TV programme Vikings depicts the exploits of raiding warriors AF archive / Alamy
The Vikings weren’t all Nordic natives. They comprised multiple distinct groups of different peoples, according to a major study of ancient DNA.
“Viking genetics and Viking ancestry is used quite a lot in extremist right-wing circles,” says Cat Jarman at the University of Bristol in the UK, who wasn’t involved in the study. Many white supremacists identify with a “very pure Viking race of just people from Scandinavia, who had no influence from anywhere else”.
In fact, the DNA evidence suggests the…
