These Ancient Greek Helmets Tell of a Naval Battle 2,500 Years Ago
Archaeologists in southern Italy announced last week that they unearthed two helmets, fragments of weapons and armour, bits of pottery and the remains of a possible temple to Athena at an archaeological excavation of the ancient Greek city of Velia, reports Frances D’Emilio for the Associated Press (AP).
Chalcidian helmets such as this one were often worn by ancient Greek warriors.
Researchers, who have been working the site since last July, announced in a translated statement that they believe that these artefacts are linked to a major maritime battle that changed the balance of power in the Mediterranean nearly 2,500 years ago.
Ancient Greeks may have left the items behind after the Battle of Alalia. Between 541 and 535 BCE, a fleet of Phocaean ships—who had set up a colony, Alalia, on the island of Corsica—set sail on the nearby Tyrrhenian Sea to fend off attacks from neighbouring Etruscan and Carthaginian forces, per the statement.
An archaeologist works to free one of the helmets from the dig site.
Though the Greeks emerged victoriously, the costly sea battle ultimately spurred the Phocaean colonists to leave Alalia and establish a colony closer to other Greek settlements along the southern coast of Italy.
Settlers from Phocaea sailed for the mainland and purchased a plot of land that would eventually become Velia, according to the Guardian.
Initial studies of the helmets reveal that one was designed in the Greek Chalcidian style, while the other helmet resembles the Negua headpieces typically worn by Etruscan warriors, per ANSA.
The archaeologists suggest Greek soldiers might have stolen these helmets from conquered Etruscan troops during the Battle of Alalia, per the statement.
An aerial view of the dig site at the acropolis of Velia, an ancient Greek colony in present-day southern Italy that was founded shortly after the Battle of Alalia.
In another major find, researchers also unearthed several brick walls that date to Velia’s founding in 540 B.C.E. and may have once formed a temple to the mythical Greek goddess of war and wisdom, Athena, as Angela Giuffrida reports for the Guardian.
Measuring about 60 feet long by 23 feet wide, the walls were likely constructed in the years just following the Battle of Alalia, says Massimo Osanna, the archaeological park director and head of Italian state museums, per Italian news agency ANSA.
The archaeologists say the Phocaeans may have offered the enemy armour as a tribute to the goddess.
Archaeologists unearthed two helmets including one, pictured here, that appears to be created in the Etruscan “Negua” style. Experts suggest that Greek soldiers might have stolen this piece of armour from Etruscan forces during the Battle of Alalia.
“It is, therefore, possible that the [Phocaeans] fleeing from Alalia raised [the temple] immediately after their arrival, as was their custom, after purchasing from the locals the land necessary to settle and resume the flourishing trade for which they were famous,” says Osanna in the translated statement. “And to the relics offered to their goddess to propitiate her benevolence, they added the weapons snatched from the enemies in that epic battle at sea.”
Located near the structure, the team found fragments of pottery inscribed with the Greek word for “sacred,” several pieces of bronze and metal weapons and bits of what appears to be a large, decorated shield.
Researchers plan to clean and analyze the artefacts in a laboratory for further study, where the director says they hope to find more information, particularly on the helmets.
She says in that statement that there may be inscriptions inside of them, something common in ancient armour, that could help trace the armour’s history, such as the identity of the warriors who wore them.
1,500-year-old bakery structure found in Turkey’s Perre
In the ongoing excavations in the ancient city of Perre, located in the southeastern province of Adıyaman, archaeologists found a 1500-year-old bakery structure on Monday.
Starting in 2001, the excavations have been carried out at intervals in the ancient city of Perre.
A historical Roman fountain, large block stones, water channels and various architectural structures were unearthed in this year’s work.
A view from the bakery structure in the ancient city of Perre, Adıyaman, southeastern Turkey, Nov. 22, 2021. (AA)
The latest discoveries by the archaeologists in the ancient city are wine workshop areas and a bakery structure created to meet the needs of the people of that period, along with nails belonging to the structure.
Mehmet Alkan, the head of the museum, told Anadolu Agency (AA) that the wine workshop areas and bakery were discovered near the necropolis of the city.
