“Arab” Found in Danish Iron-Age Grave
No wonder Danes had a bone to pick with Arab Muslims over the cartoons. They see them as ancient colonialists.
An ancient Dane with Arabian genes is part of a DNA study that suggests Scandinavians of 2,000 years ago were more genetically diverse than today.
The study analyzed 18 well-preserved bodies from two burial sites dating from 0 to A.D. 400 in eastern Denmark. The sites were originally excavated some 20 years ago.
One skeleton had a type of DNA signature—known as a haplogroup—closely associated with the Arabian Peninsula, according to Melchior.
“It’s especially found among some Bedouin tribes, but it has also been found in the southern part of Europe,” the researcher said.
These accursed Arabs are like flies, they’re everywhere.
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June 25th, 2008 at 12:09 am
I wouldn’t say it’s too uncommon… people in those days sometimes got around a lot more than we might think.
Look at the example of Harald Hardrade, who was a king of Norway. He fought battles in North Africa, Syria, and Italy, as well as serving the Byzantine Emperor for a time. He eventually died trying to invade England in 1066.
Given his travels, it hardly seems unlikely that people from other parts of the world might’ve made their way to Denmark.
June 29th, 2008 at 6:19 pm
Hi Tololy!
Well, that’s a bit misleading though, since “Denmark” didn’t even exist as a country until about 900 AD. The Jutland peninsula was inhabited by tribes that became “Angles” and “Jutes” 2000 years ago. As far as the remains, they could have been “Roman” lol. A few Romans did make it that far north.
Vincent, these remains predate the Vikings by quite a bit! 2000 years ago was the peak of the Roman Empire, the time of Augustus Caesar. Augustus Caesar’s misguided and disastrous attempt to invade Germany occurred in 9 AD, for instance.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Teutoburg_Forest
1999 years ago. BTW, theer were no “Arabs” 2000 years ago, as there were no “Danes”. I wish this kind of study would be a little more precise. In my opinion, they lose scientific credibility when they use inappropriate terms like “Dane” and “Arab” when discussing a time period that predates both.
June 29th, 2008 at 10:10 pm
The skeleton came from Bøgebjerggård, an Iron Age site on the southern part of the island of Sjælland (Zealand).
Aha! Not even Jutland! It was teh island of Zealand! Zealand and the south shore of the Baltic are the ancestral homeland of the Anglii, who still lived there 2000 years ago. Danish, my ass. Those are Anglo-Saxon remains they’ve been studying.
BTW, Tololy, you might get a kick out of this link:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Offa_of_Mercia
Many surviving coins from Offa’s reign carry elegant depictions of him and the artistic quality of these images exceeds that of the contemporary Frankish coinage. Some of his coins carry images of his wife, Cynethryth—the only Anglo-Saxon queen ever depicted on a coin. Only three gold coins of Offa’s have survived: one is a copy of an Abbasid dinar of 774, and carries Arabic text on one side of the coin, with “Offa Rex” on the other side. The gold coins are of uncertain use but may have been struck to be used as alms or for gifts to Rome.
Arabic coins in England 1400 years ago! A friend of mine pointed that out to me, as proof that Offa was a Muslim :)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angles
Ancient Angeln preceded all modern national distinctions and was, therefore, probably not coterminous with the modern culture of the same region. (this means that the people who live there NOW are not the same as the people who lived there THEN)
Nice try, Danish bastards! Those are MY Arab ancestors, not yours!
BTW, Tololy, you might get a kick out of this link:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Offa_of_Mercia
Only three gold coins of Offa’s have survived: one is a copy of an Abbasid dinar of 774, and carries Arabic text on one side of the coin, with “Offa Rex” on the other side.
June 29th, 2008 at 10:12 pm
Ayayaya…. that last comment got all screwed up, didn’t it? And I have another comment that vanished into the ether :(