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00:00Tonight, on Blood of the Vikings, I follow the events of 1066 that finally brought the Viking Age to a bloody end.
00:13Did this man die defending York against a great Viking warlord?
00:20Could these be the bones of warriors from the last Viking army?
00:24And where can we find the Vikings' genetic legacy in the British Isles today?
00:30Where can in theroad of the army see the blood there?
00:36Where can these beasts leave and survive?
00:39A castle's important 131?
00:53Ladies and gentlemen,ered andardal would be the greatest of these..
00:55Tonight, in the last programme of the series,
01:09we'll have the final results of the biggest ever genetic survey
01:12to be carried out in the British Isles,
01:14looking for Viking blood in the population today.
01:17We're in West Stowe, not far from Cambridge,
01:20where archaeologists have reconstructed an entire Anglo-Saxon village.
01:24Using the results of the Blood of the Vikings genetic survey,
01:27we're going to try and turn the clock back 1,000 years.
01:31We want to find out what happened in villages across the British Isles
01:34when the Vikings arrived.
01:37We're hoping to answer questions
01:39which have baffled archaeologists and historians for centuries.
01:42There are clues that some of the Viking raiders settled down permanently over here,
01:46but we want to find out how many stayed and where they put down roots.
01:49Joining me are some of the scientists who've been conducting the genetic survey,
01:57and we'll also be talking to some of the people who took part in it,
02:00including a few who think they might be direct descendants of Vikings.
02:05But before we find out about the genetic legacy of the Vikings,
02:08what do we know about how the Viking Age in the British Isles finally came to an end?
02:13On 6th January 1066, the death of Edward the Confessor, King of England,
02:22sparked yet another battle for power.
02:25Edward died without an heir or publicly naming a successor.
02:28So up stepped Harold Godwinson
02:31from one of the most powerful Saxon families in the land.
02:34Only hours after Edward's body was laid to rest at Westminster Abbey,
02:40Harold seized the throne.
02:44But the new king had powerful enemies overseas
02:46who also had their eyes on the English crown.
02:51The first direct challenge would come from the Viking king of Norway,
02:56the mighty Harold Hardrada.
02:59Harold Hardrada was an ambitious ruler
03:05whose exploits earned him the name Thunderbolt of the North.
03:09His story is told here in Heemsklingle,
03:12a collection of Icelandic sagas that record the history of the Norwegian kings.
03:19According to the sagas, at the age of 15, Harold fled Norway.
03:25He made his way through Russia
03:26and eventually across the Black Sea to Byzantium,
03:28modern-day Istanbul.
03:33Still in his teens, Harold became a mercenary,
03:37fighting around the Mediterranean
03:38for the Byzantine emperor's elite force.
03:43After ten years, he'd made a fortune
03:46and headed home where he used his wealth
03:48to raise an army and take the crown of Norway.
03:51For the next 20 years,
03:53he fought a bloody war against the Danes
03:55before turning his sights on an even bigger prize.
03:57Aged 50,
03:59the Thunderbolt of the North launched an attack on England.
04:09In September 1066,
04:11a terrifying sight appeared off the coast of Yorkshire.
04:17Perhaps the greatest Viking fleet ever seen.
04:20The chronicles tell of hundreds of ships
04:22carrying thousands of warriors.
04:28And somehow, the Vikings had managed to keep
04:32all of their preparations secret
04:33because when they arrived here at the mouth of the Humber,
04:37King Harold of England was 200 miles to the south.
04:40Harold Hardrada's fleet made its way up the River Ouse towards York.
04:53Ten miles from the city,
04:55the Vikings moored their ships
04:56and headed inland.
04:58The English earls defending the city
05:04gathered what troops they could
05:05and marched out to Fulford
05:07to confront the Vikings.
05:09The English fought to the bitter end,
05:31but they were no match for Harold Hardrada.
05:34Fulford is now a suburb of York.
05:48A few years ago,
05:49when a new riverside development was being built,
05:52an ancient burial ground was discovered.
05:58Amongst the skeletons
06:00were some that showed signs of mutilation.
06:02In this burial ground,
06:05we found quite a number of skeletons,
06:07but one particular group,
06:08close together,
06:09all of them had injuries on the bodies.
06:12On this particular individual, for example,
06:14we've got evidence of a fierce combat,
06:17something nasty,
06:18which left him marked in many ways.
06:22Someone has slashed at him with a sword
06:24and cut deeply into the bone,
06:26right through.
06:28He's also been thrust through the abdomen,
06:30perhaps with a spear.
06:32Someone's gone hard in like that.
06:36So this is someone who's been involved
06:38in fierce combat,
06:39who's been hacked down,
06:41who's suffered many wounds,
06:42and in that combination,
06:44there's only one way he's going to end up,
06:46and that's dead.
06:49Almost every bone they looked at
06:51showed signs of violent injury.
06:52This is another femur,
06:56another thigh bone,
06:57and you can see very clearly
06:58these massive hacks in here,
06:59which have done considerable damage.
07:02Here, we've got someone
07:03who's perhaps decapitated.
07:05Here, someone who's actually
07:07had the top of their skull
07:09virtually sliced off.
07:11To get a group like this
07:13suggests they're the product
07:14of some major fight.
07:15So we think that these are
07:17people who were killed
07:18in the Battle of Fulford,
07:1920th of September, 1066.
07:22And these could be people,
07:23victims of that fight,
07:24who were taken back
07:25to one of the nearest
07:25Anglo-Saxon churches
07:27for burial.
07:27It was first blood
07:33to Harold Hardrada.
07:35These men had been struck down
07:37defending York,
07:38but now the Vikings
07:39would have to face
07:39the full might
07:40of the English army.
07:45After his great victory,
07:47Harold Hardrada
07:48withdrew from York
07:49to await the hostages
07:50and ransom money
07:51he'd been promised.
07:55In the afternoon of Monday,
07:56September the 25th,
07:58just five days after
07:59the Battle of Fulford,
08:01King Harold of England
08:02reached the Viking camp
08:03at Stamford Bridge.
08:09According to the Chronicles,
08:10as he came up
08:11over the brow of a hill,
08:12he saw the Vikings
08:13camped out in the valley below.
08:16Harold Hardrada,
08:17taken totally by surprise
08:18by King Harold's
08:19lightning-quick march,
08:20only had about 20 minutes
08:22to prepare for battle.
08:26To reach the Vikings,
08:36the English had to cross
08:37the river,
08:38and according to the Chronicles,
08:40the narrow bridge
08:41was held by one
08:41ferocious Viking warrior.
08:45It looked as if
08:46there was no way
08:47to dislodge him
08:48until an English soldier
08:50went underneath the bridge
08:51and skewered him
08:56from below.
09:05Now, the real battle began.
09:08The English were outnumbered,
09:10yet slowly they wore down
09:11the invaders
09:12until finally
09:13Harold Hardrada
09:15himself was killed.
