Research refutes myth of pure scandinavian race

iron rest On the southern part of the island of Zealand in Denmark, lie two burial grounds known as B?gebjergg?rd and Skovgaarde,which date back to the Danish iron age (c. 0-400 BC). LineaMelchior and forensic scientists from the University of Copenhagen analysed the mitocondrial DNA of 18 individuals buried on the sitesand found that there was as much genetic variation in their remainsas one would expect to find in individuals of the present day. Theresearch team also found DNA from a man, whose geneticcharacteristics indicate a man of Arabian origin. Archeologists and anthropologists know today that the concept of asingle scandinavian genetic type, a scandinavian race that wanderedto Denmark, settled there, and otherwise lived in completeisolation from the rest of the world, is a fallacy. "If you look at the geographic position of Denmark, then itbecomes clear that the Danes must have been in contact with otherpeoples," says scientist, Linea Melchior. "We know fromother archeological excavations that there was a good deal of tradeand exchange of goods between Denmark and other parts ofScandinavia and Europe. These lines of communication must haveextended further south as one of the Danish burial grounds, whichdates back to the iron age also contained the remains of a man, whoappears to have been of arabian origin. At the beginning of the Danish iron age, the roman legions werebased as far north as the river Elbe (on the border of northernGermany) and it is thought that the man of arabian descent found inthe burial grounds in Southern Zealand would have either been aslave or a soldier in the roman army. It is probable that hepossessed skills or special knowledge, which the people inB?gebjergg?rd or Skovgaard settlements could make useof, or he could have been the descendant of a female of arabianorigin, who for reasons unknown, had crossed the river Elbe andsettled down with the inhabitants of Zealand. "This discovery is comparable to the findings of a colleagueof mine, who found a person of siberian origin on the Kongemarkesite," continues scientist, Linea Melchior. He was buried onconsecrated ground, just as the circumstances of the arab man'sburial was identical to that of the locals. The discovery of thearab man indicates that people from distant parts of the worldcould be and were absorbed in Danish communities. "All of our ancestors, no matter when they arrived havecontributed to our history and the development of ourlifestyle," explains Linea Melchior. "Indeed, Danishidentity is more a definition of where one is physically locatedand lives today than a question of our past history - since we'reall originally african in origin. That we ended up in Europe wasaccidental, which is in itself remarkable". "Another interesting feature of the approximately 50 gravesassessed so far on the two sites and also from other burial sitesand time periods in Danish history is that none of the individualsseem to be maternally related to one another", explains LineaMelchior. "We couldn't see any large families buried in thesame location. This suggests that in the Danish iron age, peopledidn't live and die in the villages of their birth, as we hadpreviously imagined".