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So far on 'Blood of the Vikings'
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I've discovered a story of Viking attacks
and invasions across Britain and Ireland.
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Tonight I travel in search of
the evidence for Viking settlement
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along the sea road
from Shetland to Dublin.
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What brought the Vikings here?
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And were their dealings
with the natives peaceful?
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Or not?
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Western Norway in winter.
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It's dark and
it's freezing.
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The terrain is rugged and unforgiving.
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Deep fjords lie below
bare snow-capped mountains.
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At the edge of one fjord,
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on a thin strip of land
sandwiched between water and rock,
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I discovered the traces
of ancient fields.
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A thousand years ago
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making a living from this land
must have been a constant struggle.
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Many of the Vikings came from
this part of Western Norway.
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And when you come here, and see
just how little good land there is,
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then it's easy to understand why
some of them may have sailed away
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to places like Orkney and Shetland.
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The first stop for seafaring
Vikings heading west
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were the islands of
Shetland and Orkney.
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The Northern Isles.
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And there's plenty of evidence
that the Vikings came this way.
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Ruins at Jarlshof, in Shetland,
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show that Viking
'longhouses' once stood here.
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This Viking treasure, a
symbol of wealth and power,
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was discovered buried in Orkney.
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There's even rare
evidence of Viking writing.
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On the walls of an
ancient tomb in Orkney
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are the finest Runic inscriptions
outside Scandinavia.
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Graffiti of the sort
you'd expect from Vikings,
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boasting of treasure and women.
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And the locals still
celebrate their Viking past.
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On Shetland, each January, they
gather for the festival of Up Helly Aa
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and burn a Viking long ship.
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We know that the Vikings
came to Shetland and Orkney,
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but we don't know how many.
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Did Viking immigrants
dominate these islands?
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Or did most of the natives remain?
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To find out just how much Viking
ancestry there is in Shetland
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and in the rest of Britain and Ireland
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the BBC have teemed up with geneticists
from the University College London.
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So far they've identified
distinctive DNA markers
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on the Y chromosome in
the Viking descendants -
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present-day Norwegian men.
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The hope is that they'll find these same
markers in men from Orkney and Shetland.
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Professor David Goldstein
is the project leader.
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I think the Scottish Islands
are a very good place to start
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because we have such good evidence,
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archaeological evidence
and place name evidence,
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of Viking activities
in the Scottish Islands.
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So, in fact,
it's really a good test.
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If there are genetic
signatures from Scandinavia
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in the British Isles generally,
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we ought to find them
in the Scottish Islands.
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Dr Jim Wilson, part of David
Goldstein's team, is in Shetland
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to collect DNA samples from members
of the Family History Society.
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Based on how many of them are
found to have Norwegian ancestry,
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it should be possible to estimate
the scale of Viking settlement
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over a thousand years ago.
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Right. We have two
consent forms to fill in.
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-What's your name?
- George Jacobson.
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I think curiosity is the main thing.
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We're just interested to see
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if there is any particular
link with the Vikings or not.
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We really don't know.
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We're just interested to see
what you're going to come up with.
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I'll just open this swab tube
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and you rub the cotton bud up and
down in the inside of your cheek,
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five times in each cheek.
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And in the meantime I'll put
this preservative in the tube.
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I think it's an
excellent idea altogether
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because it offers scientific
proof as to genealogy,
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and it can extend so much further back
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than written records
and that sort of thing.
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They're sampling 100 men
in both Shetland and Orkney.
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In order to lessen the distorting
effects of recent population movement
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on ancient genetic patterns,
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recruits must be able to prove that
their father and their father's father
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were born in the islands.
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-Does your father's father
come from Shetland? - Yes.
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- And your mother's mother?
- Yes.
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How many generations can
you trace your male line?
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-Seventeen.
- Seventeen?
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Five in Shetland.
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Well, I'm a true Viking, definitely.
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Any true Shetlander would be
proud to find that they were
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of Viking blood rather
than Scottish blood.
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Sampling's going on at over 30
locations across Britain and Ireland.
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It's the first time that such
a large scale genetics project
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has been used to trace
the movements of Vikings.
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The Northern Isles will
be a crucial test-case
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for showing how well
the technique works.
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One question that genetics can't answer
and that archaeologists argue about
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is what happened to the Picts?
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The people that were
living in the Northern Isles
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at the time that the Vikings arrived.
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Did the Christian Picts stay on
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and live side by side with
the new pagan settlers?
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Or did the Vikings'
arrival trigger a bloodbath?
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Shetland archivist, Brian Smith,
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believes the evidence
points to just one answer.
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He's looked at all the place
names at Shetland and Orkney
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and discovered that 99% of them
are of Scandinavian origin.
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If the Vikings had coexisted amiably
with the Pictish population of Shetland,
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if they'd enslaved them, if they'd
killed the men and married the women,
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there would be Pictish place
names in the islands today.
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My only conclusion from the
fact that there are no such names
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is that the Vikings annihilated
the native population of the islands.
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In search of evidence
to support his theory,
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Brian has examined the way
place names have changed
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in countries where there
has been colonisation.
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Some times names survive.
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The USA is, of course, a place where
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the indigenous population
did leave some of its names.
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The conclusion that we must reach then,
is that something ominous,
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something awful happened
in Shetland and Orkney
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to prevent that happening.
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He believes that 19th century events
in the corner of the British Empire
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mirror the Vikings' colonisation
of the Northern Isles.
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The parallel that I like to draw
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is with Tasmania, in
the southern hemisphere,
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where over a relatively short
period, the colonising white settlers
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got rid of the local population.
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Exactly the same thing
happened to the place names,
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they virtually disappeared
in a very short period.
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We don't have native
Tasmanian place names today
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in the same way we don't have
native Pictish place names
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in Orkney and Shetland.
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But is this view
supported by archaeology?
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The Picts are an elusive people
who lived in Northern Scotland
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and the Northern Isles
over 1,000 years ago.
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They left a few clues behind them,
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in artifacts, carved stone,
and in the remains of their buildings.
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Most Pictish houses are
divided into small cells.
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But around the beginning
of the Viking age
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buildings like these vanish
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to be replaced by open-plan
rectangular longhouses
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of a distinctly Scandinavian type.
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On the face of it, more support
for the idea that the Picts
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were wiped out by the Vikings.
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However, more recent
discoveries in Orkney
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are now challenging this view.
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25 years ago, Olwyn Owen's first
archaeological excavation as a student,
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was on the Brough of Birsay
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where there'd once been an
important Pictish settlement.
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Pictish buildings were
replaced by Viking longhouses
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and within these, the
archaeologists came across something
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which would change ideas about what
really happened when the Vikings arrived.
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In the lower levels of the Norse houses
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they began to find Pictish
artifacts mixed with Norse artifacts.
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And, obviously there had
been a Pictish settlement here
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and there was an intermingling of the
cultural material from Picts and Norse.
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And I think perhaps some of the earlier
archaeologists were a bit surprised,
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and maybe even disappointed.
They probably hoped they'd find
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a nice thick layer of burnt debris
and maybe some blood and gore
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to distinguish between the Pictish
levels and the Norse levels.
