Viking blood

kabakuyu

Is there any definable blood in the Irish population or is this article dated?


http://www.irishtimes.com/news/science/the-genetic-imprint-of-niall-of-the-nine-hostages-1.1771373

pinkypinky

I believe that the TCD research used quite a small sample but I don't think that discredits it but of course it was sample Norse blood (Uí Neill) and not Viking. I don't know how you'd go about sampling modern Viking descendents in Ireland. You'd have to start with Danish DNA and compare to Irish?

Ipso

The Y DNA mentioned in the article only looks at direct male lineages; male line can die or daughter out breaking the link permanently.
It would be safe to say that the Vikings left a genetic imprint but trying to find out what to look for is a bit tricky.
If you go to familytreedna.com and look up the Ireland project you can see the Y haplogroup results of over 3,000 Irish males.
The most likely Viking candidates would be forms of R1a or I1.

robp

Have you checked http://admixturemap.paintmychromosomes.com/

dubhthach

R1b-M222 does have high levels in names associated with the Uí Néill, but also with the wider Connachta. For example surnames linked to the Uí Bhriúin (O'Connor, Flanagan, McDonagh, O'Rourke, McDermot, Concannon etc.) and the Uí Fhiachrach (O'Dowd, O'Shaughnessy, Hynes etc.). Unsurprising as these two dynastical groups are supposedly descended from Niall's half-brothers.

Niall is of course somewhat semi-mythical so it wouldn't surprise me if there was a certain amount of genealogical fabication. M222 definetly arose before him. Probably funnily enough in Northern Britain, and then spread into Ireland during Iron age. (Dál Cuinn origin myth claims Tuathal Teachtmar was born in exile in "Alba" -- older meaning of word which is Britain -- think Albion)

Y-DNA lineages have nothing to do with Blood-types. Regarding Viking lineages, well there are some Y-lineages in Ireland which have higher distrubition in Germanic Europe. (R1b-U106, some variants of Haplogroup I1*, some variants of R1a etc.). To verify a connection you really need to find subclades that have high frequency/diversity in Scandinavia and then map there distribution across Europe.

dubhthach

These are very generic maps. The group all subclades of say I1 or R1a or R1b-U106 together. Obviously there are subclades of say R1a found in Eastern europe that aren't found in scandinavia and vice versa:

R1b-U106 (S21) -- peaks in Netherlands at about 40% of men:


Haplogroup I1 (generic -- includes all subclades, some of which are very heavy in Scandinavia)


R1a (generic scandinavian R1a mostly R1a-Z284 (and below)