09:16But how had King Harold
09:20managed to defeat
09:21one of the greatest
09:21of Viking warriors
09:22with an army
09:23that had just marched
09:24200 miles?
09:27Above all,
09:28it was the determination
09:28probably to hang on
09:30to this kingdom
09:30that he'd only managed
09:32to win nine months before.
09:34He wasn't going
09:35to give that up early.
09:36And so that's probably
09:38above all what inspired
09:39him and his men
09:39to win what was
09:40an amazing victory
09:41here at Stamford Bridge.
09:42Stamford Bridge today
09:47is a peaceful
09:48Yorkshire village.
09:50Strangely,
09:51no traces of this
09:52legendary battle
09:53have ever been found.
09:55Despite all the carnage,
09:57not a single bone
09:57or weapon
09:58has ever been unearthed here.
10:04But ten miles downriver,
10:06at a place called Rickle,
10:07some intriguing finds
10:08have been made.
10:12In 1956,
10:17a farmer dug up
10:17some skeletons.
10:19And a few years ago,
10:20when the waterboard
10:21were working down here,
10:22they found even more.
10:26In a series of excavations,
10:28archaeologists have unearthed
10:29more than 60 skeletons.
10:32Perhaps as many as 600 bodies
10:34were buried here,
10:36apparently all at the same time.
10:39Who were these people?
10:41And why are they here,
10:43miles from the nearest churchyard?
10:49It does seem strange
10:50to find so many burials
10:51out here in the middle of nowhere.
10:53But according to the chronicles,
10:55Rickle is where
10:56the battered remnants
10:57of the defeated Viking army
10:58retreated to their ships,
11:00moored on the River Ouse,
11:01and fled England.
11:03Could this be the resting place
11:05of the Viking dead
11:06from the Battle of Stamford Bridge?
11:07For years,
11:12the bones from Rickle
11:13were left in the care
11:13of the York Archaeological Trust.
11:16They were a bit of a puzzle,
11:17and no-one knew quite
11:18what to do with them.
11:22We asked the York team
11:24to take another look.
11:29The first challenge
11:30was to establish
11:31whether these people
11:32were locals
11:32or Viking invaders.
11:38Amazingly,
11:39thanks to a new forensic technique,
11:41the answer
11:42might lie in their teeth.
11:51Teeth from six skulls
11:52were sent to the British
11:53Geological Survey
11:54Laboratories
11:54near Nottingham.
11:55By analysing the enamel,
12:02it might be possible
12:02to tell where
12:03their owners came from.
12:08When fragments of tooth
12:09are vaporised
12:10by a powerful laser beam,
12:12oxygen is given off.
12:17Oxygen atoms
12:18can exist
12:18in two slightly different forms
12:20or isotopes,
12:21and the relative amounts
12:22of these two isotopes
12:24can reveal
12:24where a person grew up.
12:34The isotopes
12:35in this man's teeth
12:36will tell us
12:37about the rainwater
12:38he drank in childhood.
12:43And the mix
12:44of oxygen isotopes
12:45in English rainwater
12:46is very different
12:48from the mix
12:48in Scandinavia.
12:54As soon as the results
12:56of the tooth analysis
12:57were ready,
12:58I went to find out
12:59what Paul Budd
13:00and the team
13:00had discovered.
13:03So what we have
13:04on our diagram here
13:05is these are the
13:06six individuals
13:07that we looked at
13:08from Rickall.
13:09And on this scale here,
13:10this is the oxygen
13:11isotope composition
13:12of the drinking water
13:14that they had
13:15in childhood.
13:16The interesting thing
13:17about it from our
13:18point of view
13:19is that the sort of
13:21values that you would
13:22get in the United
13:23Kingdom would really
13:24cover the range
13:25going from about
13:25something like
13:26minus 5,
13:27minus 5.5
13:28in the far south-west
13:29of the country
13:30through to the north-east
13:32of the country
13:33about minus 8.5.
13:35And that's what
13:35we've marked on here,
13:36this minus 8.5 here,
13:38this dashed line.
13:39All of our people
13:40are significantly
13:42lower numbers than that.
13:44They're in this range
13:45about minus 9
13:46to minus 11.
13:47So you're saying
13:48that somewhere
13:48from the British Isles
13:49would have to be
13:50above that line?
13:51Exactly, yeah.
13:52So where do these
13:53people come from then?
13:54We can have a look
13:54at that now.
13:57This is a map
13:57showing the oxygen
13:58isotope composition
13:59of rainwater
14:00as it's falling
14:01across north-western
14:02Europe today.
14:03Now you remember
14:04the range that we had
14:05for our people
14:06was something like
14:06minus 9 to minus 11.
14:09Now that's really
14:09putting us across here
14:10in this band
14:12going sort of across
14:13from sort of
14:14Central Europe
14:15from Baltic Europe
14:16through Sweden
14:17and then Scandinavia.
14:19Given that
14:20what we know
14:21about what went on
14:22at Rickall
14:23it seems to me
14:24that the most likely
14:25explanation
14:25is that these people
14:26come from somewhere
14:27in Norway.
14:29Yes, certainly
14:29the results are
14:30consistent with that.
14:32It's quite interesting
14:33isn't it?
14:33Because it's the history
14:34and the science
14:35actually seem to fit together.
14:37Yeah, it's unusual.
14:38Not what I expected
14:40actually.
14:40Wasn't it?
14:41No.
14:42No, I must admit
14:43when you first
14:44came to me
14:45with the material
14:46and the material
14:47was undated
14:47and I thought
14:49well, these will
14:50all come up
14:50with UK values.
14:53It'd be typical
14:54for the Rickall area
14:55I thought, but no.
14:57So were you really
14:58surprised?
14:58I was very surprised, yeah.
14:59The results
15:02of the tooth analysis
15:03are very exciting
15:04but they're not
15:05quite enough
15:06on their own.
15:08These are the six skulls
15:10whose teeth were analysed
15:11and we now know
15:12that all of these people
15:13grew up in Scandinavia.
15:15So it looks like
15:16the bodies buried
15:17at Rickall
15:17were Vikings
15:18but did they fight
15:20alongside Harold Hardrada
15:21at Stamford Bridge?
15:22The bones
15:25are mostly men's
15:26but there are also
15:28a few women
15:28and children.
15:30Could they all
15:30be Vikings
15:31killed in battle?
15:33We needed to know
15:34how these people died.
15:37If we were lucky
15:38the bones
15:38might provide the answer
15:39so we called in
15:41forensic pathologist
15:42Dr Bob Stoddart.
15:45Bob, do any of these bones
15:46show signs
15:47of violent injury?
15:48Yes, they do.
