The genetic history of Scandinavia from the Roman Iron Age to the present

Ricardo Rodríguez-Varela; Kristjan H. S. Moore; S. Sunna Ebenesersdóttir; Gulsah Merve Kilinc; Anna Kjellström; Ludvig Papmehl-Dufay; Clara Alfsdotter; Birgitta Berglund; Loey Alrawi; Natalija Kashuba; Verónica Sobrado; Vendela Kempe Lagerholm; Edmund Gilbert; Gianpiero L. Cavalleri; Eivind Hovig; Ingrid Kockum; Tomas Olsson; Lars Alfredsson; Thomas F. Hansen; Thomas Werge; Arielle R. Munters; Carolina Bernhardsson; Birgitte Skar; Axel Christophersen; Gordon Turner-Walker; Shyam Gopalakrishnan; Eva Daskalaki; Ayça Omrak; Patxi Pérez-Ramallo; Pontus Skoglund; Linus Girdland-Flink; Fredrik Gunnarsson; Charlotte Hedenstierna-Jonson; M. Thomas P. Gilbert; Kerstin Lidén; Mattias Jakobsson; Lars Einarsson; Helena Victor; Maja Krzewińska; Torun Zachrisson; Jan Storå; Kári Stefánsson; Agnar Helgason; Anders Götherström

doi:10.1016/j.cell.2022.11.024

The genetic history of Scandinavia from the Roman Iron Age to the present

Ricardo Rodríguez-Varela^*, Kristjan H. S. Moore, S. Sunna Ebenesersdóttir, Gulsah Merve Kilinc, Anna Kjellström, Ludvig Papmehl-Dufay, Clara Alfsdotter, Birgitta Berglund, Loey Alrawi, Natalija Kashuba, Verónica Sobrado, Vendela Kempe Lagerholm, Edmund Gilbert, Gianpiero L. Cavalleri, Eivind Hovig, Ingrid Kockum, Tomas Olsson, Lars Alfredsson, Thomas F. Hansen, Thomas WergeArielle R. Munters, Carolina Bernhardsson, Birgitte Skar, Axel Christophersen, Gordon Turner-Walker, Shyam Gopalakrishnan, Eva Daskalaki, Ayça Omrak, Patxi Pérez-Ramallo, Pontus Skoglund, Linus Girdland-Flink, Fredrik Gunnarsson, Charlotte Hedenstierna-Jonson, M. Thomas P. Gilbert, Kerstin Lidén, Mattias Jakobsson, Lars Einarsson, Helena Victor, Maja Krzewińska, Torun Zachrisson, Jan Storå, Kári Stefánsson, Agnar Helgason^*, Anders Götherström^*

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal › Journal article › Research › peer-review

11 Citations (Scopus)

26 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

We investigate a 2,000-year genetic transect through Scandinavia spanning the Iron Age to the present, based on 48 new and 249 published ancient genomes and genotypes from 16,638 modern individuals. We find regional variation in the timing and magnitude of gene flow from three sources: the eastern Baltic, the British-Irish Isles, and southern Europe. British-Irish ancestry was widespread in Scandinavia from the Viking period, whereas eastern Baltic ancestry is more localized to Gotland and central Sweden. In some regions, a drop in current levels of external ancestry suggests that ancient immigrants contributed proportionately less to the modern Scandinavian gene pool than indicated by the ancestry of genomes from the Viking and Medieval periods. Finally, we show that a north-south genetic cline that characterizes modern Scandinavians is mainly due to the differential levels of Uralic ancestry and that this cline existed in the Viking Age and possibly earlier.

Original language	English
Journal	Cell
Volume	186
Issue number	1
Pages (from-to)	32-46.e19
ISSN	0092-8674
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cell.2022.11.024
Publication status	Published - 2023

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 The Author(s)

Keywords

gene flow
human population genomics
migration period
Scandinavian genetic structure
Viking

Access to Document

10.1016/j.cell.2022.11.024Licence: CC BY

FulltextFinal published version, 9.52 MBLicence: CC BY

Cite this

Rodríguez-Varela, R., Moore, K. H. S., Ebenesersdóttir, S. S., Kilinc, G. M., Kjellström, A., Papmehl-Dufay, L., Alfsdotter, C., Berglund, B., Alrawi, L., Kashuba, N., Sobrado, V., Lagerholm, V. K., Gilbert, E., Cavalleri, G. L., Hovig, E., Kockum, I., Olsson, T., Alfredsson, L., Hansen, T. F., ... Götherström, A. (2023). The genetic history of Scandinavia from the Roman Iron Age to the present. Cell, 186(1), 32-46.e19. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cell.2022.11.024

