Viking in their blood

A torchlight procession and celebrants wearing viking costume light up Edinburgh's main street, the Royal Mile, Tuesday Dec.29, 2009 to mark the beginning of Hogmanay, five days of concerts and events to celebrate the Scottish New Year. (AP Photo/ David Cheskin, PA) ** UNITED KINGDOM OUT NO SALES NO ARCHIVE **

A torchlight procession and celebrants wearing viking costume light up Edinburgh's main street, the Royal Mile, Tuesday Dec.29, 2009 to mark the beginning of Hogmanay, five days of concerts and events to celebrate the Scottish New Year. (AP Photo/ David Cheskin, PA) ** UNITED KINGDOM OUT NO SALES NO ARCHIVE **

Published Mar 11, 2014

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London - Almost one million Britons alive today are of Viking descent, according to a study.

One in every 33 British men, around 930 000, can claim to be direct male line descendants of the Vikings, despite the Norse warriors’ British rule ending more than 900 years ago.

The research, carried out by BritainsDNA, compared the Y chromosome markers – a piece of DNA inherited from father to son – of 3 500 men with six DNA patterns associated with Norse Vikings.

Those from the Shetland Islands were most likely to have Viking blood, with more than 29 percent of the male population descended from the warriors, who first came to Britain around 793AD. - Daily Mail

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