15:49For example,
15:50this bone
15:51shows numerous
15:53surface cuts
15:55at a variety of angles
15:56so the individual
15:58concerned
15:59had multiple blows
16:02with a sharp-edged weapon
16:04cutting across
16:05the muscle blocks
16:06along his left leg.
16:10This bone
16:12is sacrum
16:13of an adult male
16:15and here
16:16is a wound
16:17that has been
16:18produced by the tip
16:20of a sharp weapon
16:22such as perhaps
16:22a sword
16:23so that it's gone in
16:25just above the pubic bone
16:26probably gone through
16:27the bladder
16:27and rectum
16:29into that.
16:32So that bone
16:33is actually
16:34from the back
16:35but the wound
16:36has gone in
16:37from the front
16:38stabbed right through
16:39and into the bone?
16:40Yes.
16:42Remarkably
16:43a quarter of the bone
16:44show unmistakable signs
16:45of sword cuts
16:46and stabbings
16:47but what about the rest?
16:50Could they too
16:50have died in battle?
16:52Many of those victims
16:54are going to be people
16:55who have suffered
16:56soft tissue injuries
16:57and they've bled to death
16:59or they've had
17:00some essential organ
17:02irredeemably damaged
17:04but the bones
17:06may not show
17:07any sign of that.
17:10But what about
17:10the women and children
17:11whose bones
17:12were found at Rickle?
17:13What were they doing
17:14in a battle?
17:16Well it could be
17:17that the Viking army
17:18included women and children
17:19to help cook
17:20and care for the warriors.
17:22After all
17:23Harold Hardrada
17:24hadn't come on a quick raid.
17:26He was expecting
17:26a long campaign
17:27to conquer England.
17:28Thanks to this new research
17:33I'm now convinced
17:35that these bones
17:35are the long lost remains
17:37of Vikings
17:38who fought at Stamford Bridge
17:39fatally wounded in battle
17:41or cut down
17:42as they fled to their ships.
17:55The defeat of Harold Hardrada
17:57was a turning point.
17:59The people buried here
18:00nearly a thousand years ago
18:01were part of the last
18:03great Viking army
18:04to die fighting
18:05on English soil.
18:08Never again
18:09would Vikings attempt
18:10a full-scale invasion
18:11of England.
18:19For 250 years
18:21marauding Vikings
18:22terrorised the British Isles.
18:25Thousands of them
18:25must have made the voyage
18:26across the North Sea
18:27and we know
18:28that some of them
18:28stayed here.
18:30The evidence
18:30comes from ancient chronicles
18:32from the Viking artifacts
18:33we found
18:34and from hundreds
18:35of place names
18:36of Scandinavian origin.
18:38But we've no idea
18:39of how many immigrants
18:40there were
18:40and where exactly
18:41they settled
18:42which is why
18:43we commissioned
18:43a survey of the British Isles
18:45looking for Viking blood
18:47in the people today.
18:48We've been working with scientists
18:52from University College London
18:54led by Professor David Goldstein.
18:57Over the last year
18:58they've collected DNA samples
19:00from nearly 2,000 men
19:01in Britain, Ireland
19:03and Scandinavia.
19:06Either side of your cheek, yeah.
19:09Giving a DNA sample
19:10mostly meant
19:11just scraping a few skin cells
19:12from the inside of the mouth
19:14but we were also helped
19:15by blood donor centres
19:17and dentists.
19:19Only men were sampled
19:20as the scientists
19:21were studying
19:22the Y chromosome
19:23which only men have
19:24because it changes
19:26very little
19:26over the generations.
19:29The Y chromosome
19:30my son Barnaby
19:31inherited from me
19:32was handed down
19:33almost unchanged
19:34from my father
19:35and from his father
19:36before him
19:37and so on.
19:38The Y chromosome
19:39provides a direct link
19:41to the past.
19:44The team's first task
19:46was to collect samples
19:47from Scandinavia.
19:48They looked at
19:49the Y chromosomes
19:50of males
19:51most likely to be
19:51descended from Vikings
19:52and found
19:54distinctive genetic markers.
19:56They then looked
19:57for these markers
19:58in the Y chromosomes
19:59of British men.
20:02Unfortunately
20:02these markers
20:03won't identify
20:04Viking ancestry
20:05on an individual basis
20:07but the proportion
20:08of people
20:09with Scandinavian markers
20:10on their Y chromosomes
20:11will tell us
20:12about the overall amount
20:13of Viking ancestry
20:15in that area.
20:18In all
20:19we looked at
20:20more than 30 sites
20:21across the British Isles.
20:23The team focused
20:24on small towns
20:25where historically
20:26there's been
20:26little migration
20:27and we only sampled
20:28men who could trace
20:30their male line
20:30back at least
20:31two generations
20:32in the same area.
20:33How many generations
20:34can you trace
20:34your male line?
20:3617?
20:37So the proportion
20:40of Scandinavian
20:41Y chromosomes
20:42in the modern population
20:44of an area
20:44should indicate
20:45the scale
20:46of the original
20:47Viking settlement.
20:51Joining us here
20:52at Stowe
20:53we've got
20:53Professor David Goldstein
20:54who is in charge
20:55of the entire project
20:56and Jim Wilson,
20:57Neil Bradman
20:58and Julia Abernethy
20:59who've all been working
21:00on the genetic results.
21:01Well thank you all
21:02very much for coming.
21:04Pleasure.
21:04Now David,
21:05what exactly
21:06were you hoping
21:06to find from this survey?
21:08Well in short
21:08what we were trying
21:09to do is assess
21:10the magnitude
21:11of the genetic
21:12contribution
21:13of the Vikings
21:13to the British Isles.
21:14But is it actually
21:15going to tell us
21:16how many Vikings
21:17came over here
21:18and exactly
21:19where they settled?
21:20Well I don't think
21:20that we would ever
21:22get a very precise number
21:23for how many Vikings
21:25came over and settled
21:26but it still can give you
21:27a sense
21:27because if we see
21:28a lot of white chromosomes
21:28today in some part
21:29of the British Isles
21:30that have an origin
21:31in Scandinavia
21:31then clearly
21:32there had to be
21:33a fair number
21:33of individuals
21:34coming over
21:34to bring those
21:35Y chromosomes.
21:36Now we know
21:37that the Viking raids
21:38in the British Isles
21:39came from two separate places
21:40from Norway
21:41and from Denmark
21:42so we've been looking
21:43for two different
21:44sets of gene markers.
21:46Now let's start
21:47with the Norwegians.
21:52From Norway
21:52they crossed the North Sea
21:54to Shetland and Orkney.
21:55In Shetland
21:59I saw the unmistakable
22:01remains of Viking longhouses.
22:07Heading south
22:08I arrived in Orkney
22:09taken over by Vikings
22:11and ruled by Norway
22:12until the 1400s.
22:15From the archaeological evidence
22:17it seems obvious
22:18that there was a strong
22:19Viking presence
22:20in these islands
22:21and the early results
22:24of our genetic survey
22:25appeared to confirm that.