Noting that they found hundreds of nails in the bakery structure, Alkan continued: “These nails were used both to connect the door and as decoration.”
A tandoor was also unearthed in the northeastern part of the bakery structure.
Perre was one of the biggest cities of the Kingdom of Commagene. It was an important city in terms of religious and geopolitical aspects.
The beauty of the city’s water was mentioned in ancient Roman sources.
The ancient city lost its importance after the Byzantine Period and never regained its former glory.
The rock tombs, the main attractions of Perre, were carved into the rocks and have a wonderful appearance.
Also, the large mosaics found in the city bear fascinating heart motifs, three-dimensional globe figures and octagonal geometric modules that arouse interest.
Experts claim material from Tutankhamun’s dagger may have come from outer space
A gold-hilted dagger found in the tomb of King Tut surprised archaeologists when they discovered that it was made of a material forged in outer space. Now, two new studies are painting conflicting pictures of the origins of the mysterious weapon, which may have been wielded by arguably the most famous ancient Egyptian pharaoh.
A dagger made from meteors was found in the tomb of King Tut.
One of those studies on the dagger, made of iron from meteors, suggests it was manufactured in Anatolia (modern-day Turkey), while the other study indicates its Earthly origins are still a mystery.
At the time King Tutankhamun reigned (1333 B.C. to 1323 B.C.), iron smelting had not been invented yet, meaning the metal was a rare and precious commodity that often came from meteors.
In one of the new studies, published Feb. 11 in the journal Meteoritics & Planetary Science, researchers describe how an adhesive used on the dagger’s gold hilt was likely made of lime plaster, a material that was used in Anatolia at the time Tutankhamun reigned. This lime plaster, however, was not widely used in Egypt at that time, the researchers wrote.
Additionally, historical records found at the site of Amarna, in Egypt, show that Tushratta, the king of Mitanni in Anatolia, gifted at least one iron dagger to Amenhotep III (who reigned from about 1390 B.C. to 1352 B.C.), the grandfather of Tutankhamun, the researchers noted.
The team also found that the “iron blade was made by low-temperature heat forging at less than 950 °C [1,742 degrees Fahrenheit],” since a mineral called troilite and formations of iron-nickel crystals known as “widmanstätten patterns” could be seen on the dagger, the researchers wrote in the journal article.
This image shows results from the chemical analysis of both sides of the dagger’s blade.
A different viewpoint
However, in another study, published in the book “Iron from Tutankhamun’s Tomb” (American University in Cairo Press, 2022), researchers found that “it is currently impossible to arrive at a reliable conclusion as to the origin of Tutankhamun’s iron objects or the craftsmen and materials involved,” the research team wrote.
Those study authors noted that the “rock crystal” of the blade’s pommel is similar to artefacts widely used in the Aegean area, while the pommel’s “typically Egyptian shape suggests either manufacture in Egypt or foreign production for an Egyptian market,” the research team wrote. “As a result, no clear overall picture on the origin of the dagger’s handle and blade” can be made.
Scholars react
Live Science contacted several scholars not affiliated with either study to get their reactions.
Albert Jambon, a researcher at Sorbonne University in France who has conducted extensive research on artefacts made of meteor iron, was unconvinced by the findings that placed the manufacture of the dagger in Anatolia.
Jambon disputed the claim that the lime plaster was used as an adhesive. He noted that in the 1920s, limestone powder was used for the cleaning of some Tutankhamun artefacts and that the chemical tests used in the study detected this cleaning solution, not an adhesive.
Additionally, “the hilt and the blade are two separate parts” and could have been manufactured in different places, Jambon said in an email.
Marian Feldman, W.H. Collins Vickers chair in archaeology at Johns Hopkins University, said that if the team’s findings that the dagger was manufactured in Anatolia are correct, it “would be important confirmation that some of the luxurious objects found in Tutankhamen’s tomb were diplomatic gifts from abroad,” Feldman wrote in an email. More research is needed to confirm those findings, Feldman added.
