Having Viking DNA doesn’t mean that you should automatically construct a longhouse and start planning your ship burial – although you’re absolutely free to do that if that’s what your seafaring heart desires. And actually, having Viking DNA doesn’t make you all that special – about 6% of Britons are likely to have Scandinavian DNA according to a study published in 2020, and about 10% of Swedes can claim Viking ancestry.
To detract even further from your dream to claim that you’re a descendant of Erik the Red, some historians argue that being a Viking was actually more of a lifestyle or job than a nationality. So, while it’s likely that most Vikings would have been Scandinavian, not all Scandinavians were Vikings. As a result, even if you have got Scandinavian DNA running in your bones, it doesn’t necessarily mean that you’re going to have the urge to travel, raid monasteries, or quaff vast quantities of mead. Welcome to the Viking vault.