22:30David, your initial results
22:31from Orkney and Shetland
22:32suggested that there was
22:33about 30%
22:34of the chromosome types
22:35were from Norway
22:36but you suggested
22:37that these figures
22:38might go up
22:39with the detailed
22:40statistical analysis.
22:41I mean, have they?
22:42Well, remember
22:42we first talked about
22:43just looking through
22:44the Y chromosomes
22:44and identifying those
22:46that looked pretty clearly
22:47like they had
22:48a Norwegian origin
22:49and when we did that
22:50it was something
22:50like 30%
22:51that looked pretty clearly
22:52like they were from Norway
22:53but then we carried out
22:55a statistical analysis
22:56to make an overall assessment
22:57of the proportion
22:58of the chromosomes
22:59that had a Norwegian origin
23:01and when we did that
23:02the figure was at 60%.
23:0460, so it doubled?
23:05Yeah.
23:06That's an enormous number.
23:08Yeah, it tells us
23:08that the majority
23:09of the Y chromosome heritage
23:11traces back to Norway.
23:13Now, Jim,
23:13I mean, you're not only
23:14a member of the survey team
23:16but you come from Orkney
23:17as well
23:17and you must have had
23:18some idea
23:18that there was going
23:19to be a strong
23:19Viking legacy there
23:21but did you expect
23:21that it was going
23:22to be anything like this?
23:23Well, I mean,
23:23you could never really know
23:24but I thought,
23:26I expected we would find
23:27quite a lot
23:28because of the strong
23:29cultural Norse heritage
23:30we have
23:31but, yeah,
23:32I was also a bit surprised.
23:36From Orkney,
23:37the Vikings took
23:38the sea road
23:39south-west to the Hebrides
23:40and on the north coast
23:42of Scotland
23:42in Durness
23:43we found a strong
23:44Norwegian genetic signature
23:46suggesting that
23:47they'd settled here
23:48along the way
23:48and in the Hebrides
23:52where we found
23:53new evidence
23:54of Viking longhouses
23:55more than 30%
23:56of the men we sampled
23:58had Norwegian
23:58chromosome types.
24:03From the Hebrides
24:04the Vikings sailed
24:05round into the Irish sea.
24:07One target
24:08was the Isle of Man.
24:09Each year
24:15the islanders
24:16still gather
24:16for an open-air
24:17Viking-style parliament.
24:21A number of pagan graves
24:22have been unearthed here
24:23with beautiful
24:24Viking artefacts.
24:26What you have to do
24:27is scrape the inside
24:28of the mouth
24:29ten times.
24:30And the results
24:31of the genetic survey
24:32suggested at least
24:3415% of men
24:35we sampled
24:35on the Isle of Man
24:36have Norwegian ancestry.
24:41So all along
24:42the sea road
24:43we've been able
24:44to detect
24:44the Vikings'
24:45genetic legacy.
24:49David,
24:50are you pleased
24:50with these results?
24:51We're delighted
24:52to get a clear signal.
24:53Often when you do
24:53these kinds of studies
24:54the results that you get
24:55are difficult to interpret
24:57and aren't clear.
24:58But here we in fact
24:58have some very,
24:59very clear signals.
25:01It's very clear
25:01that there was
25:02a significant genetic
25:03contribution from Norway
25:05to Shetland
25:05and Orkney.
25:07Now as you continue
25:07moving
25:08you get to the Hebrides
25:09you get to the Isle of Man
25:10the contribution
25:11lessens
25:12but we still see evidence
25:14of clear evidence
25:15of Norwegian
25:16contributions there too.
25:18Now the real prize
25:19for the Vikings
25:20lay at the end
25:21of the sea road
25:22Ireland.
25:25The samples
25:26we took in Castlereagh
25:27produced no hint
25:28of Scandinavian
25:29chromosome types.
25:30This area
25:33the rural heart
25:34of Ireland
25:35turned out
25:35to be almost
25:36totally of
25:37ancient Britain
25:38or Celtic ancestry.
25:42The Vikings
25:43are much more likely
25:44to have settled
25:44along the coast.
25:46They founded
25:46several towns
25:47including Dublin
25:48one of the most
25:49important trading centres.
25:54Dublin
25:54was once
25:55the centre
25:56of a major
25:56Viking slave trade.
25:58were these shackles
26:00meant for the necks
26:01of Irish slaves
26:02to be shipped
26:03to Viking colonies?
26:06And dozens
26:07of burials
26:07have yielded
26:08the largest collection
26:09of Viking weaponry
26:10outside Scandinavia.
26:15So Dublin
26:16would seem
26:17an obvious place
26:17to search
26:18for the Vikings
26:18genetic legacy
26:19in Ireland.
26:21So where do you
26:22look in Ireland
26:22then David?
26:23Well we wanted
26:23to pick a place
26:24where there was
26:25a record
26:26of Viking activity
26:27but we didn't
26:28want to have
26:29a metropolitan area
26:30that had a lot
26:31of recent
26:31immigration
26:32like Dublin.
26:33So we took
26:34an area north
26:35of Dublin
26:35called Rush.
26:36And what did
26:37you find?
26:37Very little.
26:39Very little?
26:39Yeah we didn't
26:40find any
26:41we didn't find
26:42evidence
26:43that there was
26:43much of a
26:44genetic contribution
26:44from Norway
26:45to that area
26:46of Ireland.
26:47Maybe they just
26:48didn't settle
26:49there in large
26:49numbers.
26:50They just
26:51traded there
26:52or raided there
26:53but didn't settle.
26:54We don't know
26:55but in any event
26:56we don't see
26:56genetic evidence
26:57of, much
26:58genetic evidence
26:58of Norwegians
26:59there.
27:02There may be
27:03surviving pockets
27:04of Viking
27:05descendants
27:05in other places
27:06along the Irish
27:06coast.
27:08But if the
27:08Vikings of Dublin
27:09never settled
27:10outside the city
27:11walls we may
27:12never find
27:13their genetic
27:13legacy.
27:17From Ireland
27:18the ancient
27:19chronicles tell
27:20of Norwegian
27:20Viking raids
27:21off the coast
27:21of Wales
27:22on Anglesey.
27:25It looks like
27:26it's a nail
27:27you can imagine.
27:28Here I helped
27:29to excavate
27:30contorted remains
27:31the likely
27:32victims of
27:33a Viking
27:33attack.
27:35And I was
27:35shown hacked
27:36pieces of
27:36silver and
27:37inscribed
27:37weights
27:38evidence
27:39of Viking
27:39traders.
27:44But again
27:45the genetics
27:46results failed
27:47to show
27:47any clear
27:48signs of
27:48Norwegian
27:48ancestry
27:49on Anglesey
27:50or in
27:51either of
27:51the two
27:51other sample
27:52sites in
27:52Wales.
