DNA studies are revealing new information on complicated ethnic backgrounds of Viking warriors and traders in medieval Europe.

A research team led by a professor at the University of Copenhagen has analyzed the genomes of 443 bodies buried in Viking graves in northern Europe and Greenland from the 700s to the 1100s.

The New York Times reports that the team “found considerable genetic variety in the ancient remains, indicating migration of Southern Europeans, before the Viking Age, to the area of Denmark, which undermines any idea of a single Nordic genetic identity. Some of the earliest inhabitants of Britain, the Picts, were buried as Vikings, for example.”

The New York Times reports on the new DNA research on Vikings. History.com has published an article on an archaeological find of two Viking boat graves at Gamla Uppsala, Sweden.

Northern Illinois University students in HIST 110 History of the Western World I may be interested in this new research on Vikings.