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But that isn't how it was at all.
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And that was the first time, I think,
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that someone had been
able to say so clearly
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that there was no
evidence of mass slaughter.
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So the discovery of Pictish
goods within Norse houses
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could suggest that at least some
Vikings traded with the Picts.
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But not everyone is convinced.
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The fact that we find Pictish
artifacts in Viking houses
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needn't necessarily mean that
there was peaceful coexistence
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between the two peoples.
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It can also suggest that the Vikings
took the artifacts, took the material,
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from the houses of the previous
population who had by then,
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in my opinion, been slaughtered.
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It's difficult to imagine the
sudden arrival of predatory Vikings
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intent on grabbing land
being anything other than violent.
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But suppose contact developed
gradually over a period of time.
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Some archaeologists are now suggesting
that this is exactly what happened.
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And that, consequently,
the first contact with Norway,
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may have been long before the
Viking age officially began.
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And may not have involved massacre.
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A closer look at the reports
of the first Viking raid
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on Lindisfarne, in England, in 793,
seemed to back this up.
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The monk, Alcuin of York,
who wrote about the raid
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put scorn on his fellow-Christians
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for what he saw as 'inappropriate
familiarity' towards the heathen Vikings.
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"Consider the luxurious dress and
behaviour of their leaders and people.
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"See how they had wanted to copy the
pagan way of cutting hair and beards.
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"Are these the people
whose terror threatens us?
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"Yet you want to copy their hair?"
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So maybe the attack was
not by an unknown force
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but by a people who'd been
frequent visitors to Britain.
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You have to remember where we are.
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Orkney and Shetland are so close
to the west coast of Norway.
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So the idea that the Vikings weren't
traveling around in Northern waters
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long before the Viking age proper
is supposed to have started,
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I think it's a very strange one.
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It seems to me highly likely that
they were known in these waters.
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They weren't so frightening.
They weren't so alien.
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But will this idea be
ever more than speculation?
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What archaeologists would
really like to find in Britain
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is some indisputable evidence
of early Viking contact.
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And these bone combs, which
date from the 7th century,
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may provide the very first clue.
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But only if scientists can
tell whether they're red deer
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or raindeer.
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This distinction is critical.
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Because while red deer
are native to Scotland,
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raindeer only come from Scandinavia,
the Viking homelands.
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Dr Ljuba Smirnova has
analysed hundreds of bone combs
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from Viking age and
medieval sites in Europe
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and has worked out ways of telling if
they're made from red deer or raindeer.
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All antlers are porous in the centre
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with a transition to compact
solid material at the surface,
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the useful part.
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The transition is
sharp in red deer antler
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and the porous material is rarely used.
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But in raindeer antler
the transition is gradual,
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and this semi-porous
material is often used.
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Raindeer combs also tend
to look darker and rougher.
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We asked Ljuba to examine a group of
combs from Pictish sites across Orkney.
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All of them were discovered
in layers dated to the 600's.
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If any of them are from raindeer
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that is proof of early
contact with the Vikings.
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Ljuba begins with an
examination of the surfaces.
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So this is one of the
typical Pictish combs.
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It's well polished, it's light in colour,
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and the surface looks
almost structureless,
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extremely compact, solid material
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with very, very fine threads of fibers.
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This would be red deer.
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But there are several more
Pictish combs to be tested.
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It's a different type of Pictish comb,
double-sided Pictish comb.
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It's also very dark, very brown,
very woody in appearance.
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Very rough surface with little polish.
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Let's see if we can find
any transition areas.
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Beneath the surface of
the left edge of the comb
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Ljuba has identified
a semi-porous region.
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That is one of the rare examples
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when you are absolutely sure,
238
00:16:38,952 --> 00:16:43,047
or as absolutely sure
as it's possible to be,
239
00:16:43,082 --> 00:16:46,262
that you are dealing
with raindeer antler.
240
00:16:48,413 --> 00:16:52,606
Ljuba's examination has found
that several of the Pictish combs
241
00:16:52,641 --> 00:16:55,200
are made of raindeer antler.
242
00:16:55,235 --> 00:16:58,828
This is the first tangible
evidence for early contact,
243
00:16:58,863 --> 00:17:02,958
perhaps peaceful trading,
between Picts and Vikings.
244
00:17:02,993 --> 00:17:07,608
Although it doesn't prove that
Viking contact was always peaceful.
245
00:17:17,328 --> 00:17:21,043
So what was the impact of
the Vikings at this time?
246
00:17:21,078 --> 00:17:23,670
With no historical records in Scotland
247
00:17:23,705 --> 00:17:26,961
we have to rely totally
on archaeological evidence.
248
00:17:26,996 --> 00:17:29,979
Dr James Barrett hopes
to find some answers
249
00:17:30,014 --> 00:17:33,593
at a newly discovered site on
the Island of Westray in Orkney,
250
00:17:33,628 --> 00:17:37,672
where it appears that the Vikings took
over one of the original settlements.
251
00:17:37,707 --> 00:17:42,004
He's been searching for clues in
ancient rubbish dumps or middens.
252
00:17:44,116 --> 00:17:47,835
So here we have about 50 cm
of the Viking age bin.
253
00:17:47,870 --> 00:17:51,374
It's dominated by fishbones, see the
pieces sticking out all over the place,
254
00:17:51,409 --> 00:17:53,460
also marine shell.
255
00:17:53,495 --> 00:17:56,032
But here we have a
major break into this...
256
00:17:56,087 --> 00:17:58,652
- It changes completely, doesn't it?
- Yes.
257
00:17:58,687 --> 00:18:01,823
...this material, which has
very little fishbone in it,
258
00:18:01,858 --> 00:18:04,965
a lot less shell and the
majority of the bone that's there
259
00:18:05,000 --> 00:18:07,486
is mammal bone, often
quite large pieces.
260
00:18:08,863 --> 00:18:12,839
It's incredible that you can see the
point in time when the Vikings arrived
261
00:18:12,874 --> 00:18:15,791
by just looking at the change in refuse.
262
00:18:20,310 --> 00:18:24,460
And closeby, on the shore,
waves have exposed another midden
263
00:18:24,495 --> 00:18:27,113
and another sign of Viking life.
264
00:18:27,831 --> 00:18:30,353
It contains even more fishbone.
265
00:18:30,388 --> 00:18:33,264
It's just incredible actually.
You see a lot of shell,
266
00:18:33,300 --> 00:18:35,303
the shell is almost certainly bait
267
00:18:35,338 --> 00:18:37,796
but in fact is the fish
that are really important,
268
00:18:37,831 --> 00:18:39,911
where you have a lot of skull bones
269
00:18:39,946 --> 00:18:43,445
and then the vertebrae from the very
front of the fish, the ones like this.
270
00:18:43,480 --> 00:18:47,717
This is a butchery pattern which
we know from medieval depictions
271
00:18:47,752 --> 00:18:50,793
of dried, or dried and salted fish.
272
00:18:50,828 --> 00:18:55,811
So, they're chucking the heads away
and drying the rest of the fish?
273
00:18:55,812 --> 00:18:58,058
That's certainly the likelihood, yes.