Archaeologists Find Evidence for 40,000-year-old Modern Culture in China
Scientists discovered remnants of an Old Stone Age culture, less than 100 miles (160 kilometres) west of Beijing, where ancient hominins used a reddish pigment called ochre and crafted tiny, blade-like tools from stone. The archaeological site, called Xiamabei, offers a rare glimpse into the life of Homo sapiens and now-extinct human relatives who inhabited the region some 40,000 years ago.
The newly excavated site lies within the Nihewan Basin, a depression in a mountainous region of northern China. The excavation team found evidence of the culture about 8 feet (2.5 meters) underground, when they spotted a layer of dark, silty sediment that dated to between 41,000 and 39,000 years ago, based on radiocarbon dating and other analyses. This Stone Age sediment contained a treasure trove of artefacts and animal remains, including more than 430 mammal bones; a hearth; physical evidence of ochre use and processing; a tool made of bone; and more than 380 miniaturized lithics, or small tools and artefacts made of chipped or ground stone.
“The remains seemed to be in their original spots after the site was abandoned by the residents,” co-first author Shixia Yang, a researcher with the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, told Live Science in an email. “Based on this, we can reveal a vivid picture of how people lived 40,000 years ago in Eastern Asia.”
This well-preserved, bladelet-like lithic found at Xiamabei bears microscopic evidence of having been attached to a bone handle with plant fibres.
Identifying a 40,000-year-old sediment layer strewn with such artefacts was “a surprise,” co-senior author Francesco d’Errico, a CNRS Director of Research at the Bordeaux University and professor at the University of Bergen, told Live Science in an email. Notably, “this is the earliest-known ochre workshop for East Asia,” and the collection of tiny stone tools suggests that the makers likely produced and used specialized tool kits, he said.
Yang, d’Errico and their colleagues published a report about the site and artefacts on Wednesday (March 2) in the journal Nature.
The evidence of ochre processing at Xiamabei includes two pieces of ochre with slightly different mineral compositions, as well as an elongated limestone slab with smoothed areas stained with crimson pigment. The team found these artefacts in close proximity to one another, laying atop an area of reddened sediment.
“I do not think that anyone should find it shocking that the inhabitants of what is now northern China [40,000 years ago] were collecting and using ochre,” as in general, humans and their relatives had been using the pigment for many years at that point, said Andrew M. Zipkin, an adjunct professor in the School of Human Evolution and Social Change at Arizona State University and an associate scientist at Eurofins EAG Laboratories, who was not involved in the study.
“The ochre artefacts in this study are pretty limited in number, but I would be excited [to] see follow-up work on them that seeks to identify where the ochre was collected,” Zipkin told Live Science in an email. Regarding the new study, “for me, the important bit here is not the ochre in its own right, but its presence as part of a suite of technologies and behaviours,” he said.
The first ochre piece found at the site bore signs of having been “repeatedly abraded to produce a bright dark red ochre powder,” the authors reported; the second, smaller piece of ochre had a more crumbly texture, by comparison, and likely originated from a larger ochre piece that had been crushed. An analysis led by d’Errico revealed that the different types of ochre had been pounded and scraped into powders of varying consistency.
Ochre pieces and processing equipment found at the site were discovered on a red-stained patch of sediment.
Another analysis showed that the reddish sediment found near the ochre contained rocky fragments rich in hematite, a mineral that contains oxidized iron and gives red ochre its distinct hue. (Other types of ochre, including yellow ochre and so-called specularite, a sparkly, reddish-purple pigment, have slightly different mineral compositions, according to Discover.)
Based on the available evidence, however, they could not determine exactly how the pigment was used. Ochre can be used in adhesives, for example, or in “symbolic applications” such as rock art paint or paint that’s applied to the body as both cosmetic decoration and sunscreen, Zipkin said. “Distinguishing between symbolic and functional uses of ochre in the material culture record is an ongoing challenge for prehistoric archaeologists,” he noted.
Traces of ochre did crop up on several stone tools at the site, and the nature of these tools hinted that the pigment may have been used as an additive used in hide processing and as an ingredient in a hafting adhesive — meaning a sticky substance used to affix handles to stone tools. This evidence does not negate the possibility that the pigment may have also been used symbolically, Zipkin said.
