Thanks Erik

We'll put a summary up soon on http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/-sczsteve

and may be able to include some videos of the talks – including the Intro

– once we have permission from the speakers. If you like I can

also put you in touch with Ingi Thor Jonsson – like yourself a

resident Livepudlian – who runs the annual NICE (Nordic Cultural Events)

Festival, I think you and Ingi would get on very well. There will

eventually be a book based on the Conference but that won't be for some

months,

Ha det bra

Steve

Vikings: http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/-sczsteve

steve.harding@nottingham.ac.uk

---

From: Erik Ribsskog [mailto:eribsskog@gmail.com]

Sent: 07 December 2010 14:53
To: Stephen

Harding
Subject: Re: Viking DNA book – Apologies for problems with

Amazon link, now resolved

Hi,

thank you very much for you e-mail!

I've now sent about the Vikingship in Meols, to the Norwegian

Maritime Museum, at Bygdøy, in Oslo.

They are also experts on vikingships, and the conserving of these,

like Cultural Historical Musum, in Oslo are.

I'll update you more, if and when I hear back from them.

Has anyone written a summary from the viking-conference, which I

could write about on my blog, since I have a travel-blog etc., where I write

about my short travels from Liverpool to different Norwegian Viking places in

the Wirral.

Thanks in advance for any help!

Yours sincerely,

Erik Ribsskog

On Tue, Dec 7, 2010 at 2:23 PM, Stephen Harding <Steve.Harding@nottingham.ac.uk>

wrote:

Dear all,

Firstly apologies for the bulk nature of this

email again and secondly apologies to those who have had difficulty

accessing the book (with its marvellous foreword by Michael Wood) through amazon.co.uk.:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Viking-DNA-Wirral-Lancashire-Project/dp/1906823464

Although because of the demand (many thanks!)

the site says "Out of Stock" if you click on the "2 new" you should be able

to order the book immediately and in time for Christmas. Thirdly

apologies if you have no interest in the Vikings!

All best wishes

Steve, Turi and Mark

---

From: Harding

Stephen
Sent: 02 December 2010 14:41
To: undisclosed

recipients
Subject: Viking DNA book

Dear Colleagues (including many of you who took part

in the genetic survey of northwest England, 2002-2007, or the Nordic

Festival in 2008)

Apologies if you get this message more than once!

We are writing to bring to your attention a publication we have just

produced. It focuses on the first part of a

genetic survey of northern England – the Wirral and

West Lancashire project in the northwest – and

explains the basis behind the DNA method to probe

ancestry, the use of surnames to help to localize volunteers to specific

regions of the country, and how genetic methods are being used in

conjunction with historical, archaeological and linguistic evidence to learn

about Viking ancestry. It also gives some examples

from individual results and from comparing populations of people to help

show what these new technologies can achieve.

Publication of the book has been supported by one of the UK

Research Councils who have been supporting the study (the Biotechnology and

Biological Sciences Research Council) – and Nottingham University Press in

conjunction with Countyvise Limited have very kindly produced this for us

and indeed done a splendid job. We would like to

stress that we as authors are not taking any Royalties or

profit!

The book is introduced with a

brilliant foreword by famous UK/BBC historian/broadcaster

Michael Wood after which we set out to show as clearly as we

can, with the help of full colour illustrations – what DNA is and how DNA

methods can be used to probe both individual and population

ancestry. For probing Viking ancestry it shows the

importance of using DNA in conjunction with historical, linguistic, place

name and archaeological evidence – again with the help of many colour

illustrations, and explains how DNA can be used to probe paternal

ancestry and maternal ancestry either for individuals or for populations of

people, explaining also some of the sometimes complicated jargon that

scientists use.

A major problem in studying

population ancestry is the large population movements that have occurred

since the Industrial Revolution. However there is a

strong link between surnames and paternal DNA ancestry and the book explains

how information such as Henry VIII’s tax rolls, , and even criminal records

(including someone accused of killing a dog in 1348 …. found not guilty!)

can be used to help establish the volunteer base for specific regions of

northern England. Using these methods significant

Scandinavian ancestry (up to 50% of the mixture of DNA from the old

populations) has been shown for Wirral and West Lancashire.

One youngster from Wirral was so impressed with the

results for her father she wrote a School project “My

Viking Dad and his Viking Dog”! The book finishes with a look towards the

current testing of other regions of Northern England and the research

currently being undertaken with colleagues in Norway to study the genetic

profile of Scandinavia in the Viking Age.

This broadcast on BBC Radio

4 gives some more information about the survey: http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/history/making_history/making_history_20080520.shtml (after

the first minute or so)

So we think it will be a useful read for anyone interested in

DNA ancestry and, after seeing what we have done in the North West, give

people from other regions an idea of how their own past could be

researched. The book is 150 pages long and

extensively illustrated in colour. The

book has just become available in all good bookshops

in the north West or from Amazon.co.uk *and would make an

excellent Christmas present.

Steve Harding, Mark Jobling and Turi King

Stephen Harding DSc(Oxon)
Professor of Applied

Biochemistry
NCMH Laboratory,
University of Nottingham
Sutton

Bonington
LE12 5RD,

UK

http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/–sczsteve

steve.harding@nottingham.ac.uk
*in case of difficulty contact us on this email address, and we will

put you in contact with Nottingham University Press or

Countyvise

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