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The chemical signatures of bones and teeth suggest that Viking settlements were a melting pot of ethnicities
out of Scandinavia, with many returning home again afterwards. Now, new evidence is painting a different picture.
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In a recent, large-scale ancient DNA study, a team from Copenhagen analysed burials from across the Viking world in a bid to find out more about population movement. As well as discovering evidence for migration out of Norway, Denmark and Sweden, the team also found evidence of many moving
into Scandinavia – and from some unexpected locations, such as southern Europe. This should probably not come as a complete surprise; after all, the Vikings had extensive contact with Byzantium and even the Middle East through the river networks of eastern Europe.