Archaeologists have uncovered evidence of ochre processing in Africa and Europe, to a lesser extent, dating back to about 300,000 years ago, and there’s evidence of ochre use in Australia starting about 50,000 years ago, d’Errico told Live Science. But prior to the excavation of Xiamabei, “the evidence for ochre use in Asia before [28,000 years ago] was, however, very scant,” he said.
Based on patterns of wear and lingering residues on hafted lithics found at the site, the team determined that these artifacts were likely used for multiple purposes, including boring through materials, hide scraping, whittling plant material and cutting soft animal matter. Likewise, the unhafted lithics were likely for several purposes, such as boring hard materials and cutting softer materials.
“We are therefore facing a complex technical system exploiting different raw materials to create highly effective, portable tools, used in a variety of activities,” d’Errico said.
Small stone blades known as microblades, or bladelets, became widely used in northeastern Asia by the end of the Pleistocene era (2.6 million to 11,700 years ago), Yang said; specifically, the technology began to spread throughout the region about 29,000 years ago, the authors noted in their report. The lithics at Xiambei are not microblades but show similar features to the small stone tools, which lead Yang to wonder whether these objects represent the “root” of later microblade technology, she said.
The study raises another big question: Which archaic hominins actually occupied Xiamabei 40,000 years ago? Some clues point to modern humans, but the authors cannot be sure that human relatives — namely Neanderthals and Denisovans — weren’t present at the site.
“We cannot be certain that Homo sapiens occupied Xiamabei, owing to the lack of human fossils on site,” Yang told Live Science. That said, modern human fossils have been found at a younger site called Tianyuandong, which lies about 68 miles (110 km) away, as well as another site in the region called the Zhoukoudian Upper Cave, she said. These nearby fossils hint that the ochre-processing, tool-crafting hominins that visited Xiamabei may have also been H. sapiens.
“We cannot, however, entirely disregard the possibility that other closely-related human ancestors were not still present in the vast landscapes of northern Asia, as it’s clear that earlier groups of Homo sapiens were mating and mixing with Neanderthals and Denisovans,” Yang said. In addition, since Neanderthals also used ochre, the evidence of ochre use doesn’t offer any clues as to which hominins were present at the site, Zipkin said.
“Further planned excavations at Xiamabei will help us to better understand our evolutionary story,” Yang said.
35 Ancient Pyramids Discovered in Sudan Necropolis
Archaeologists excavating a site in Sudan have discovered 35 pyramids revealing fascinating links between the bygone Kingdom of Kush that once existed there and ancient Egypt.
The pyramids, which date back around 2,000 years, are smaller than most Egyptian examples with the largest being 22 feet in width and the smallest, likely constructed for the burial of a child, being just 30 inches.
The site in Sedeinga, northern Sudan, was part of the ancient kingdom of Kush which shared a border with Egypt and, later on, the Roman Empire.
Discovery: The skeleton of a child buried with necklaces around its neck was unearthed amid a complex of 35 pyramids discovered in Sudan
Some of the pyramids were discovered in the dig in Sedeinga in northern Sudan. Unusually some had a circle built inside them with cross-braces connecting the circle to the corners of the pyramid
Treasures: An amulet of the Egyptian god Bes who was often associated with children and pregnant mothers (left) and archaeologist Vincent Francigny shows with a steal, a stone slab used to keep records (right)
One factor that has surprised the team was how densely concentrated the pyramids were. In a single area of 5,381 square feet, roughly the size of a basketball court, they found 13 pyramids.
Sadly the condition of the pyramids has suffered from the presence of a camel caravan route and the long passage of time and none of the top sections remains intact.
Capstones, depicting either a bird or a lotus flower on top of a solar orb, have originally been placed at the top of the pyramids. Graves were discovered beside the pyramids in tomb chambers which were often found to have held more than one body.
Packed: One feature that surprised the team was how densely concentrated the pyramids were. In a single area of 5,381 square feet, roughly the size of a basketball court, they found 13 pyramids
Treasures: An offering table discovered at the site inscribed with ancient Meroitic writing (left) and a capstone which would have sat on the top of a pyramid-shaped like a lotus flower above a solar orb (right)
Sadly these graves had all been plundered, possibly many hundreds of years ago, however, the archaeologists did find skeletal remains and some artefacts. The archaeological team believes the building of pyramids at Sedeinga continued for centuries and was strongly influenced by Egyptian funerary architecture.
