooth mentioned below with DNA from R2 is highly unlikely. Scattered substitutions, which usually accumulate in aDNA as a result of post-mortem spontaneous damage reactions were observed [36]–[41], while consistent substitutions shared by all clones for a given segment were believed to represent the authentic ancient sequence. Furthermore, a test of the laboratory procedures during the study using an ancient Inuit tooth showed the typical Inuit substitution at nt 16111 in the A-segment for all clones [16], [42]. These results allowed the unequivocal assignment of a specific haplotype to each of the ten subjects (Table 1). To test for phylogenetic consistency, the haplotypes observed for the Viking subjects were analyzed by the construction of the most parsimonious tree through the median-joining network approach (Fig. 6). No unusual substitution motifs were observed. Sequences from two Iron Age villages, Bøgebjerggård and Skovgaarde [16], and an early Christian cemetery, Kongemarken [21] were added to the tree, to see how haplotypes from the various sites fit with each other (Table S3). As shown in Fig. 6 there was no indication that any of the sites form a separate cluster. Furthermore, statistical comparison of the Galgedil population sample with the population samples from Kongemarken, Skovgaarde and Bøgebjergård showed that the distribution of haplotypes does not deviate significantly (KST = 0 and P = 0.561, 0.373 and 0,624, respectively [33]). Several haplogroups that are rare amongst present day Scandinavians were observed in the Galgedil population (three subgroups of Hg H, one subtype of Hg K and one subgroup of Hg X (Table 1)). Given the small sample sizes the Viking population sample from Galgedil does not differ significantly from other Viking and Iron Age population samples from the Danish past by the haplogroup frequency distribution, however, it is noted that five of the ten subjects harbour mtDNA haplotypes which have either not been observed or are infrequent in modern Scandinavians (Table 1). In particular the observation of haplotype X2c is interesting (subject G7). Haplogroup X is itself rare (0.9% in Scandinavians [51]) but has a very wide geographic range, and X2c is a rare subgroup of X accounting for only 5% of 175 Hg X samples surveyed in 2003 [52]. A possible European (Viking?) origin of haplotype X2a identified among Native Americans has been suggested [53], [54], but X2a has not been detected in Europe and the present observation of X2c amongst the Vikings does not support this proposal. Among present day Scandinavians Hg I constitutes <2% [55], [56], however, we have previously observed a markedly higher frequency (10–20%) of Hg I in Danish Iron Age and Viking Age population samples (Table S3) [16], [21]. With the observation of Hg I for subject G6 this trend is also seen for the Viking population sample from Galgedil. Interestingly, Hg I shows a low frequency (1 out of 114 subjects) among other ancient populations in Italy, Spain, Great Britain, and early central European farmers [11], [12], [43], [57]. 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
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