27:53Like
27:54Central
27:55Ireland
27:55Wales
27:56seem to
27:56be
27:56predominantly
27:57ancient
27:57Britain
27:58or
27:58Celtic.
28:01From their
28:02bases in
28:03Ireland
28:03there's
28:04evidence
28:04that the
28:04Norwegian
28:05Vikings
28:05also
28:06occupied
28:06parts
28:06of
28:07England
28:07particularly
28:08the
28:08north-west
28:09around
28:09the
28:09Wirral
28:10and
28:10Cumbria
28:11including
28:12one of
28:12our
28:12sample
28:13sites
28:13Penrith.
28:14on the
28:16Wirral
28:17the
28:17chronicles
28:18tell of
28:18a Viking
28:18army
28:19landing
28:19here
28:19in the
28:20year
28:20902.
28:22A few
28:23miles away
28:23at
28:23Thingwall
28:24this hill
28:25was almost
28:25certainly
28:26the site
28:26of a
28:26Viking
28:26parliament
28:27or
28:28Thing.
28:31Further
28:32north
28:32stone
28:33sculptures
28:33provide
28:34clear
28:34evidence
28:35of a
28:35Viking
28:35presence.
28:36And
28:40there's
28:40another
28:40strand
28:41of
28:41evidence
28:41that
28:41the
28:41Vikings
28:42were
28:42here.
28:43In
28:44some
28:44Cumbrian
28:45villages
28:45people
28:46speak
28:46a
28:46dialect
28:46that
28:47contains
28:47many
28:47words
28:48derived
28:48from
28:48the
28:48Old
28:49Norse
28:49that
28:49the
28:49Vikings
28:49spoke.
28:51They're
28:51more
28:51likely
28:52to be
28:52understood
28:52in
28:52Oslo
28:53than
28:53in
28:53London.
28:55Ted
28:55Relf
28:56and
28:56Gene
28:56Scott
28:56Smith
28:57gave
28:57me
28:57a
28:57quick
28:57lesson.
29:00I
29:00tell
29:01you
29:01Gene
29:01we've
29:02picked
29:02a
29:02wild
29:03spot
29:03for
29:03a
29:03bit
29:03crack
29:04this
29:04morning.
29:04I
29:05tell
29:06you
29:06Gene
29:06we've
29:06certainly
29:06picked
29:07a
29:07cold
29:07spot
29:07for
29:07our
29:08conversation.
29:09Aye
29:09we
29:09have.
29:10Did
29:10you
29:11come
29:11up here
29:11laken
29:12when
29:12there
29:12was
29:12a
29:12barn
29:13Ted?
29:13Did
29:14you
29:14come
29:14up
29:14here
29:14playing
29:15when
29:15you
29:15were
29:15a
29:15child
29:15Ted?
29:16Aye
29:17I
29:17can
29:17mind
29:17yance
29:18we
29:18came
29:18up
29:18here
29:18with
29:19a
29:19pay
29:19sex
29:20to
29:20roll
29:20them
29:20down
29:20his
29:21throw.
29:21Yes
29:22I
29:22remember
29:22coming
29:22up
29:22here
29:23at
29:23Easter
29:23and
29:23rolling
29:24my
29:24Easter
29:24eggs
29:34get
29:35some
29:35firewood
29:36and
29:36get
29:36a
29:36good
29:36fire
29:36on
29:37heartily
29:38agree
29:38come
29:38on
29:39it's
29:39a
29:39bit
29:40snizy
29:40of
29:40the
29:41hir
29:41given
29:43all
29:43this
29:43evidence
29:44of
29:44Norwegian
29:44Vikings
29:45what
29:46would
29:46the
29:46DNA
29:46sampling
29:47from
29:47these
29:47areas
29:48reveal
29:48so
29:50what
29:50did
29:50you
29:50find
29:51in
29:51the
29:51northwest
29:51of
29:51England
29:52when
29:52we
29:53looked
29:53at
29:53all
29:53the
29:53English
29:54sites
29:54together
29:54one
29:55of
29:56the
29:56sites
29:56actually
29:56stood
29:56out
29:57as
29:57having
29:57the
29:57most
29:58Norwegian
29:59genetic
29:59material
30:00and
30:01that
30:01was
30:04with
30:05the
30:05material
30:06archaeological
30:07evidence
30:07of
30:07Viking
30:07activities
30:08there
30:08and
30:09the
30:09genetic
30:09legacy
30:10now
30:11Neil
30:11I
30:11understand
30:11that
30:11you
30:12looked
30:12at
30:12the
30:12Wirral
30:12that's
30:13somewhere
30:13else
30:14where there's
30:14quite a lot
30:14of evidence
30:15for the
30:15Vikings
30:15so what
30:16did you
30:16find
30:16there
30:16well
30:17the
30:17Wirral
30:17is
30:17interesting
30:18because
30:18in
30:19the
30:19north
30:19of
30:19the
30:19Wirral
30:19we
30:20had
30:20a
30:20mini
30:20Viking
30:21kingdom
30:21which
30:22we
30:22didn't
30:22have
30:22in
30:22the
30:22south
30:23however
30:23when
30:24we
30:24looked
30:24at
30:24the
30:24genetic
30:25data
30:25we
30:25find
30:26no
30:26difference
30:27between
30:27the
30:27north
30:27and
30:28the
30:28south
30:28but
30:29what's
30:29exceptionally
30:30interesting
30:30is
30:31that
30:31the
30:32Wirral
30:32while
30:33being
30:33very
30:33similar
30:34as a
30:34whole
30:34to
30:35the
30:35rest
30:35of
30:35England
30:35is
30:37different
30:38from
30:39Wales
30:39probably
30:40because
30:40of
30:41the
30:41Welsh
30:41being
30:42Celtic
30:42so
30:43we
30:43have
30:43this
30:43clear
30:44distinction
30:45that
30:45the
30:45Wirral
30:46goes
30:46with
30:46the
30:47area
30:47to
30:47the
30:48north
30:48where
30:49it's
30:49English
30:49and
30:50different
30:50from
30:50the
30:51south
30:51the
30:51Welsh
30:52So
30:52are you
30:52telling
30:52me
30:53that
30:53there
30:53no
30:53Vikings
30:54in
30:54the
30:54Wirral
30:54then?