Vincent Francigny, a research associate with the American Museum of Natural History in New York, told LiveScience: ‘The density of the pyramids is huge.
‘Because it lasted for hundreds of years they built more, more, more pyramids and after centuries they started to fill all the spaces that were still available in the necropolis.
‘They reached a point where it was so filled with people and graves that they had to reuse the oldest one.’
Some of the pyramids were found to have been built with cross-braces connecting the corners to an inner circle. Interestingly only one pyramid outside of Sedeinga is known to have been built in this way.
Mr Francigny believes that when pyramid building came into fashion at Sedeinga it could have been combined with a local circle-building tradition called tumulus construction, resulting in pyramids with circles within them.
He added: ‘What we found this year is very intriguing. A grave of a child and it was covered by only a kind of circle, almost complete, of brick.’
A copper-alloy bowl was found in the tomb holding this skeleton (left).Sedeinga, in Sudan, sits near the River Nile which flows up into Egypt (right)One tomb held over 1,500 beads as well as Nile spiral shells which appeared to be the remains of one or more necklaces. Researchers were able to re-assemble them showing what they may have looked like (left) An almost complete bowl decorated with a frieze that resembles double axes with stars in between them
Among the artefacts discovered were depictions of Egyptian gods including Bes who is associated with children and pregnant mothers. One of the most interesting finds was an offering table depicting the jackal-headed god Anubis and a goddess believed to be Isis.
A dedication to a woman named ‘Aba-la,’ which researchers believe may be a nickname for ‘grandmother,’ was inscribed with ancient Meroitic writing – a script derived from Egyptian hieroglyphs.
Archaeologists discover a 2,600-year-old castle on Egypt’s border
A former military castle that experts think served as a gate to Egypt’s eastern border protecting it from the Persians 2,600 years ago has been unearthed. Discovered in North Sinai, the fortress is believed to date to 664-610 BC in the Psamtik era – the last before the Persian invasion in 525 BC.
Photos released from the dig reveal a number of items including metal arrowheads, stone daggers and figurines.
The building was discovered by an Egyptian archaeological mission and has been dated to almost three millennia ago, a hundred years before the Persians invaded Egypt.
An Egyptian archaeological mission has discovered remnants of a military castle (pictured) that dates back to the Psamtik era from 664-610 BC in North Sinai province.
According to Mr Hussein, it has encountered serious attacks that destroyed most of its buildings.
The remnants indicated two castles on the site and it’s thought the main castle which has 16 towers was built on the structure of unfinished construction.
During the excavation work, some rooms for the soldiers who were tasked with securing the castle were found.
Mostafa Waziri, secretary-general of Egypt’s Supreme Council of Antiquities, said in a statement: ‘The mud brick-constructed castle that belonged to the 26th dynasty is the oldest historically,’
He added that the 85-meter-long southern wall of the castle was built on a structure of another unfinished castle.
Discovered in North Sinai, the fortress is believed to date to 664-610 – the Psamtik era – the last before the Persian invasion in 525 BC. The photo above shows metal arrowheads discovered at the castle’s excavation site in Sinai
The remnants of two castles were found and it’s thought the main castle with 16 towers was built on the structure of an unfinished construction that came before. The above pictures released by Egypt’s Ministry of Antiquities shows aerial views of the excavation
In a post on Facebook by the Ministry of Antiquities, the government agency said that it had located a tower previously standing on the northeast corner and the remains of the South-East Corner Tower, as well as parts of a southern wall.
‘So far, the excavation works are completed to discover the remains of architectural installations inside the castle,’ the post said.
‘This is the historic castle that the mission revealed on its eastern wall in 2008 and was built on the ruins of this castle another castle that has been previously revealed on the site.’
The Psamtik era which lasted from 664-610 BC was also known as the 26th dynasty, after which a battle led by Persian King Cambyses II defeated Psamtik III‘s army at the Battle of Pelusium, a city on Egypt’s eastern frontier.