274
00:18:58,093 --> 00:19:02,743
Now, the question is, why is there this
explosion in the use of marine resources?
275
00:19:02,778 --> 00:19:06,402
There's no apparent increase
in the consumption of fish
276
00:19:06,437 --> 00:19:08,842
based on the dietary
evidence from the human bone.
277
00:19:08,868 --> 00:19:10,812
So what were they doing
with all those fishes?
278
00:19:10,848 --> 00:19:15,208
The most likely explanation, in my mind,
is that this material is going elsewhere.
279
00:19:15,243 --> 00:19:17,488
And that it's part of
the commercial revolution
280
00:19:17,523 --> 00:19:20,336
that happens at the end
of the late Viking age
281
00:19:20,371 --> 00:19:24,168
and into the Middle Ages, where
trading commodities becomes important.
282
00:19:31,304 --> 00:19:36,132
James' unusual site tells a story
about the entire Viking period.
283
00:19:36,167 --> 00:19:41,175
From how their arrival influenced diet
to the establishment of big business.
284
00:19:41,210 --> 00:19:44,926
It seems that Orkney was
an important Viking colony.
285
00:19:44,961 --> 00:19:48,832
But can we tell anything about
what these new colonials were like?
286
00:19:55,542 --> 00:19:58,400
Burials can provide vital evidence
287
00:19:58,435 --> 00:20:01,357
because, as part of their pagan rituals,
288
00:20:01,392 --> 00:20:05,852
Vikings were often buried with
treasured possessions for the afterlife.
289
00:20:09,753 --> 00:20:15,163
A few years ago, an unusual discovery was
made on the island of Sanday, in Orkney.
290
00:20:15,198 --> 00:20:19,045
A farmer came across
human bones on the beach.
291
00:20:19,080 --> 00:20:22,281
He thought they might be
the remains of a sailor lost at sea,
292
00:20:22,316 --> 00:20:24,469
so he left them there.
293
00:20:25,090 --> 00:20:27,982
He also noticed a curious metal object,
294
00:20:28,017 --> 00:20:31,968
like the top of an old car
battery and took it home.
295
00:20:32,003 --> 00:20:36,715
But he died before anyone realised
the significance of what he'd found.
296
00:20:36,750 --> 00:20:39,647
Three years later, a
colleague of Olwyn Owen's
297
00:20:39,682 --> 00:20:42,451
decided to investigate
the farmer's story.
298
00:20:42,486 --> 00:20:47,315
She'd been told there were bones
coming out of the cliff at Scar
299
00:20:47,350 --> 00:20:51,266
so she went along and
had a look for the bones.
300
00:20:51,301 --> 00:20:54,904
And when she got there she found
boat rivets as well
301
00:20:54,939 --> 00:20:58,561
and she knew what Viking
boat rivets looked like
302
00:20:58,596 --> 00:21:03,062
and she realised that maybe there was
more to this grave than met the eye.
303
00:21:03,928 --> 00:21:07,113
Could the rivets be part
of a Viking boat burial?
304
00:21:07,148 --> 00:21:09,893
Archaeologists would
need to excavate the site,
305
00:21:09,928 --> 00:21:15,362
and soon, because within days the first
winter storms would hit the island.
306
00:21:15,397 --> 00:21:20,245
In the first few weeks of the excavation
the conditions were almost indescribable,
307
00:21:20,280 --> 00:21:23,211
they were dreadful, there
were howling gales and winds
308
00:21:23,246 --> 00:21:25,959
and rain driving horizontally.
309
00:21:25,994 --> 00:21:28,659
We have some wonderful
pictures of one of the diggers
310
00:21:28,694 --> 00:21:32,568
being almost overwhelmed by
what looks like a tidal wave
311
00:21:32,603 --> 00:21:36,403
coming across the site.
It really was terrible.
312
00:21:39,304 --> 00:21:43,242
For weeks the digging team battled
against the worsening weather.
313
00:21:44,637 --> 00:21:49,280
And I was in Edinburgh and I got
a telephone message to say that
314
00:21:49,315 --> 00:21:53,940
the outline of a boat shape in
stones had appeared in the sand.
315
00:21:53,975 --> 00:21:58,421
And it was marvelous.
My heart was pounding.
316
00:21:58,456 --> 00:22:02,066
I believed then it was
a boat... a boat burial.
317
00:22:03,240 --> 00:22:07,079
On hearing that they'd found
the rare remains of a Viking boat
318
00:22:07,114 --> 00:22:11,646
Olwyn hurried to the site to supervise
excavation of what lay inside.
319
00:22:13,426 --> 00:22:19,162
There were three bodies.
A man, a woman and a child.
320
00:22:19,197 --> 00:22:23,866
They also had with them a
rich variety of grave goods,
321
00:22:23,901 --> 00:22:27,009
including some quite spectacular ones.
322
00:22:27,044 --> 00:22:29,807
And they're not just
objects in museum cases,
323
00:22:29,842 --> 00:22:32,918
they're like a window into Viking life.
324
00:22:39,887 --> 00:22:43,609
In this incredible grave, the
man was buried with a sword,
325
00:22:43,644 --> 00:22:47,022
two lead weights, a quiver
of arrows, a bone comb
326
00:22:47,057 --> 00:22:50,759
and twenty two carved
whale bone gaming pieces.
327
00:22:52,859 --> 00:22:59,109
He didn't have any ordinary domestic
tools or utensils as you'd expect,
328
00:22:59,144 --> 00:23:03,805
they may have been lost at sea
because his part of the grave
329
00:23:03,840 --> 00:23:06,784
had been quite badly
damaged by sea erosion,
330
00:23:06,819 --> 00:23:10,151
but he did have the set of
gaming pieces, which were lovely,
331
00:23:10,186 --> 00:23:13,753
so on the basis of the finds
that survived in the grave,
332
00:23:13,788 --> 00:23:17,405
he was a warrior with
plenty of leisure time.
333
00:23:20,814 --> 00:23:22,910
The woman was buried with possessions
334
00:23:23,095 --> 00:23:26,633
that included a round spindle
whorl and a pair of shears,
335
00:23:26,668 --> 00:23:28,918
a needle case,
336
00:23:29,935 --> 00:23:31,890
a small sickle,
337
00:23:33,007 --> 00:23:35,475
and a bone comb.
338
00:23:37,602 --> 00:23:40,486
And something really special,
339
00:23:40,521 --> 00:23:44,204
the most exciting single
find, in the ground at least,
340
00:23:44,239 --> 00:23:46,296
has to be the whale bone plaque.
341
00:23:46,331 --> 00:23:48,069
And the wonderful
thing about the plaque
342
00:23:48,104 --> 00:23:52,583
was that it was lying face down in the
sand at the bottom of the burial chamber.
343
00:23:52,642 --> 00:23:55,403
It took a couple of days
before it could be lifted.
344
00:23:55,438 --> 00:23:57,943
And the back of the
plaque is rather boring,
345
00:23:57,978 --> 00:24:01,429
and we had no idea how beautiful
the front was going to be,
346
00:24:01,464 --> 00:24:03,856
or, indeed, if it was well preserved.
