Haplogroup R1a

The fabled haplogroup R1a - or, more precisely, its subclade R1a1 - is said to indicate a "Viking origin"

when it is found among men of British descent. This is the haplogroup that will earn you a "Viking" certificate

from Oxford Ancestors, and its presence was the main focus of the Capelli study "A Y Chromosome

Census of The British Isles".

It is believed to have originated among the Kurgan culture of western Asia, which is often credited

with spreading the Indo-European languages to northwestern Europe. The Kurgans were nomads with a

pastoral economy, and to this day their descendants bear the genetic traces of a dependence on livestock and

animal products. The incidence of milk tolerance among the Swedes, for instance, is among the highest

in the world.

The Scandinavians have long believed that their ancestors originated in Asia. The Icelandic sagas claim

descent for the Jarls of Norway from the warriors of Troy, and the anthropologist Thor Heyerdahl - the author of

the classic "Kon Tiki" - spent his final years attempting to trace the human originals of Wodin and the Aesir

back to Azerbaijan in the Caucasus.  There may be an element of truth to these speculations, since individuals with

R1a haplotypes often score matches with Indians, Siberians, Chinese and other Asians - even when they score no

matches with persons from Europe. The recent discovery of fair-haired mummies in the Takla Makan desert of western

China has revived interest in the long forgotten Indo-Iranian tribe, the Tocharians, their possible role in the economy

of the Silk Road, and their relationship with the people of Europe. Haplogroup R1a is also, implicitly, the "Aryan"

haplogroup, and perhaps the less said about that, the better.

A person who does not belong to haplogroup R1a may, in fact, have a "deep ancestry" in Scandinavia.

R1a accounts for only about 30% of the men of Norway. The various subclades of Haplogroup I account for

about 35%, and even R1b accounts for as much as 28%. Conversely, a person who does belong to R1a does

not necessarily have Scandinavian ancestors - even if his people are from Britain.

Suppose you take three Britons - one whose grandfather was a Pakistani immigrant, another whose grandfather

was a Polish pilot with the RAF, and the third a Scot descended from one of the Hungarian noblemen who

accompanied Margaret Atheling to the court of Malcolm Canmore - and who, perhaps, bears the name

Drummond, Borthwick or Crichton.

All three gentlemen could easily be R1a, but that doesn't make them Vikings.

However, some DNA genealogists have asserted not only that R1a was "Viking", but that only R1a was truly Viking -

and that all the occurrence of R1b in the Norwegian population is due to the importation of Celtic slaves. This is a

curiously Anglo-Centric argument. Vikings took slaves from many foreign lands, and sold most of them to

other foreign lands. Most of the slaves in Norway were, in fact, the descendants of prisoners captured in wars

with other Vikings. Even those foreign slaves who were imported to Norway were more likely to be Slavic

than Celtic, as Slavs comprised the largest number of the slaves the Vikings bought and sold. Slavs had been

common victims of the "peculiar institution" since Roman times.

R1a is, in fact, far more prevalent in Poland and Hungary than in Norway. One could actually mount a

counterargument that it was not R1b, but R1a, whose incidence in Scandinavia was artificially enhanced by slavery.

R1a could also have entered Britain with the Goths, who served with the Roman Army in Britain. Many

Visigoths also settled in France, and some of their descendants accompanied the Normans to England. The De Vaux

family of Dirleton Castle, for instance, came from Normandy. Before that, however, they were reputedly descended

from a Visigothic family that obtained lands in Roman Gaul.

Indo-Iranian nomads like the Alans and the Sarmatians also probably carried R1a, and they found their

way to Britain as well.