Photos released from the dig revealed a number of items including metal arrowheads, stone daggers and figurines (pictured). The castle was discovered by an Egyptian archaeological mission and has been dated to almost three millennia ago
The castle stood a hundred years before the Persian invasion of Egypt in 525BC and could have acted as the main gate guarding the country’s eastern border. Stone daggers (pictured) and figurines were also revealed in the dig at North Sinai
The excavation indicated two castles on the same site with the later castle which has 16 towers was built on an unfinished construction. The occupation of Egypt, which began in 525 BC extended the Persian Empire, shown in purple above from what is now Turkey to Afghanistan
After only six months on the throne, Psamtik II went into battle with the Persian invasion led by King Cambyses II.
The Persians crossed Sinai with assistance from the Arabs, where the battle ensued at Pelusium.
The Egyptian military withdrew to Memphis, the traditional capital near Cairo and Cambyses besieged the Sinai and captured it, seizing Psamtik III.
The former king was initially well treated, but he was later executed for conspiracy against the Persians.
The Persian empire extended to a vast area that includes modern-day Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Turkey, Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and lasted from the 6th century BC to the 20th century AD.
The World’s Oldest Intact Shipwreck Has Been Discovered at the Bottom of Black Sea
The oldest intact shipwreck ever has been found resting on the bottom of the Black Sea. Protected by the oxygen-free water at the seafloor, the ship has been sitting undisturbed since 400 B.C., researchers from the Black Sea Maritime Archaeology Project (Black Sea MAP) announced Tuesday.
This ancient Greek vessel, described as the world’s oldest intact shipwreck, was discovered at the bottom of the Black Sea off the coast of Bulgaria. It dates back to the year 400 B.C.
It is a Greek vessel that looks like something the mythical hero Odysseus could have sailed — literally.
According to the researchers, a very similar vessel is painted on the side of the British Museum’s “Siren Vase,” which depicts Odysseus chained to the mast of his ship as it sails past the sweet-voiced sirens.
The ‘Siren Vase’ in the British Museum: the shipwreck is believed to be a vessel similar to that shown bearing Odysseus.
“A ship, surviving intact, from the Classical world, lying in over 2 kilometres [1.2 miles] of water, is something I would never have believed possible,” University of Southampton archaeologist Jon Adams, leader of the Black Sea MAP, said in the statement. “This will change our understanding of shipbuilding and seafaring in the ancient world.”
Fascinating find
The ship was discovered in the fall of 2017, on the third of three survey trips to the Black Sea. Led by Adams, Lyudmil Vagalinsky of the Bulgarian Academy of Science and Kalin Dimitrov of the Center of Underwater Archaeology in Bulgaria, the research team surveyed 770 square miles (2,000 square kilometres) of the seabed during all three seasons.
The investigations turned up more than 60 shipwrecks, including some previously reported to date back to the Ottoman and Byzantine empires.
The Black Sea has only a narrow connection to the Mediterranean Sea, so it drains poorly. And the Black Sea is fed by fresh water from the surrounding land, which floats on top of the saltier water closer to the bottom.
This salty layer is extremely low in oxygen, which keeps wood-eating microbes away from shipwrecks on the seafloor. For that reason, even centuries-old ships look as if they went down yesterday.
The Greek vessel sits about 1.2 miles (2 km) deep.
The researchers used radiocarbon dating to show that the wreck dates back more than 2,400 years. The ship rests on its side, its mast and prow clearly visible and unbroken.
Rising waters
The main goal of the Black Sea MAP is to understand changes that have occurred since the last ice age when the sea was much lower.
Because the area has been a hub of civilization, the shipwrecks at the bottom form time capsules, revealing who used the sea for commerce and how they built their vessels.
The researchers have also excavated a settlement on the Bulgarian side of the sea near the Ropotamo River.
The site tells a story of the Black Sea as melting glaciers raised sea levels and forced humans to adapt. In the lowest layers of the excavation, about 8.2 feet (2.5 meters) below the current seafloor, are timbers and hearth fragments from a Bronze Age settlement, the researchers previously reported. But by the Byzantine era (A.D. 330 -1453), the site was inundated, and ceramics revealed that people used the spot as a safe harbour.