347
00:24:03,891 --> 00:24:09,366
And when it was turned over you could
hear this audible gasp of intake breath...
348
00:24:09,401 --> 00:24:11,275
-Oh, yes.
- Yes.
349
00:24:13,379 --> 00:24:16,114
And it really was in superb condition.
350
00:24:16,149 --> 00:24:18,351
The moment it was
turned over you could see
351
00:24:18,386 --> 00:24:20,678
what a fantastic object it was.
352
00:24:24,687 --> 00:24:28,224
The plaque may have been
used as a sort of ironing board.
353
00:24:28,259 --> 00:24:30,342
But it's so beautifully decorated
354
00:24:30,377 --> 00:24:33,631
that it must surely have been
a greatly treasured possession.
355
00:24:38,834 --> 00:24:43,359
And another discovery, which showed
just how wealthy this woman was -
356
00:24:43,394 --> 00:24:46,797
a beautiful gild bronze broach.
357
00:24:47,374 --> 00:24:52,776
Her broach is absolutely gorgeous.
It's quite rare amongst Viking broaches.
358
00:24:52,811 --> 00:24:55,560
There's only about ten
or twelve from anywhere
359
00:24:55,595 --> 00:24:58,909
and every part of the
surface of the broach
360
00:24:58,944 --> 00:25:02,850
was decorated with ornament
and, particularly prominent,
361
00:25:02,885 --> 00:25:07,125
a little, almost like cat masks,
little faces and...
362
00:25:07,160 --> 00:25:10,585
So it was a really, really
luxurious and opulent object
363
00:25:10,620 --> 00:25:13,639
which she must have taken care of.
364
00:25:16,716 --> 00:25:20,381
But in the boat, amongst these
signs of wealth and status,
365
00:25:20,416 --> 00:25:23,245
was the evidence of what
may have been a tragedy.
366
00:25:23,280 --> 00:25:26,099
While the woman was
elderly, in her seventies,
367
00:25:26,134 --> 00:25:28,450
the man was aged about 30,
368
00:25:28,485 --> 00:25:30,975
and the child was only about 10.
369
00:25:31,010 --> 00:25:35,317
We'll never know what happened to
these Viking settlers in their new land.
370
00:25:37,146 --> 00:25:40,777
And new finds keep coming
up on this tiny island.
371
00:25:40,812 --> 00:25:44,747
A particularly surprising one was
made by the landlord of the local pub
372
00:25:44,782 --> 00:25:47,544
when he was repairing
a neighbour's wall.
373
00:25:47,579 --> 00:25:51,653
I was just building the wall
and picked up a stone
374
00:25:52,322 --> 00:25:55,113
and there was something unusual.
375
00:25:55,148 --> 00:25:59,602
I gave it to the kids to go
to school to the headmaster
376
00:25:59,637 --> 00:26:01,988
to have a look at it.
377
00:26:04,147 --> 00:26:07,402
Robbie had discovered
a Viking runestone.
378
00:26:07,437 --> 00:26:10,717
Translated, it revealed
the name of 'ãska...:r',
379
00:26:10,718 --> 00:26:13,126
the man who probably carved it.
380
00:26:14,684 --> 00:26:18,758
Such a rare discovery
aroused national interest.
381
00:26:19,356 --> 00:26:23,100
We kept it under our bed for a while
382
00:26:23,135 --> 00:26:27,011
but then the Crown claimed
it as 'treasure trove'
383
00:26:27,046 --> 00:26:31,557
so we had to end up handing
it over to the museum.
384
00:26:31,592 --> 00:26:35,378
But we got the local
community council to back us
385
00:26:35,413 --> 00:26:38,359
and we got it back into Sanday.
386
00:26:39,022 --> 00:26:44,657
A lot of people do drop in by to see it
and it's nice to have it in the island.
387
00:26:48,542 --> 00:26:53,432
So, having taken Orkney and Shetland
so convincingly and settled there,
388
00:26:53,467 --> 00:26:55,507
where would the Vikings go next?
389
00:26:55,542 --> 00:26:58,932
Well, mainland Scotland might
seem like the obvious choice
390
00:26:58,967 --> 00:27:01,455
but archaeology, our
main source of information
391
00:27:01,490 --> 00:27:03,523
for this period of Dark Age history,
392
00:27:03,558 --> 00:27:07,447
has provided remarkably little
evidence of the Vikings being there.
393
00:27:16,475 --> 00:27:21,879
But 200 miles south-west of Orkney,
on South Uist in the Outer Hebrides,
394
00:27:21,914 --> 00:27:25,635
new evidence of Viking
settlement is starting to emerge.
395
00:27:26,908 --> 00:27:30,615
Niall Sharples has discovered
the remains of a large building.
396
00:27:30,650 --> 00:27:35,742
Long and narrow with a central hearth,
a Viking longhouse.
397
00:27:40,244 --> 00:27:43,780
We're actually standing on
top of the main the hearth,
398
00:27:43,815 --> 00:27:46,170
and you can see here,
where Lynn's working,
399
00:27:46,205 --> 00:27:48,802
these orange layers are
coming up in this charcoal,
400
00:27:48,837 --> 00:27:52,688
this is the result of burning peat,
and that defines the hearth theory.
401
00:27:52,723 --> 00:27:54,639
Is that quite long and thin as well?
402
00:27:54,674 --> 00:27:57,176
Yes. We've got six meters
already exposed that way,
403
00:27:57,211 --> 00:28:00,876
and it goes on behind us. You can
see the top of it it's exposed here.
404
00:28:00,911 --> 00:28:05,310
But again, this is a very distinctive
feature of the Viking house
405
00:28:05,345 --> 00:28:09,180
and it gives you some idea
of communal living conditions.
406
00:28:09,215 --> 00:28:11,446
People would come in to houses
and sit around the hearth
407
00:28:11,506 --> 00:28:12,849
and they would tell the sagas.
408
00:28:12,884 --> 00:28:16,860
*** It'd be from people talking
around these long, central hearths.
409
00:28:18,058 --> 00:28:21,064
The size of the hearth and
the building that it lies in
410
00:28:21,099 --> 00:28:24,495
suggest that this was the most
important house in the settlement.
411
00:28:24,938 --> 00:28:27,330
But a closer look at
the way it was built
412
00:28:27,365 --> 00:28:30,953
shows that it was not a
standard Viking longhouse.
413
00:28:32,236 --> 00:28:35,256
One of the interesting things about
this house is you immediately notice
414
00:28:35,291 --> 00:28:38,437
as we came into it, was
that it's subterranean.
415
00:28:38,472 --> 00:28:43,131
Now, originally the wall probably
stood about this height,
416
00:28:43,166 --> 00:28:44,932
and then the roof
rafters would come in here
417
00:28:44,967 --> 00:28:48,011
and I suspect this about here
would be the original ground level.
418
00:28:48,046 --> 00:28:51,946
It's all been dug into and the
walls have been placed against it.
419
00:28:51,981 --> 00:28:54,690
All you see is the roof
coming out above it.
420
00:28:54,725 --> 00:29:00,374
Building sunken houses was a
tradition native to the Outer Hebrides.
