Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
Dark hair was common among Vikings, genetic study confirms (theguardian.com)
9 points by mikeymz 2099 days ago
3 comments

> Among their results the team found that from the iron age, southern European genes entered Denmark and then spread north, while – to a lesser extent – genes from Asia entered Sweden.

A friend of Scandinavian extraction found through 23&Me that his Y chromosome comes from China. His variant traveled from SE Asia north to Siberia, then west to Scandinavia, presumably carried by progenitors of the Sámi.

Circumpolar peoples certainly got around, but I guess it's also much easier to travel around the world at those latitudes.

Confirming that you are not a Viking but that you go Viking. Fairly obvious when you consider this is an "ing" adjective
> genetic variants for dark hair were relatively common among Vikings.

Relative to what? "Common" could mean anywhere from 10% to 80%, and the article somehow never manages to explain.

it's not explicitly stated but it's fairly clear that the comparison is with Scandinavians