The genetic history of Scandinavia from the Roman Iron Age to the present. / Rodríguez-Varela, Ricardo; Moore, Kristjan H. S.; Ebenesersdóttir, S. Sunna; Kilinc, Gulsah Merve; Kjellström, Anna; Papmehl-Dufay, Ludvig; Alfsdotter, Clara; Berglund, Birgitta; Alrawi, Loey; Kashuba, Natalija; Sobrado, Verónica; Lagerholm, Vendela Kempe; Gilbert, Edmund; Cavalleri, Gianpiero L.; Hovig, Eivind; Kockum, Ingrid; Olsson, Tomas; Alfredsson, Lars; Hansen, Thomas F.; Werge, Thomas; Munters, Arielle R.; Bernhardsson, Carolina; Skar, Birgitte; Christophersen, Axel; Turner-Walker, Gordon; Gopalakrishnan, Shyam; Daskalaki, Eva; Omrak, Ayça; Pérez-Ramallo, Patxi; Skoglund, Pontus; Girdland-Flink, Linus; Gunnarsson, Fredrik; Hedenstierna-Jonson, Charlotte; Gilbert, M. Thomas P.; Lidén, Kerstin; Jakobsson, Mattias; Einarsson, Lars; Victor, Helena; Krzewińska, Maja; Zachrisson, Torun; Storå, Jan; Stefánsson, Kári; Helgason, Agnar; Götherström, Anders.

In: Cell, Vol. 186, No. 1, 2023, p. 32-46.e19.

Research output: Contribution to journal › Journal article › Research › peer-review

Rodríguez-Varela, R, Moore, KHS, Ebenesersdóttir, SS, Kilinc, GM, Kjellström, A, Papmehl-Dufay, L, Alfsdotter, C, Berglund, B, Alrawi, L, Kashuba, N, Sobrado, V, Lagerholm, VK, Gilbert, E, Cavalleri, GL, Hovig, E, Kockum, I, Olsson, T, Alfredsson, L, Hansen, TF, Werge, T, Munters, AR, Bernhardsson, C, Skar, B, Christophersen, A, Turner-Walker, G, Gopalakrishnan, S, Daskalaki, E, Omrak, A, Pérez-Ramallo, P, Skoglund, P, Girdland-Flink, L, Gunnarsson, F, Hedenstierna-Jonson, C, Gilbert, MTP, Lidén, K, Jakobsson, M, Einarsson, L, Victor, H, Krzewińska, M, Zachrisson, T, Storå, J, Stefánsson, K, Helgason, A & Götherström, A 2023, 'The genetic history of Scandinavia from the Roman Iron Age to the present', Cell, vol. 186, no. 1, pp. 32-46.e19. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cell.2022.11.024

Rodríguez-Varela, Ricardo ; Moore, Kristjan H. S. ; Ebenesersdóttir, S. Sunna ; Kilinc, Gulsah Merve ; Kjellström, Anna ; Papmehl-Dufay, Ludvig ; Alfsdotter, Clara ; Berglund, Birgitta ; Alrawi, Loey ; Kashuba, Natalija ; Sobrado, Verónica ; Lagerholm, Vendela Kempe ; Gilbert, Edmund ; Cavalleri, Gianpiero L. ; Hovig, Eivind ; Kockum, Ingrid ; Olsson, Tomas ; Alfredsson, Lars ; Hansen, Thomas F. ; Werge, Thomas ; Munters, Arielle R. ; Bernhardsson, Carolina ; Skar, Birgitte ; Christophersen, Axel ; Turner-Walker, Gordon ; Gopalakrishnan, Shyam ; Daskalaki, Eva ; Omrak, Ayça ; Pérez-Ramallo, Patxi ; Skoglund, Pontus ; Girdland-Flink, Linus ; Gunnarsson, Fredrik ; Hedenstierna-Jonson, Charlotte ; Gilbert, M. Thomas P. ; Lidén, Kerstin ; Jakobsson, Mattias ; Einarsson, Lars ; Victor, Helena ; Krzewińska, Maja ; Zachrisson, Torun ; Storå, Jan ; Stefánsson, Kári ; Helgason, Agnar ; Götherström, Anders. / The genetic history of Scandinavia from the Roman Iron Age to the present. In: Cell. 2023 ; Vol. 186, No. 1. pp. 32-46.e19.

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AU - Kilinc, Gulsah Merve

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AU - Gopalakrishnan, Shyam

AU - Daskalaki, Eva

AU - Omrak, Ayça

AU - Pérez-Ramallo, Patxi

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AU - Gunnarsson, Fredrik

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