By the Ottoman era (A.D. 1299-1920), the spot was a deeper anchorage for trading vessels.
Vikings Weren’t All Scandinavian, Ancient DNA Study Shows
The term “Viking” tends to conjure up images of fierce, blonde men who donned horned helmets and sailed the seas in longboats, earning a fearsome reputation through their violent conquests and plunder.
But a new study published in the journal Nature suggests the people known as Vikings didn’t exactly fit these modern stereotypes. Instead, a survey deemed the “world’s largest-ever DNA sequencing of Viking skeletons” reinforces what historians and archaeologists have long speculated: that Vikings’ expansion to lands outside of their native Scandinavia diversified their genetic backgrounds, creating a community not necessarily unified by shared DNA.
As Erin Blakemore reports for National Geographic, an international team of researchers drew on remains unearthed at more than 80 sites across northern Europe, Italy and Greenland to map the genomes of 442 humans buried between roughly 2400 B.C. and 1600 A.D.
The results showed that Viking identity didn’t always equate to Scandinavian ancestry. Just before the Viking Age (around 750 to 1050 A.D.), for instance, people from Southern and Eastern Europe migrated to what is now Denmark, introducing DNA more commonly associated with the Anatolia region. In other words, writes Kiona N. Smith for Ars Technica, Viking-era residents of Denmark and Sweden shared more ancestry with ancient Anatolians than their immediate Scandinavian predecessors did.
Other individuals included in the study exhibited both Sami and European ancestry, according to the New York Times’ James Gorman. Previously, researchers had thought the Sami, a group of reindeer herders with Asiatic roots, were hostile toward Scandinavians.
“These identities aren’t genetic or ethnic, they’re social,” Cat Jarman, an archaeologist at the Museum of Cultural History in Oslo who wasn’t involved in the new research, tells Science magazine’s, Andrew Curry. “To have a backup for that from DNA is powerful.”
Overall, the scientists found that people who lived in Scandinavia exhibited high levels of non-Scandinavian ancestry, pointing to a continuous exchange of genetic information across the broader European continent.
Contrary to popular belief, Vikings weren’t simply blonde, seafaring Scandinavians.
In addition to comparing samples collected at different archaeological sites, the team drew comparisons between historical humans and present-day Danish people.
They found that Viking Age individuals had a higher frequency of genes linked to dark-coloured hair, subverting the image of the typical light-haired Viking.
“It’s pretty clear from the genetic analysis that Vikings are not a homogenous group of people,” lead author Eske Willerslev, director of the University of Copenhagen’s Center of Excellence GeoGenetics, tells National Geographic. “A lot of the Vikings are mixed individuals.”
He adds, “We even see people buried in Scotland with Viking swords and equipment that are genetically not Scandinavian at all.”
The ongoing exchange of goods, people and ideas encouraged Vikings to interact with populations across Europe—a trend evidenced by the new survey, which found relatively homogenous genetic information in Scandinavian locations like mid-Norway and Jutland but high amounts of genetic heterogeneity in trade hubs such as the Swedish islands of Gotland and Öland.
Per the Times, the researchers report that Vikings genetically similar to modern Danes and Norwegians tended to head west on their travels, while those more closely linked to modern Swedes preferred to journey eastward. Still, exceptions to this pattern exist: As Ars Technica notes, Willerslev and his colleagues identified an individual with Danish ancestry in Russia and a group of unlucky Norwegians executed in England.
The study also shed light on the nature of Viking raids. In one Estonian burial, the team found four brothers who’d died on the same day and were interred alongside another relative—perhaps an uncle, reports the Times. Two sets of second-degree kin buried in a Danish Viking cemetery and a site in Oxford, England, further support the idea that Viking Age individuals (including families) travelled extensively, according to National Geographic.
“These findings have important implications for social life in the Viking world, but we would’ve remained ignorant of them without ancient DNA,” says co-author Mark Collard, an archaeologist at Canada’s Simon Fraser University, in a statement. “They really underscore the power of the approach for understanding history.”
