An international research team, including archaeologists from the University of Gothenburg, has traced the origins of Germanic languages back 4,000 years and reshaped our understanding of Viking ancestry. A companion study also sheds new light on one of Europe's oldest linguistic mysteries: where Celtic languages came from.
An international team led by the University of Copenhagen, Leiden University and the University of Gothenburg analysed DNA from more than 4,500 ancient individuals, including 712 genomes sequenced for the first time. By combining genetics, archaeology and linguistics, the researchers reconstructed major migrations that helped shape the languages spoken across Europe today.
- DNA sequences do not tell us directly which language people spoke. But by combining ancient DNA with linguistic and archaeological evidence, we can begin to trace how languages spread and changed over thousands of years, says Eske Willerslev, senior author of the studies and Professor at Globe Institute at the University of Copenhagen.
The researchers identified a previously unknown major migration into Scandinavia around 4,000 years ago.
The newcomers likely arrived from areas around the Baltic Sea and spread rapidly across Scandinavia. Their arrival had a lasting impact on Northern European populations, leading researchers to suggest that they may have carried the earliest ancestor of today's Germanic languages.
The findings suggest that the linguistic foundations of English, German, Dutch and the Scandinavian languages may have spread a thousand years later than previously thought.
New clues to Viking origins
The studies also uncovered an unexpected chapter of Scandinavian history.
Several centuries before the Viking Age, people from what is now northern Germany migrated into Denmark and southern Sweden. The migration coincides with the emergence of Old Norse, the language spoken by the Vikings.
- The big surprise came around 1,600 years ago, when Old Norse emerged in Scandinavia. People from northern Germany largely replaced the local population in Denmark and southern Sweden. But they also brought with them a new religion, with Odin as the principal god, and a new material culture inspired by the Huns, says Kristian Kristiansen, Professor of Archaeology at the University of Gothenburg.
The newcomers were genetically closely related to the Anglo-Saxons, and the discovery may help explain longstanding similarities between Viking and Anglo-Saxon cultures, including shared artistic traditions and closely related languages.
- Many Danish and Swedish Vikings therefore shared common roots with the Anglo-Saxons, says Kristian Kristiansen..
New perspectives on the origins of Celtic languages
A companion study used the same approach to tackle another longstanding debate: the origins of the Celtic languages. For more than a century, scholars have debated whether they originated along Europe's Atlantic coast or farther east in central Europe.
Today, Celtic languages survive mainly in places such as Ireland, Wales, Scotland and Brittany. But 2,500 years ago, Celtic languages were spoken across much of Europe.
The ancient DNA points to a movement of people from central Europe around 3,000 years ago, spreading westwards into France, Britain, Ireland and the Iberian Peninsula. According to the researchers, this provides the simplest explanation for the spread of Celtic languages.
The findings help explain some of the most hotly debated questions in Bronze Age archaeology, particularly the expansion of the Urnfield culture and shifts in the balance of power across Europe, according to Johan Ling, Professor of Archaeology at the University of Gothenburg.
The large-scale population movements from central Europe can be linked to the expansion of the Urnfield culture. This culture was characterised by new burial practices, fortified settlements, advanced metal production and changes in warfare.
- What is really exciting is that we now have genetic evidence of large-scale population movements that could previously be studied mainly through archaeological finds. This gives us new opportunities to understand the political and cultural upheavals that shaped Europe during the Late Bronze Age, says Johan Ling.
Scandinavia shows a different pattern
At the same time, the study shows that the population expansion associated with the Urnfield culture appears to have had little significant impact on Scandinavia, where the Nordic Bronze Age culture continued to develop and expand.
- It is particularly interesting that Scandinavia shows a different pattern from much of Western Europe. During the same period, contacts with central Europe changed, while maritime connections with the Atlantic coast became increasingly important. The new DNA findings provide an important piece of the puzzle in understanding these developments, says Johan Ling.
By tracing when and where people moved, the team was able to test long-standing hypotheses about how languages spread across Europe and provide a more detailed picture of the continent's past than ever before.
- These studies show what becomes possible when genetics, archaeology and linguistics are brought together. Questions that have remained unresolved for generations can now be addressed with a level of evidence that was previously impossible, says Kristian Kristiansen.