421
00:29:00,409 --> 00:29:03,774
But buildings like this
are also found in Iceland
422
00:29:03,809 --> 00:29:07,857
so it appears that the Vikings took
these traditions from the Hebrides
423
00:29:07,892 --> 00:29:10,519
to their colonies in
the North Atlantic.
424
00:29:14,015 --> 00:29:17,811
There's an enormous range
of artifacts from the site
425
00:29:17,846 --> 00:29:21,221
including rare pieces
of Viking artwork.
426
00:29:21,984 --> 00:29:26,411
And yet, it's this unattractive,
very crude attempt at pottery
427
00:29:26,446 --> 00:29:29,426
that tells us more about
these Viking settlers.
428
00:29:29,461 --> 00:29:32,377
Because Vikings, traditionally,
didn't make pottery.
429
00:29:32,412 --> 00:29:35,447
Instead they used vessels
carved from soapstone.
430
00:29:35,482 --> 00:29:39,535
A soft stone found in
Norway and also Shetland.
431
00:29:44,452 --> 00:29:47,948
The discovery of pottery strongly
suggests they were taking up
432
00:29:47,983 --> 00:29:51,280
new ideas from native Hebrideans.
433
00:29:51,564 --> 00:29:55,747
This here, this is what
we would call 'platterware'
434
00:29:55,782 --> 00:29:58,366
and it's a kind of baking plate,
very distinctive...
435
00:29:58,412 --> 00:30:02,174
you have this grass-marked surface,
which is how they produced it.
436
00:30:02,251 --> 00:30:07,699
They laid a flat slab of pottery
on some kind of vegetable matting
437
00:30:07,709 --> 00:30:11,228
and then they puncture holes
press it down with their fingertips
438
00:30:11,266 --> 00:30:14,241
on this surface. You can see the
fingernails where they pressed it down.
439
00:30:14,266 --> 00:30:16,017
These little puncture marks.
440
00:30:16,077 --> 00:30:18,764
And then they produced
some kind of baking plate.
441
00:30:18,812 --> 00:30:21,352
So that's the impression
of a Viking fingernail there, is it?
442
00:30:21,387 --> 00:30:23,891
Yeah. That's it. Viking fingernails.
443
00:30:26,688 --> 00:30:30,693
But alongside these attempts at
a new and unfamiliar technology
444
00:30:30,728 --> 00:30:35,071
the Viking craftsmen were still making
their traditional Scandinavian goods.
445
00:30:35,106 --> 00:30:37,646
And with great skill.
446
00:30:39,035 --> 00:30:42,102
You can see that you've got
an almost complete antler.
447
00:30:42,137 --> 00:30:45,159
And you can see this
segment here is actually
448
00:30:45,160 --> 00:30:47,721
a bit off the main beam of the antler,
449
00:30:47,756 --> 00:30:52,142
and it's chopped it off, sawn off, and
this is the beginning of the process
450
00:30:52,177 --> 00:30:55,669
of working down a piece of antler
to make a composite comb
451
00:30:55,704 --> 00:30:57,789
which you see here.
A very nice comb there.
452
00:30:57,824 --> 00:31:02,017
And so you chop it down to get
roughly rectangular pieces like this
453
00:31:02,052 --> 00:31:06,419
and these are eventually gonna be
worked down to these little pieces here.
454
00:31:06,454 --> 00:31:10,600
And this piece here is
almost the very final stage
455
00:31:10,635 --> 00:31:14,767
of the piece that would slot in there
and it would be riveted
456
00:31:14,802 --> 00:31:19,318
by putting a spacer plate on there,
and then they would cut the teeth
457
00:31:19,353 --> 00:31:21,920
after it's all been riveted together.
458
00:31:25,610 --> 00:31:30,028
In a nearby barn Niall's team have
been sorting fragments of fishbone
459
00:31:30,063 --> 00:31:32,887
sift from the soil
around the settlement.
460
00:31:34,068 --> 00:31:36,439
If you look at this tray here
461
00:31:36,474 --> 00:31:41,773
all we've got here are the
residues from the very fine sieving,
462
00:31:41,808 --> 00:31:44,036
and if you look at
some of the stuff here,
463
00:31:44,071 --> 00:31:48,051
some of these vertebrae have
turned out to be from herring.
464
00:31:48,086 --> 00:31:51,854
And it seems as though there's a
very substantial herring fishing
465
00:31:51,889 --> 00:31:55,433
and this kind of herring-fishing
requires organisation.
466
00:31:55,468 --> 00:31:58,411
You know, several families coming
together, pulling their resources.
467
00:31:58,446 --> 00:32:01,592
Several boats go out and you
might catch absolutely nothing
468
00:32:01,627 --> 00:32:02,938
for a week.
469
00:32:02,973 --> 00:32:07,395
And then suddenly, the herring will come
and you have thousands, millions perhaps,
470
00:32:07,430 --> 00:32:09,130
of herring coming out.
471
00:32:09,165 --> 00:32:12,347
And so, what do you do with them?
You can't eat them all yourself.
472
00:32:12,382 --> 00:32:14,681
There's only so many
herring a man can eat.
473
00:32:14,716 --> 00:32:19,047
So you have to start trading.
If you're herring fishing, I think,
474
00:32:19,082 --> 00:32:20,999
then you're trading.
475
00:32:24,455 --> 00:32:28,791
This site, protected for
centuries by its very isolation,
476
00:32:28,826 --> 00:32:33,428
is one of the largest rural Viking
settlements ever found in Britain.
477
00:32:36,981 --> 00:32:40,514
On the Hebrides, as
in Orkney and Shetland,
478
00:32:40,549 --> 00:32:43,805
archaeology is showing
another side to the Vikings.
479
00:32:43,840 --> 00:32:48,019
As settlers, adapting
to live in a new land.
480
00:32:48,388 --> 00:32:51,156
The northern and
western isles of Scotland
481
00:32:51,191 --> 00:32:54,693
provided the Vikings with
good farming and good fishing.
482
00:32:54,728 --> 00:32:57,056
But, was that all they came for?
483
00:32:57,091 --> 00:33:00,947
Or was there another reason why these
islands were so important to them?
484
00:33:00,982 --> 00:33:04,012
Maybe they provided
the ideal staging post
485
00:33:04,047 --> 00:33:06,679
on the route to a much bigger prize.
486
00:33:14,687 --> 00:33:19,100
The next stage of the sea road
was the short sail to Ireland.
487
00:33:19,135 --> 00:33:22,988
A country full of wealthy monasteries
that the Vikings knew very well.
488
00:33:23,023 --> 00:33:27,004
They had, after all, ravaged the
country with their early raids.
489
00:33:27,039 --> 00:33:31,016
But was Ireland seen only
as a source for plunder?
490
00:33:31,051 --> 00:33:34,227
Here, we don't have to
rely on archaeology alone
491
00:33:34,262 --> 00:33:37,065
as the Irish Annals provide
us with the best records
492
00:33:37,100 --> 00:33:39,732
of Viking activity from this time.