30:55Well
30:55we're
30:55not
30:55even
30:55saying
30:56that
30:56there's
30:57no
30:57genetic
30:58legacy
30:58from
30:59Norway
30:59there
30:59in
31:00the
31:00world
31:00today
31:01and
31:01we're
31:01certainly
31:01not
31:02saying
31:02there
31:02were
31:02never
31:02any
31:02Vikings
31:03there
31:03but
31:04what
31:04we're
31:04saying
31:04is
31:04that
31:05we
31:05can't
31:05see
31:05any
31:06evidence
31:06of
31:06a
31:07greater
31:07genetic
31:07contribution
31:08from
31:09Norway
31:09to
31:09the
31:09Wirral
31:10than
31:10other
31:10parts
31:11of
31:11England
31:11Out
31:14of the
31:14whole
31:14of England
31:15only
31:15Penrith
31:16provided
31:16definite
31:17evidence
31:17of Norwegian
31:18Viking
31:18settlement
31:19but
31:20we also
31:20know
31:21that
31:21Norwegian
31:21Vikings
31:22in
31:22alliance
31:23with
31:23the
31:23Danes
31:24controlled
31:24much
31:25of
31:25the
31:25North
31:25East
31:25during
31:27the
31:27Viking
31:27Age
31:27York
31:28was ruled
31:29by a
31:29series
31:29of
31:29kings
31:30whose
31:30origins
31:30were
31:30in
31:31Norway
31:31but
31:35in
31:35York
31:36our
31:36genetic
31:36survey
31:37failed
31:37to find
31:38evidence
31:38of
31:38Norwegian
31:39ancestry
31:39so
31:42maybe
31:42the
31:43Norwegian
31:43Vikings
31:44in
31:44Yorkshire
31:44were
31:45just
31:45a
31:45ruling
31:45elite
31:46and
31:46their
31:47genetic
31:47input
31:47was
31:48too
31:48small
31:48to
31:48be
31:48detected
31:49or
31:53perhaps
31:54as
31:54scientists
31:55discover
31:55more
31:55about
31:56the
31:56human
31:56genome
31:57we'll
31:57uncover
31:57more
31:58evidence
31:58for
31:58the
31:58Viking
31:59settlers
31:59in
31:59England
32:00on
32:03the
32:03Wirral
32:03even
32:04though
32:04the
32:05population
32:05as
32:05a
32:05whole
32:05failed
32:06to
32:06show
32:06any
32:06significant
32:07Norwegian
32:07input
32:08by
32:09chance
32:09our
32:09sampling
32:10produced
32:10one
32:10very
32:11intriguing
32:11individual
32:12case
32:13I
32:17went to
32:17Hoylake
32:18on the
32:18tip
32:19of
32:19the
32:19Wirral
32:19to
32:20meet
32:20Bill
32:20Housley
32:21before
32:22we
32:22told
32:22him
32:23what
32:23we'd
32:23found
32:23in
32:23his
32:23DNA
32:24I
32:24wanted
32:25to
32:25know
32:25whether
32:25there
32:25was
32:25anything
32:26about
32:26his
32:26family
32:27history
32:27that
32:27might
32:27suggest
32:28a
32:28Viking
32:28connection
32:29Bill
32:31how long
32:31have
32:31your
32:31family
32:32lived
32:32in
32:32this
32:32area
32:32my
32:33family
32:33looking
32:34back
32:34at
32:34family
32:35records
32:35go
32:36back
32:36about
32:37150
32:37years
32:38which
32:39time
32:39that's
32:39not
32:40bad
32:40is
32:40it
32:40no
32:41not
32:41at
32:41all
32:42but
32:42do
32:42you
32:42think
32:42your
32:42family
32:42might
32:43go
32:43back
32:43even
32:43further
32:44than
32:44that
32:44in
32:44this
32:44area
32:45yes
32:45I
32:45would
32:45think
32:46so
32:46I
32:46should
32:47imagine
32:47yes
32:48we
32:48probably
32:48do
32:49go
32:49further
32:49back
32:49than
32:49that
32:50house
32:52house
32:52house
32:53house
32:53house
32:53house
32:53house
32:53men
32:53have
32:53been
32:53seafarers
32:54for
32:54several
32:54generations
32:55his
32:56father
32:56was
32:56a
32:57fisherman
32:57and
32:58his
32:58father
32:58before
32:59him
32:59his
33:02great
33:02uncle
33:02Stephen
33:03was a
33:03member
33:03of the
33:03local
33:04lifeboat
33:04crew
33:04in the
33:051920s
33:06and the
33:07connection
33:07with the
33:07sea
33:08still
33:08continues
33:09today
33:09I
33:11was never
33:11a full
33:12time
33:12fisherman
33:12main
33:13reason
33:13for
33:13that
33:14because
33:14by the
33:15time
33:15I'd reached
33:16an age
33:16whereby
33:17I was
33:17able
33:17to
33:18use
33:18or work
33:19a boat
33:19fishing
33:20was on
33:20decline
33:21I'd come
33:22out of
33:22the army
33:23after completing
33:23my national
33:24service
33:24and suddenly
33:25looked at
33:26the industry
33:27and thought
33:27no
33:28I could do
33:28a little bit
33:29better than
33:29this
33:30so I was
33:30selling fish
33:31then
33:31so I've
33:32been involved
33:33in the
33:33industry
33:33now
33:34for 36
33:34years
33:35on the
33:37very shore
33:38where the
33:38houseless
33:39have moored
33:39their boats
33:40for generations
33:40archaeologists
33:42have uncovered
33:42evidence
33:43of a flourishing
33:43Viking
33:44beach market
33:45over the
33:47years
33:47hundreds
33:48of pieces
33:48of jewelry
33:49have been
33:49found
33:49lost
33:50by Viking
33:51traders
33:51and trampled
33:52into the
33:52soft sand
33:53could Bill
33:56and his
33:56family
33:56be the
33:57modern day
33:58descendants
33:58of a
33:58Viking
33:59who came
33:59and settled
34:00on the
34:00Wirral
34:00a thousand
34:01years ago
34:01it was
34:04time to
34:04tell Bill
34:05that we'd
34:06found a
34:06distant
34:06relative
34:07of his
34:07amongst
34:08our
34:08Norwegian
34:08samples
34:09so David
34:12could you
34:12tell us
34:13the result
34:13of Bill's
34:13test
34:14we just
34:15looked
34:15through
34:15all the
34:15Y
34:16chromosomes
34:16that we
34:16observed
34:17in the
34:17world
34:17compared
34:18them
34:18to
34:18Norwegian
34:19ones
34:19and
34:20looked
34:20for
34:20matches
34:20and
34:21we
34:21actually
34:21found
34:22a
34:22perfect
34:22match
34:23between
34:23your
34:24Y
34:24chromosome
34:24and
34:25Y
34:25chromosomes
34:25that
34:26we
34:26observed
34:26in
34:26Norway
34:27now I have
34:28to say
34:28that we
34:29can't be
34:29certain
34:29from that
34:30that your
34:30Y
34:31chromosome
34:31actually
34:31came
34:32from
34:32Norway
34:32but if
34:33we
34:33had to
34:33take
34:33a
34:33guess
34:34our
34:34guess
34:34would
34:34be
34:34that
34:35it's
34:35a
34:35Norwegian
34:35origin
34:36so there
34:37we are
34:37Bill
34:37you seem
34:38to be
34:38one of
34:39the few
34:39people
34:39who we
34:40can point
34:40to
34:40and say
34:40that
34:41you're
34:41probably
34:41of
34:42Viking
34:42ancestry
34:43I'm
34:43absolutely
34:44delighted
34:44I just
34:45can't
34:45get over
34:45this
34:46so how
34:46do you
34:46feel
34:46about
34:46this
34:47Marilyn
34:47it explains
34:48a lot
34:49doesn't it
34:49oh dear
34:50he doesn't
34:50show
34:52evidence
34:52of Viking
34:53behaviour
34:53at times
34:54oh yes
34:55you may not
34:57be able to
34:57blame that
34:57on his
34:57Y chromosome
34:58do you think
35:00it's going
35:00to make
35:01any difference
35:01to your
35:01life
35:02I don't
