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‘Viking’ was a job, not a matter of heredity: ancient DNA study (2020)

science.org

51–60 of 210 posts

Re: ‘Viking’ was a job, not a matter of heredity: ancient DNA study (2020)

#51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> rather than Scandinavian Strange, being in North America, I've yet to meet anyone identify themself as having viking blood, but we refer to Scandinavians as being of viking ancestry all the time.

pretty common on twitter, esp these days where there is strong anglo-saxon white nationalism crowd they do romanticize their ancient past as one of conquest and domination over others. btw, even without the viking aspect, norse law was pretty strange in that it allowed murder for a fine. there is definitely a savage aspect to white tradition as there is to any modern culture, but there is a lot of whitewashing thats…

> pretty common on twitter

All sorts of strange things are common on twitter that are completely absent in real life. It shouldn't be used for any measure of reality, especially if you're judging the people of a continent.

Re: ‘Viking’ was a job, not a matter of heredity: ancient DNA study (2020)

#52
post #9

[flagged]

There are five million Irish in Ireland and something like 75 million “Irish” in the US. And Chicago has more Polish that Warsaw, but that’s actual expats and their kids. Not great great great grandchildren of Margaret and John who came over in 1845.

Re: ‘Viking’ was a job, not a matter of heredity: ancient DNA study (2020)

#53
post #20

It's safe to say that 100% of the Northmen who invaded England in 1066 shared that same "job description", however.

What's gonna bake your noodle is, Viking raids were the VC-funded startups of medieval northern Europe. Norse kings were very generous with their kingdom's treasure, to the raiders with the most fearsome reputations.

Re: ‘Viking’ was a job, not a matter of heredity: ancient DNA study (2020)

#54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think I've ever heard anyone IRL say they have viking ancestors. Yearning for Valhalla is more a specific type of extremely online poster / podcast bro / FBI director kind of behavior.

Would wearing a haircut from that dreadful viking TV show and a Thor hammer necklace count? I’ve seen quite a meme-worthy characters over the years

Modern paganism went through a revival during the early 2000s. Are you sure you're not just seeing someone's religion?

And its not the first time, either. There's been several revivals of the beliefs and culture over the years - for example, we didn't even have the word 'viking' in English until the 18th Century.

Re: ‘Viking’ was a job, not a matter of heredity: ancient DNA study (2020)

#55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think I've ever heard anyone IRL say they have viking ancestors. Yearning for Valhalla is more a specific type of extremely online poster / podcast bro / FBI director kind of behavior.

Would wearing a haircut from that dreadful viking TV show and a Thor hammer necklace count? I’ve seen quite a meme-worthy characters over the years

The modern Techno Viking:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UjCdB5p2v0Y

Re: ‘Viking’ was a job, not a matter of heredity: ancient DNA study (2020)

#59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> rather than Scandinavian Strange, being in North America, I've yet to meet anyone identify themself as having viking blood, but we refer to Scandinavians as being of viking ancestry all the time.

pretty common on twitter, esp these days where there is strong anglo-saxon white nationalism crowd they do romanticize their ancient past as one of conquest and domination over others. btw, even without the viking aspect, norse law was pretty strange in that it allowed murder for a fine. there is definitely a savage aspect to white tradition as there is to any modern culture, but there is a lot of whitewashing thats…

Restorative justice isn't that unusual in the world. Blood money has roots all over the place. Paying victims or their family/clan/tribe for deaths or injury is not unusual especially if the perpetrator is of higher status than the victim.

Re: ‘Viking’ was a job, not a matter of heredity: ancient DNA study (2020)

#60
The no-mixing part is what got me. If "viking" was just a job open to anyone, you'd expect genetic mixing in the burial sites. But Swedish groups went east, Danes south, Norwegians west — distinct genetic clusters throughout.

So it was a job, but one you apparently got by being born in the right place

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