493
00:33:41,838 --> 00:33:46,390
The world's leading expert on the
Annals is Prof. Donnchadh Ó Corráin
494
00:33:46,425 --> 00:33:51,042
and he believes they tell us when the
Viking settlement of Ireland began.
495
00:33:53,404 --> 00:33:56,970
There are two entries in the Annals.
496
00:33:57,005 --> 00:34:00,860
One is about the Vikings
on Loghneagh in 840.
497
00:34:00,895 --> 00:34:05,051
And the first entry in
the following year is:
498
00:34:05,086 --> 00:34:08,612
"Heathens still on Loghneagh."
499
00:34:08,647 --> 00:34:13,378
And for the winter,
which went 840 to 841,
500
00:34:13,413 --> 00:34:18,200
the entry in the Annals says:
"Heathens still in Dublin."
501
00:34:18,235 --> 00:34:24,670
So we know that the Irish annalists
note that they are staying over
502
00:34:24,705 --> 00:34:28,425
and not going home as
they should in the winter.
503
00:34:28,460 --> 00:34:31,464
And this is the
beginning of settlement.
504
00:34:33,127 --> 00:34:38,082
The Annals report that the Vikings in
Ireland made their camps in 'longphorts'.
505
00:34:38,117 --> 00:34:40,753
Fortified basis close to rivers.
506
00:34:40,788 --> 00:34:42,871
But finding any archaeological remains
507
00:34:42,906 --> 00:34:45,489
of these early settlements
has proved difficult.
508
00:34:50,094 --> 00:34:54,166
Now, though, Ned Kelly believes that
he's found the first good evidence
509
00:34:54,201 --> 00:34:56,091
for an Irish longphort.
510
00:34:56,126 --> 00:34:59,766
He was drawn here to Athlunkard,
on the river Shannon,
511
00:34:59,801 --> 00:35:03,445
after hearing about the
discovery of Viking-age artifacts.
512
00:35:04,665 --> 00:35:08,512
When I came here first I
didn't know what the site was
513
00:35:08,547 --> 00:35:12,341
and it puzzled me because
it didn't look like any
514
00:35:12,376 --> 00:35:18,322
typical Irish archaeological
monument that I'd seen before.
515
00:35:18,357 --> 00:35:20,415
We have a razed area here
516
00:35:20,450 --> 00:35:24,992
and that was originally surrounded
by a ditch and a bank outside it.
517
00:35:25,027 --> 00:35:28,184
So this would be a
citadel, and outside of that
518
00:35:28,219 --> 00:35:30,974
we have a D-shaped enclosure
519
00:35:31,009 --> 00:35:35,964
which is running from this little
stream coming round to the river again.
520
00:35:35,999 --> 00:35:41,332
And as you can see, you have a fairly
impenetrable marsh on this side.
521
00:35:41,367 --> 00:35:45,146
And that's particularly interesting
because the references to longphorts
522
00:35:45,181 --> 00:35:48,094
described the Scandinavians
building D-shaped enclosures
523
00:35:48,129 --> 00:35:51,624
with their back to a river and
surrounded by marshy ground.
524
00:35:51,659 --> 00:35:53,904
So it fit in perfectly.
525
00:35:54,647 --> 00:35:58,188
But Ned's conviction is
not shared by everyone.
526
00:35:58,223 --> 00:36:01,530
I think the initial
reaction was quite scathing.
527
00:36:01,565 --> 00:36:04,436
People said, you know,
these things don't exist.
528
00:36:04,471 --> 00:36:05,940
What's a longphort anyway?
529
00:36:05,975 --> 00:36:08,647
And my response to that was,
530
00:36:08,682 --> 00:36:14,084
well, if these sites aren't
longphorts, what are they?
531
00:36:14,119 --> 00:36:16,999
I'm convinced that's
what this site is
532
00:36:17,034 --> 00:36:20,417
and that there are many others
like it to be found still.
533
00:36:22,208 --> 00:36:24,479
And I agree with Ned.
534
00:36:24,909 --> 00:36:27,363
All of the bits of evidence
that I've been shown
535
00:36:27,398 --> 00:36:29,307
seem to point in one direction.
536
00:36:29,342 --> 00:36:33,115
Its position right next to the river,
defended on one side by
537
00:36:33,126 --> 00:36:36,090
an earthward bank and enclosure
with a marsh beyond it.
538
00:36:36,125 --> 00:36:39,475
The 10th century finds that
were found within the enclosure.
539
00:36:39,510 --> 00:36:41,746
All of these things
seem to come together
540
00:36:41,781 --> 00:36:45,612
to point to the fact that
this must be a Viking longphort.
541
00:36:47,920 --> 00:36:51,904
The Annals suggest that the most
important phort is in Dublin.
542
00:36:52,817 --> 00:36:57,452
And it's here that we find the
highest concentration of Viking dead.
543
00:37:03,266 --> 00:37:07,072
Between the mid 1800's and the 1930's
544
00:37:07,107 --> 00:37:11,338
workmen in Dublin uncovered
up to a hundred Viking burials.
545
00:37:14,366 --> 00:37:16,916
Most of them were found
before the development
546
00:37:16,973 --> 00:37:19,314
of modern archaeological recording.
547
00:37:19,349 --> 00:37:21,454
And it's taken years
for Stephen Harrison
548
00:37:21,455 --> 00:37:23,359
at the National Museum of Ireland
549
00:37:23,394 --> 00:37:26,110
to sort out all the artifacts.
550
00:37:27,820 --> 00:37:32,421
There's a distinct contrast with
Viking graves from the Northern Isles.
551
00:37:33,889 --> 00:37:37,603
Those from around Dublin
contained many swords.
552
00:37:37,638 --> 00:37:41,692
The largest collection of Viking
weaponry outside Scandinavia.
553
00:37:44,141 --> 00:37:47,213
This is the most
beautiful sword, isn't it?
554
00:37:47,248 --> 00:37:49,819
Is this one of the most special
ones in the whole collection?
555
00:37:49,854 --> 00:37:52,051
This is definitely right up there.
556
00:37:52,086 --> 00:37:55,100
I think it's certainly one of
my favourites, if nothing else.
557
00:37:55,135 --> 00:37:56,088
But it's not the only one.
558
00:37:56,123 --> 00:37:59,257
There are actually five very
elaborately decorated swords.
559
00:37:59,292 --> 00:38:03,357
And they were all found in railway
cuttings at Kilmainham in 1845.
560
00:38:03,392 --> 00:38:05,743
As indeed was this one
rather more plain sword,
561
00:38:05,778 --> 00:38:10,686
which is rather more typical, I'm afraid,
of Viking swords in this era.
562
00:38:10,708 --> 00:38:13,319
It's much less highly decorated
and rather more functional.
563
00:38:13,354 --> 00:38:14,901
And why is it bent in too?
564
00:38:14,950 --> 00:38:18,786
This is a ritual which in Scandinavia
is normally associated with cremation.
565
00:38:18,821 --> 00:38:21,205
You very often find the artifacts buried
566
00:38:21,240 --> 00:38:23,837
have actually been
subjected to an intense heat
567
00:38:23,872 --> 00:38:26,147
and then bent or damaged in some way.
568
00:38:27,470 --> 00:38:30,135
We don't know what this practice meant.