35:03suppose
35:03so really
35:04it's
35:04nice
35:05thought
35:06and feeling
35:07to know
35:07that
35:07there is
35:08a strong
35:09possibility
35:09I am
35:10descended
35:11from the
35:11Vikings
35:11of Norway
35:12and
35:12that's
35:13something
35:13that I'm
35:14just
35:15delighted
35:15with
35:16anyway
35:16thank you
35:16very much
35:17for coming
35:17thank you
35:18for having
35:18me
35:18it's been
35:19most
35:19most
35:19very
35:20interesting
35:20thank you
35:21Bill's
35:26ancestors
35:26the Norwegian
35:27Vikings
35:28mainly
35:29colonised
35:29the north
35:30but what
35:31could we
35:31find out
35:31about
35:32the Danish
35:32Vikings
35:33whose
35:33armies
35:34made
35:34such
35:34a huge
35:35impact
35:35on the
35:35rest
35:36of
35:36England
35:36in 878
35:42the half
35:43of England
35:44that lay
35:44above a
35:44line
35:45drawn
35:45roughly
35:45from
35:45London
35:46to
35:46the
35:46Wirral
35:46was
35:47officially
35:47handed
35:47over
35:48to
35:48the
35:48Danish
35:48Viking
35:49army
35:49it
35:50became
35:51known
35:51as
35:51the
35:51Danelaw
35:52and
35:52was
35:53dominated
35:53by
35:53Vikings
35:54for
35:54half
35:54a
35:54century
35:55here
35:58at
35:58Weststow
35:58in
35:59Suffolk
35:59we'd
36:00have
36:00been
36:00within
36:00the
36:00Danelaw
36:01now
36:02later
36:02in
36:03the
36:0311th
36:03century
36:03England
36:04which
36:04had
36:04been
36:05lost
36:05to
36:05the
36:05Vikings
36:05was
36:06reconquered
36:06by
36:07King
36:07Canute
36:07and
36:08for
36:08the
36:08next
36:0820
36:09years
36:09the
36:09whole
36:09country
36:10was
36:10under
36:10Danish
36:11rule
36:11There's
36:16strong
36:16evidence
36:16that
36:16some
36:17of
36:17these
36:17Danes
36:17settled
36:18in
36:18England
36:18there
36:19are
36:19all
36:20the
36:20place
36:20names
36:20ending
36:21in
36:21B
36:21the
36:22Danish
36:22for
36:23farmstead
36:23or
36:23village
36:24but
36:25were
36:26these
36:26villages
36:26taken
36:27over
36:27by
36:27a
36:27small
36:28Viking
36:28elite
36:28or
36:29was
36:29there
36:29a
36:29mass
36:30migration
36:30of
36:30Viking
36:31peasants
36:31this
36:33was
36:33the
36:34main
36:34question
36:34that
36:34we
36:35hoped
36:35our
36:35genetic
36:35survey
36:36would
36:36help
36:36to
36:36answer
36:37but
36:40in
36:40England
36:40the
36:41number
36:42of
36:42Viking
36:42descendants
36:42today
36:43may
36:43have
36:44been
36:44greatly
36:44distorted
36:45by the
36:45dramatic
36:46events
36:46which
36:46unfolded
36:47at the
36:47end
36:47of
36:48the
36:48Viking
36:48age
36:48in
36:521066
36:53just
36:53days
36:54after
36:54the
36:54English
36:55King
36:55Harold
36:55had
36:55defeated
36:56the
36:56great
36:56Viking
36:57army
36:57of
36:57Harold
36:57Hardrada
36:58England
36:59was
37:00invaded
37:00again
37:01Duke
37:04William
37:04and his
37:04Norman
37:05army
37:05crossed
37:05the
37:05channel
37:06and
37:06landed
37:06at
37:07Pevensey
37:07near
37:07Dover
37:08two
37:11weeks
37:11later
37:11they
37:12defeated
37:12King
37:12Harold
37:13in
37:13one
37:13of
37:13the
37:13most
37:14famous
37:14encounters
37:15in
37:15English
37:15history
37:15the
37:16Battle
37:17of
37:17Hastings
37:18on
37:22Christmas
37:22day
37:221066
37:23Duke
37:24William
37:24of
37:24Normandy
37:25was
37:25crowned
37:26King
37:26William
37:27the
37:27first
37:27of
37:27England
37:28but
37:29from
37:29our
37:29point
37:29of
37:29view
37:29if
37:30we're
37:30searching
37:30for
37:31Viking
37:31blood
37:31in
37:31today's
37:32population
37:32then
37:33William
37:33the
37:33Conqueror's
37:34victory
37:34complicates
37:35matters
37:35The problem is
37:40that William
37:41the Conqueror
37:41was the direct
37:42descendant of a
37:43Viking
37:43but what about the rest of his army
37:47were they descended from Vikings too
37:50did they all bring Scandinavian Y chromosomes to England
37:54The story of the Normans began 200 years before the Battle of Hastings
38:05In the middle of the 800s the Vikings began raiding the rich lands of northern France
38:14They sailed up rivers to plunder the poorly defended monasteries
38:23In the spring of 841 they reached the abbey of Jumièges conveniently located on the banks of the river Seine
38:38With over 900 monks
38:46Jumièges was one of the largest abbeys in France
38:49The Vikings knew that on a Sunday everyone here would be peacefully at prayer
38:54So according to the chronicles that's when they chose to attack
38:5820 miles up the river Seine lies Rouen
39:06By 861 it had been sacked and burnt six times
39:11After 60 years of being overrun by the Vikings the French king decided to do a deal with them
39:19He arranged to meet the Vikings at a place called St. Clair-sur-Epte to draw up a peace treaty
39:25Rollo, the Viking leader, was apparently made to swear an oath on these
39:32The sacred but rather grisly relics of St. Clair himself
39:36In return for ceasing his raids and protecting the rest of the country from other Vikings
39:47Rollo was given the city of Rouen by King Charles the Simple
39:51And all the surrounding lands along the north coast of France
39:54Rollo's descendants became the Dukes of Normandy
39:58So by 1066 when the Normans invaded England
40:04From a genetic point of view was this effectively another Viking invasion
40:08It all depends on how many Vikings originally settled in Normandy
40:14In Rouen I went to meet a local expert in Scandinavian languages
40:22Professor Jean Renaud believes that clues to the original number of Viking settlers
40:27Might be found in Normandy's place names
40:30The most interesting place names to tell us how many the Vikings could be
40:35Is the oldest ones
40:38I mean the real Scandinavian Viking names
40:41I mean real place names
40:43Made out of two Scandinavian elements
40:47A place name like Brikbek is very typical of an original place name for the first generation
40:54Brik is Brekki, the slope
40:57Bek is Bekkur, the little brook
41:00So Brikbek is the little brook down the slope
41:03This is a very typical Scandinavian name
41:06Jean Renaud has identified only a couple of hundred villages in Normandy
41:12With pure Scandinavian names
41:14Compared with the thousands in England
41:16So he believes the Viking settlers can't have made a great impact on the genetic mix of Normandy
41:22Therefore the Norman army probably didn't bring much Viking blood to England in 1066
41:28And our genetics survey seems to support this
