Haplotypes and textual types: Interdisciplinary approaches to Viking Age migration and mobility

Abstract

When geneticists became interested in Viking Age migration and mobility, about 20 years ago, their evidence was drawn from the DNA of modern populations. More recently, ancient DNA (aDNA) techniques have been refined to the extent that evidence from archaeological skeletons is now being brought into the discussions. While modern DNA can provide large datasets, it remains a question how well these represent populations of over a thousand years ago. On the other hand, aDNA is indeed ancient, but the datasets are small and therefore also not necessarily representative. The historical and literary texts about Viking Age migration and mobility also suffer from doubts about how representative they are. This common characteristic of texts and genetics indicates that an interdisciplinary approach would be fruitful. This paper will explore intersections between ancient texts and aDNA to suggest some ways forward.