About our Nordic Ancestry report
Nordic Ancient Ancestry DNA Report
General Overview
Q: What is the Nordic Ancestry Report?
A: It’s an interactive ancient DNA analysis that tells you how much of your DNA matches ancient peoples of Scandinavia and the broader Nordic world from ~8000 BCE to ~1200 CE.
Q: How does the report define “Nordic”?
A: “Nordic” refers to genetic signatures found in ancient individuals from today’s Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Iceland, Greenland, the Faroe Islands, and key Viking expansion routes (British Isles, Baltic, Rus’, North Atlantic). It is not the same thing as modern Scandinavian ethnicity.
Q: Do my percentages prove I have direct Viking ancestors?
A: The report measures how many of your DNA segments most closely resemble those recovered from ancient Viking-Age individuals but resemblance (a DNA “match”) is not the same as a documented parent-to-child line.
Think of it as a genetic distance score: the larger the shared-DNA percentage and the smaller the calculated distance (in centiMorgans or Euclidean units), the nearer you sit on the genetic map to those Vikings. That proximity can reflect deep population-level ancestry rather than a direct ancestor in your family tree.
Reading Your Results
Q: Why isn’t my Nordic Index 100 % if my family is Scandinavian?
A: Modern Scandinavians already carry older ancestry from continental Europe, the British Isles, and the Eurasian Steppe; these layers are considered non-Nordic in this ancient-only comparison.
Q: Which eras appear in the report?
A: Mesolithic (≤ 4000 BCE), Neolithic (4000 – 2300 BCE), Nordic Bronze Age (2300 – 500 BCE), Pre-Viking Iron Age (500 BCE – 800 CE), Viking Age (800 – 1100 CE) and Post-Viking Age (>1100 CE)
Q: Why do you split results into five eras?
A: The eras—Mesolithic, Neolithic, Nordic Bronze Age, Pre-Viking Iron Age, Viking Age and Post-Viking Age, track the major genetic shifts in Scandinavia and let you see which period your DNA matches most closely.
Q: Why might I score in the Mesolithic if my roots are Danish?
A: Some hunter-gatherer DNA from that era still survives in modern Scandinavians; it doesn’t mean your recent relatives lived 9,000 years ago.
Q: What are the eight map buckets?
A: (1) Swedish Heartland, (2) Danish Realm, (3) Norwegian Realm, (4) North-Atlantic Settlers, (5) British-Irish Isles, (6) Baltic & Estonian Gateways, (7) Eastern Route / Rus’, (8) Steppe-Frontier & Late Neolithic/Bronze Age ancestors. They group ancient samples by cultural–geographic context and migration path.
Q: What does LNBA stand for in the report?
A: Late Neolithic / Bronze Age, the transitional period (~2300–1200 BCE) when Scandinavian genomes acquired their characteristic Steppe-Farmer-Hunter-Gatherer mix
Q: Why did you break the Viking period into “Early (800-900 CE)”, “Expansion (900-1000 CE)”, and “Late (1000-1100 CE)” phases?
A: The three bins capture distinct waves visible in both archaeology and DNA.
- Early Viking (800-900 CE) – first coastal raids and small-scale settlements; genomes still look very “local” (e.g., Ribe, early Hesselbjerg).
- Expansion Phase (900-1000 CE) – mass migration and trading diasporas; we see sudden gene-flow from Britain/Ireland into Denmark and from Scandinavia into the Baltic and Rus’ routes (Kopparsvik, Gerdrup, Gnezdovo).
- Late Viking (1000-1100 CE) – Christianisation, urban craft centres, and knotty admixed genomes in Iceland, Greenland, and the Danelaw. These individuals already carry appreciable British and Slavic ancestry.
Q: Can the same era appear in different regions?
A: Yes, for example, Viking-Age genomes from both Jutland and Orkney belong to the same era but different routes.
Q: Why do some top matches come from outside Scandinavia?
A: Viking-Age mobility means a burial in Oxford or Kiev might contain an individual of Nordic genetic ancestry, and vice versa.
Scientific & Technical Details
Q: What data underpins the report?
A: A curated three-tier dataset of more than 500 published ancient genomes, each assigned to an Era and a Region/Route bucket.
Q: How is “Shared DNA (cM)” for ancient matches calculated?
A: We model how many centiMorgans you would share with each ancient genome if it were fully genotyped; higher numbers mean closer genetic affinity.
Q: What do “Matched %” and “Matched cM” mean in the sample table?
A: Matched % is the fraction of your genome that overlaps (IBS) with the ancient sample; Matched cM is the total length of those overlaps in centiMorgans (longer = closer).
Q: What coverage do the ancient genomes have?
A: They range from 0.02× to 3×; low-coverage genomes are statistically imputed, so small slices (< 2 %) may shift as coverage improves.
Q: Does Steppe ancestry count as Nordic?
A: Only when it arrived via the Nordic Bronze Age samples; earlier Steppe individuals are used as ancestral models but aren’t labelled Nordic in your visuals.
Q: Why not just use modern Scandinavians as references?
A: Modern Swedes, Danes and Norwegians already carry British, German and Slavic admixture. Ancient genomes allow us to “rewind the tape” and isolate the original Viking-Age signal—crucial if your own family is partly Nordic and partly British or Eastern-European.
Interpreting Edge Cases
Q: My Nordic Index is only 4 %. Does that mean no Scandinavian ancestry?
A: Not necessarily. Viking migrants mixed widely, so only small fragments may persist. A low index simply means most of your DNA matches other reference groups more closely.
Q: Why do some buckets show 0 % even though I have Norwegian grandparents?
A: The algorithm matches ancient Norwegian genomes; later medieval or modern Norwegian ancestry can align with broader continental panels instead.
Q: I thought this was a Nordic-only report. Why do I see Armenian, Hungarian or Kazakh Bronze-Age genomes in the data table?
Your Nordic ancestry can’t be understood in isolation. By ~2300 BCE the Nordic Bronze Age gene-pool was a three-way mix of:
- Scandinavian hunter-gatherers (SHG)
- Early European farmers (EEF)
- Steppe-derived herders (“Late Neolithic / Bronze-Age Ancestors”, LNBA) – the same people who spread Indo-European languages.
The Armenian “Lchashen” and Altai “Kuyum/Bateni” genomes are proxies for that Steppe component. Without them our models would over-assign Steppe ancestry to Nordic samples and inflate your Nordic/Viking index.
Q: Could including non-Nordic references dilute my Nordic Index?
A: No. The Nordic Index sums only the five Scandinavian eras (Mesolithic → Viking Age). External references act as “contrast paint”: they sharpen the boundaries between Nordic clusters and the rest of Eurasia, reducing false positives.
Q: How does the report handle Sámi or Finnish ancestry?
A: Early Sámi/Finnic genomes are scarce, so that heritage may be under-represented until more samples are published.
Key Disclaimers
Q: What should I keep in mind when interpreting my results?
A:
- Percentages reflect shared ancestry, not direct lineage.
- “Nordic” genomes already include admixture from British, Baltic, and Steppe sources.
- Small components may change as coverage and reference data improve.