41:32In the Channel Islands, which were heavily colonised by the Normans
41:37We found only a tiny hint of possible Scandinavian ancestry
41:41But in other ways
41:45The Norman conquest could still have had a major impact on the Vikings' genetic legacy in England
41:50In 1069, the people of York
41:55Traditionally a Viking stronghold
41:57Attacked the Norman garrison on the castle mound
41:59They resented the heavy taxes imposed by their new King William
42:03And when Danish Vikings offered assistance
42:06Simmering resentment erupted into open rebellion
42:09William's reply to the York uprising was swift and vicious
42:16The Vikings fled without a fight
42:21And William's troops stormed into town
42:24King William was determined that Viking sympathisers throughout the north
42:35Would never again be a threat to his authority
42:37The fate of villages like Middleham, 30 miles from York
42:44Is recorded in the famous Doomsday Survey
42:46The Doomsday Book was written in 1085
42:53And lists the taxable value of every town and hamlet
42:56Before and after William's conquest
42:58This is the entry for the Manor of Middleham
43:03In Middleham, three ploughs possible
43:08Gilpatrick had a manor there
43:10Value before 1066, 20 shillings
43:14Now Ribald has it, waste
43:17So, before 1066, Middleham had been a relatively prosperous hamlet
43:24Owned by Dane called Gilpatrick
43:26Presumably a Viking settler
43:28But in 1069, William's men came along, turfed him out
43:32And so comprehensively destroyed the place
43:35That 16 years later, at the time of the Doomsday Survey
43:38There wasn't a single acre of land here being cultivated
43:42William's troops swept through the land
43:48Families fled south to sell themselves into slavery
43:55It was a devastating blow to the descendants of Danish Vikings in the north
44:00The Norman campaign of 1069
44:05Was a savage attack on the civilian population of England
44:08And many of the villages destroyed
44:10Were just the sort of places where the Danish Vikings would have settled
44:14And this came on top of the St Bryce's Day Massacre
44:17Another mass slaughter of Danish immigrants in England
44:20That had taken place 70 years earlier
44:22So the story of the Vikings in England raises many fascinating questions
44:30Was there ever a mass settlement of Viking peasants?
44:35And how many of the settlers survived the subsequent persecutions?
44:38We'd hoped our genetic survey might help solve these mysteries
44:43But we knew that identifying the descendants of Danish Vikings might be very difficult
44:48It turned out to be impossible
44:51The Danish Vikings came from virtually the same population stock around north Germany
44:58As the Angles and Saxons who'd invaded Britain 400 years earlier
45:02Disappointingly, our survey revealed that their chromosome types are too similar
45:07To allow us to say anything about where Danish Vikings settled in England
45:11But when we looked at all these continental invaders as a single group
45:15We saw some surprising results
45:17Curiously, in England
45:19We found that a higher proportion of people in the north are descended from these invaders
45:24Than along the south coast
45:25David, what's the picture from the whole of England then?
45:30Well, one thing really that stands out
45:33Is that there's a little bit of everything everywhere
45:35So we don't see really sharp differences from one place to another
45:41Things are just graded
45:43We can see small differences but not sharp differences
45:46So there's really been a great deal of mixing
45:47Is that the same with Scotland as well?
45:49Well, in fact, it is similar
45:51Because in the coastal sites in southern England that we looked at
45:57We estimated an indigenous component there
46:00That's very similar to what we estimate for Scotland
46:02So we found the highest concentration of the continental invaders' DNA in northern England
46:08But surprisingly, mainland Scotland had about the same percentage of German and Danish descendants as southern England
46:15Only in central Ireland and Wales did we find populations almost entirely descended from ancient Britons or Celts
46:23Along the northern sea road, there's a different picture
46:27From Shetland all the way down to Cumbria
46:30We found strong signs of Norwegian ancestry
46:33There can be no doubt these were the lands of the Vikings
46:37So David, do you think that you found all the Vikings in the British Isles?
46:43Well, we certainly haven't found all the Vikings
46:44And in fact, it's not even really the right way to look at it
46:47Because what we're doing is looking at just the Y chromosome
46:50And we can say something about the origins of sets of Y chromosomes
46:54However, that doesn't tell us about the rest of the genetic makeup of the individuals that we looked at
47:00And in fact, in the case of the Vikings, they spread so far and wide that I wouldn't be at all surprised
47:05If they made genetic contributions
47:07In fact, I'm sure they did
47:08To peoples in all sorts of places
47:10The Vikings in the Middle East
47:12Perhaps the Vikings even made contributions to, say, the Caribbean
47:16Through British presence in the Caribbean
47:18So in fact, I would suspect
47:20That there are Norwegian and Danish genetic contributions
47:24Running through lots and lots of people in the British Isles
47:28So individually, we're all a wonderful mixture
47:31And as a nation, we're a wonderful mixture as well
47:34That's exactly it
47:35For nearly 300 years, the Vikings terrorised Northern Europe
47:43With their longships, they conquered kingdoms
47:46And opened up trade routes stretching from the Arctic to the Middle East
47:50But then they vanished into the shadows of Dark Age history
48:00Now, at last, archaeological discoveries
48:06Combined with new scientific techniques
48:08Are helping to reveal the true story of the Vikings
48:11I grew up thinking of the Vikings as a brief, violent episode in our history
48:18Marauding invaders who we fought off and sent home
48:21But now we know that they didn't just sail away
48:24They stayed and became an integral part of the rich genetic mix of the population
48:28And a thousand years later
48:32Many of us still have, flowing through our veins
48:35A little of the blood of the Vikings
48:37A little of the Vikings
49:07A little of thebs
49:09A little of thebs
49:34A little of thebs
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