569
00:38:30,170 --> 00:38:33,037
It may have been the symbolic
killing of the weapon.
570
00:38:33,072 --> 00:38:37,012
Or simply done to prevent it
being re-used by a grave robber.
571
00:38:37,993 --> 00:38:42,299
Do you have any sort of real favourite
artifacts among these collections?
572
00:38:43,045 --> 00:38:45,272
This amber broach here.
573
00:38:45,307 --> 00:38:51,389
If you look at it you can see that it has
actually been cut from a larger object.
574
00:38:51,424 --> 00:38:54,219
You can see that the edges are
quite definite here and here,
575
00:38:54,254 --> 00:38:57,965
but here and there the edges
are actually very rough.
576
00:38:58,000 --> 00:39:00,599
And the whole thing has then
been converted into a broach.
577
00:39:00,634 --> 00:39:03,467
So we don't actually know what
object it was cut from,
578
00:39:03,502 --> 00:39:05,019
but it was certainly
being used as a broach
579
00:39:05,054 --> 00:39:07,285
at the time it was placed
in the Viking grave.
580
00:39:07,320 --> 00:39:09,869
But what about identifying
the objects themselves?
581
00:39:09,904 --> 00:39:12,483
Can you always tell
exactly what they are?
582
00:39:12,518 --> 00:39:15,649
I mean, what, for example, is
that rather strange looking thing?
583
00:39:15,684 --> 00:39:17,359
We actually do know what this is.
584
00:39:17,394 --> 00:39:19,817
This is actually a
glass linen smoother.
585
00:39:19,852 --> 00:39:22,790
If you turn it around this way
you can actually see the marks
586
00:39:22,825 --> 00:39:25,470
from the point when the
glass was still fluid.
587
00:39:25,505 --> 00:39:28,528
This one actually came from
a woman's grave at Kilmainham.
588
00:39:28,563 --> 00:39:33,098
It was found in a small
gravel pit in the area in 1848.
589
00:39:34,114 --> 00:39:36,582
Taken together
these discoveries tell us
590
00:39:36,617 --> 00:39:39,734
that Dublin must have been a
major centre of Viking power.
591
00:39:39,775 --> 00:39:41,761
We are made even more
aware and more conscious
592
00:39:41,788 --> 00:39:44,788
of the wealth of
Viking graves in Dublin,
593
00:39:44,823 --> 00:39:46,584
which is a reflection
of the wealth of Dublin
594
00:39:46,619 --> 00:39:50,115
and its status and its
importance in the 9th century.
595
00:39:51,880 --> 00:39:53,821
In the years that followed,
596
00:39:53,856 --> 00:39:56,613
the Vikings would strengthen
their presence in Dublin.
597
00:39:56,648 --> 00:40:00,808
Which takes its name from the black
pool where they first moored their ships.
598
00:40:01,819 --> 00:40:06,977
Under the Vikings, the longphort
expanded to become Ireland's first town.
599
00:40:07,012 --> 00:40:11,190
Its streets still followed by
those of today's booming city.
600
00:40:12,941 --> 00:40:16,898
And these Viking roots are
still celebrated by Dubliners.
601
00:40:16,933 --> 00:40:20,177
If not always in the
most authentic way.
602
00:40:20,212 --> 00:40:22,729
Before we go I've gotta teach
you how to do the Viking roar.
603
00:40:22,764 --> 00:40:24,398
The Viking roar*
is for very vocal men.
604
00:40:24,433 --> 00:40:27,412
The Viking roar comes
from down here somewhere.
605
00:40:27,447 --> 00:40:30,860
And it goes something like this:
Put your hands above your head.
606
00:40:32,018 --> 00:40:35,622
On the count of three: 1, 2, 3...
607
00:40:38,136 --> 00:40:40,210
It was a bit halfhearted
at the moment. Try it again.
608
00:40:40,245 --> 00:40:42,543
One, two, three...
609
00:41:08,126 --> 00:41:10,839
Evidence for the wealth
of the Irish Vikings
610
00:41:10,874 --> 00:41:13,142
is found not only in their towns,
611
00:41:13,177 --> 00:41:16,540
but in what they buried
across the whole of Ireland.
612
00:41:17,357 --> 00:41:18,820
Silver.
613
00:41:19,620 --> 00:41:23,114
Treasure that was hidden
over a thousand years ago
614
00:41:23,149 --> 00:41:25,928
and never reclaimed.
615
00:41:28,651 --> 00:41:32,109
Archaeologist Dr John Sheehan
has been trying to explain
616
00:41:32,144 --> 00:41:35,861
why the Vikings buried
so much silver in Ireland.
617
00:41:36,524 --> 00:41:40,774
We have huge quantities
of silver and silver hoards
618
00:41:40,809 --> 00:41:42,814
compared to those found in Britain
619
00:41:42,849 --> 00:41:46,394
and indeed compared to those found
in some of the Scandinavian countries.
620
00:41:46,429 --> 00:41:50,604
For instance, we have a lot more hoards
than are found in Norway.
621
00:41:50,639 --> 00:41:56,723
In total, today, there are 140
recorded silver hoards in Ireland.
622
00:41:56,758 --> 00:41:59,769
So, why is there so much
more silver in Ireland, then?
623
00:42:00,392 --> 00:42:05,327
The reason is really to do with the
nature of Viking settlement in Ireland.
624
00:42:05,362 --> 00:42:07,989
If you look at Scotland,
or indeed England,
625
00:42:08,024 --> 00:42:10,618
it tended to be farming settlements.
626
00:42:10,653 --> 00:42:13,489
In Ireland the Vikings settled in towns
627
00:42:13,524 --> 00:42:18,096
and towns survive through
economic activities,
628
00:42:18,131 --> 00:42:22,250
trade, in other words. And the
Irish Viking towns grew very wealthy
629
00:42:22,285 --> 00:42:25,066
and silver is an
expression of that wealth.
630
00:42:27,702 --> 00:42:31,996
Judging from these hoards, the
Vikings were making fortunes.
631
00:42:32,031 --> 00:42:36,687
But the silver also reveals the true
extent of their trading networks.
632
00:42:41,899 --> 00:42:44,363
It's coming from pretty far field.
633
00:42:44,398 --> 00:42:46,632
Some of it certainly is
coming from Anglo-Saxon England
634
00:42:46,667 --> 00:42:50,473
in the form of coin which is then melted
down to produce ingots and ornaments,
635
00:42:50,508 --> 00:42:54,388
but there's also evidence to
indicate that large quantities of it
636
00:42:54,423 --> 00:42:56,622
are coming from the Arabic world.
637
00:42:56,657 --> 00:42:59,395
And the silver is being
imported into Scandinavia,
638
00:42:59,430 --> 00:43:01,179
up the great Russian rivers,
639
00:43:01,214 --> 00:43:03,937
and from there to be
re-distributed across Scandinavia,
640
00:43:03,972 --> 00:43:05,613
and to the West.
641
00:43:06,884 --> 00:43:11,732
But what was it in Ireland that
attracted so much Viking commerce?
