Viking blood?
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“Vikings are, genetically, not purely Scandinavian,”
“Being a Viking is not a pure ethnic phenomenon, it is a lifestyle that you can adopt whether you are non-Scandinavian or Scandinavian,” said , Prof Eske Willerslev, a co-author of the research from the University of Cambridge and the University of Copenhagen, adding that genetic influences from abroad both before and during the Viking age might help explain why genetic variants for dark hair were relatively common among Vikings.
Dr Steve Ashby, an expert in Viking-age archaeology from the University of York said the study confirmed “The evidence for gene flow with southern Europe and Asia is striking…”
While some were born Vikings, others adopted the culture – or perhaps had it thrust upon them.
I don’t want to be (too) pedantic but it’s been known for ages that inheritance is through genes not the blood as was thought for a long time. So should we really be encouraging this mistaken belief by using its terminology? It’s a valid point of course that national characteristics are cultural rather than biological and are transmitted through learning not through genes.
Recall Tony Hancock’s The Blood Donor?
Essential reading is Ashley Montagu’s The Fallacy of Race.
They even claim a “bloodline” for fictional characters, i.e. Jesus!
Yes, Ashley Montagu is good;
Having a Shetlander as a mother and Norwegian relations through an aunt
i came across these two articles recently
Many thanks.
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