Archaeological Research Laboratory, Department of Archaeology and Classical Studies, University of Stockholm, Lilla Frescativägen 7, 106 91 Stockholm, Sweden.
Osteoarchaeological Research Laboratory, Department of Archaeology and Classical Studies, University of Stockholm, Lilla Frescativägen 7, 106 91 Stockholm, Sweden.
Curr Biol. 2018 Sep 10;28(17):2730-2738.e10. doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2018.06.053. Epub 2018 Aug 23.
The impact of human mobility on the northern European urban populations during the Viking and Early Middle Ages and its repercussions in Scandinavia itself are still largely unexplored. Our study of the demographics in the final phase of the Viking era is the first comprehensive multidisciplinary investigation that includes genetics, isotopes, archaeology, and osteology on a larger scale. This early Christian dataset is particularly important as the earlier common pagan burial tradition during the Iron Age was cremation, hindering large-scale DNA analyses. We present genome-wide sequence data from 23 individuals from the 10 to 12 century Swedish town of Sigtuna. The data revealed high genetic diversity among the early urban residents. The observed variation exceeds the genetic diversity in distinct modern-day and Iron Age groups of central and northern Europe. Strontium isotope data suggest mixed local and non-local origin of the townspeople. Our results uncover the social system underlying the urbanization process of the Viking World of which mobility was an intricate part and was comparable between males and females. The inhabitants of Sigtuna were heterogeneous in their genetic affinities, probably reflecting both close and distant connections through an established network, confirming that early urbanization processes in northern Europe were driven by migration.
人类流动对维京时代和中世纪早期北欧城市人口的影响及其在斯堪的纳维亚本身的反响在很大程度上仍未得到探索。我们对维京时代末期人口统计学的研究是首次全面的多学科调查，包括更大规模的遗传学、同位素、考古学和骨骼学。这个早期基督教数据集特别重要，因为在铁器时代早期，常见的异教埋葬传统是火化，这阻碍了大规模的 DNA 分析。我们从瑞典西格图纳 10 至 12 世纪的一个城镇的 23 个人中提供了全基因组序列数据。数据显示，早期城市居民的遗传多样性很高。观察到的变异超过了中欧和北欧不同现代和铁器时代群体的遗传多样性。锶同位素数据表明，城镇居民具有本地和非本地的混合来源。我们的研究结果揭示了维京世界城市化进程背后的社会体系，其中流动性是一个复杂的组成部分，并且在男性和女性之间是可比的。西格图纳的居民在遗传亲和力上存在异质性，这可能反映了通过既定网络建立的密切和遥远的联系，证实了北欧早期的城市化进程是由移民推动的。