642
00:43:13,100 --> 00:43:16,811
The usual trade items
that the Irish dealt with
643
00:43:16,846 --> 00:43:20,166
throughout most archaeological periods
644
00:43:20,201 --> 00:43:24,133
would have been animal
hides, and wool, for instance.
645
00:43:24,714 --> 00:43:30,673
But there's also little doubt that a
very significant proportion of the trade
646
00:43:30,708 --> 00:43:32,487
was in the form of slaves.
647
00:43:35,854 --> 00:43:41,413
There's a hint of the scale of this
trade in the Annals of Ulster from 871.
648
00:43:49,255 --> 00:43:52,172
The chronicler writes about
the Viking rulers of Dublin
649
00:43:52,207 --> 00:43:55,437
returning from an
expedition to Scotland.
650
00:43:58,858 --> 00:44:04,692
"Amlaíb and Ímar came back to
Dublin from Scotland with 200 ships.
651
00:44:04,727 --> 00:44:07,801
"And they brought with
them in captivity to Ireland
652
00:44:07,836 --> 00:44:13,036
"a great prey of Angles,
Britons and Picts."
653
00:44:15,151 --> 00:44:19,634
Now, that must have been a
very large haul of slaves.
654
00:44:19,669 --> 00:44:21,400
And there would have been
brought back to Dublin
655
00:44:21,435 --> 00:44:23,827
because it must have
been functioning primarily
656
00:44:23,862 --> 00:44:28,200
as a sort of slave emporium
within the western Viking world.
657
00:44:28,235 --> 00:44:31,754
The Viking farmsteads are
characterized by their huge size
658
00:44:31,789 --> 00:44:34,638
and slave labour would have
been needed to operate those
659
00:44:34,673 --> 00:44:37,100
to the maximum efficiency.
660
00:44:37,135 --> 00:44:41,016
The likelihood is that they were
shipped on, perhaps to Arabic Spain,
661
00:44:41,051 --> 00:44:45,190
but certainly over to Iceland, to
the Viking farmsteads in Scotland,
662
00:44:45,225 --> 00:44:48,314
and probably back to
Scandinavia itself.
663
00:44:49,732 --> 00:44:54,209
And there are even objects that
could have been used in this trade.
664
00:44:54,244 --> 00:44:58,275
We have slave chains.
There are large collars
665
00:44:58,310 --> 00:45:01,073
which are big enough to
go around a person's neck,
666
00:45:01,108 --> 00:45:03,559
and attached to them, a long chain,
667
00:45:03,594 --> 00:45:08,223
exactly similar to the sort of slave
chains which are associated with
668
00:45:08,258 --> 00:45:11,751
18th-century African
slavery, for instance.
669
00:45:19,031 --> 00:45:21,562
So, could slavery have
been the main attraction
670
00:45:21,597 --> 00:45:24,897
for the Vikings on their
route down the sea road?
671
00:45:24,932 --> 00:45:27,802
It seems that they take any
opportunity to make money,
672
00:45:27,837 --> 00:45:31,386
whether it was from
looting, farming, or trading.
673
00:45:31,421 --> 00:45:35,822
And it didn't seem to matter whether
the trade was in fish or slaves.
674
00:45:36,422 --> 00:45:38,767
In my journey through these islands
675
00:45:38,802 --> 00:45:42,039
I feel like I've come closer
than ever to the Vikings.
676
00:45:44,532 --> 00:45:48,636
But did they really settle
here in large numbers?
677
00:45:49,635 --> 00:45:54,196
The answer may lie in the genetic
make-up of today's population.
678
00:45:59,712 --> 00:46:02,986
Pr. David Goldstein's team
are still collecting samples
679
00:46:03,021 --> 00:46:04,965
from across Britain and Ireland.
680
00:46:05,000 --> 00:46:09,346
But they're starting the analysis
with the data from Orkney and Shetland.
681
00:46:10,746 --> 00:46:13,157
When we carry out just
this very simple analysis
682
00:46:13,192 --> 00:46:16,657
asking, of those chromosomal
types we only find in Norway
683
00:46:16,692 --> 00:46:19,063
how much of them do we see
in the Scottish islands?
684
00:46:19,098 --> 00:46:20,743
We actually see quite a lot.
685
00:46:20,778 --> 00:46:23,159
When we look at Shetland and Orkney
686
00:46:23,194 --> 00:46:27,855
we see something just under 30%
of the chromosomes are found in Norway
687
00:46:27,890 --> 00:46:29,938
but we can't find them in
the indigenous population.
688
00:46:29,973 --> 00:46:31,690
So it looks actually quite likely
689
00:46:31,725 --> 00:46:34,614
that those chromosomal types
have a Norwegian origin.
690
00:46:34,649 --> 00:46:38,916
So we right away see a clear
indication of substantial
691
00:46:38,951 --> 00:46:42,078
Norwegian genetic input
into those islands.
692
00:46:42,113 --> 00:46:45,345
That's quite a hefty figure,
isn't it, really? For a first stage.
693
00:46:45,380 --> 00:46:48,429
It is a high figure and, in
fact, probably, in the end,
694
00:46:48,464 --> 00:46:51,131
when we've carried out a more
complete statistical analysis,
695
00:46:51,166 --> 00:46:53,642
the figure will only go up,
because those are the types
696
00:46:53,677 --> 00:46:56,937
that look pretty clearly
to be Norwegian in origin.
697
00:46:56,972 --> 00:47:00,547
Other chromosomal types may
turn out in fact to be Norwegian,
698
00:47:00,582 --> 00:47:02,687
it's just that you
can't see it clearly.
699
00:47:04,002 --> 00:47:07,834
The preliminary results from the
northern isles of Orkney and Shetland
700
00:47:07,869 --> 00:47:10,311
provide for the first
time clear evidence
701
00:47:10,346 --> 00:47:13,964
that people in Britain
share genes with the Vikings.
702
00:47:14,680 --> 00:47:18,670
Fascinating. It really *** interest
703
00:47:18,705 --> 00:47:23,905
I would say that we definitely should
be Scandinavian more than Scots.
704
00:47:23,940 --> 00:47:26,299
So we're all Vikings at heart.
705
00:47:27,002 --> 00:47:30,109
I think these results
are really exciting.
706
00:47:30,144 --> 00:47:34,569
I'm quite surprised, actually, that
you're getting such good results
707
00:47:34,604 --> 00:47:38,711
along the sea road that the
Vikings took from Scandinavia
708
00:47:38,744 --> 00:47:40,380
through Orkney and Shetland.
709
00:47:40,415 --> 00:47:43,621
You're getting what
seems to me a significant
710
00:47:43,656 --> 00:47:49,626
genetic impact on the population
even at this distance in time.
711
00:47:51,925 --> 00:47:55,460
There's still lots of sample-collecting
and analysis to carry out
712
00:47:55,495 --> 00:47:58,817
before the precise meaning of
these results becomes clear.
713
00:47:58,852 --> 00:48:02,430
But it now looks certain that
some secrets of our Dark-Age past
714
00:48:02,465 --> 00:48:05,725
will be revealed by the
blood of the Vikings.
715
00:48:06,226 --> 00:48:09,726
Transcription by Fry