In this article, Ill use the terms interchangeably, because although the term Viking stems from the Old Norse word for pirate, it gradually came to encompass all Norse people who embarked upon elaborate naval expeditions from Scandinavia during the Viking Age. Pale Read Article Now. What Do Modern-day Scandinavians Actually Look Like? Winter, Hang some Old Norse mythology on your walls. Their eyes are light in many cases, including blue and green. Since up to 78% of the Swedish population has blue eyes, its easy to see that blue is the dominant color, even if it is technically a recessive gene! Mythology If a light-haired and light-eyed Swede had a child with a dark-haired and dark-eyed person, the child is less likely to have light hair and eyes because the darker colors will be more dominant. Whether these traits stem from a diverse pre-bronze age population, geographical conditions, or the modern diet of the region as a whole is hard to say, but they all likely played some part at least. Nordic and Scandinavian Physical Traits Today. (Complete Guide to Viking Traits), Recent advancements in DNA analysis tech have led to extraordinary insight into how Vikings looked, from hair and eye color to size and ancestry. Usenet newsgroup. Pelvis width can be very useful in this respect., Your email address will not be published. WebSwedish ( ethnic ones not Saamis), mostly belong to what is called the Nordic race which is centered in Northern Europe. Mythology Read Article Now. Therefore, other traits need to be studied in order to identify the sex of skeletons. To elaborate on this, facial hair is included under the term androgenic hair, so based on data from the American Journal of Physical Anthropology, we see that over 70% of Nordic men (along with Mediterranean men) can grow a beard or mustache (which is well above the global average). With modern technology, it now appears that the Finns and the Smi may have originated from an old population in Europe which diverged from other European populations prior to subsequent linguistic and cultural diversification. And each of them blows his nose and spits and washes his face and hair in this basin. This is also illustrated in reality when we look at the eye color of Swedish governors after the 2022 election, with 18 out of 21 (~86%) having brightly colored eyes; 16 pairs of blue eyes (~76% of total), and 2 pairs of green (~10% of total). Do Scandinavians have natural white or platinum blonde hair? Scandinavian people do not have a very high prevalence of the EDAR gene, thought to be connected with thicker hair (among other traits). Please see the About page for details. Curious about where the Vikings came from and how they ended up in Scandinavia? Other Nordic countries like Iceland have high cheekbones. As such, it was common that people wanted to hide their Sami heritage, with some even being ashamed of typically Sami features such as high cheekbones and wider eyes (SvD 2012). Essentially, this means you will likely not meet as many curly-haired Scandinavians as you would southern Europeans or Americans for example. http://www.itv.se/boreale/samieng1.htm (accessed February 26, 2005). Scientifically speaking, there are a couple of factors that could play in the Scandinavians favor as far as sexual selection and attractiveness go: I want to point out that beauty is entirely objective, and what is considered attractive for some may not be for others. The theory is that this has had a long-term effect on the genetical makeup that determines skin color and tanning ability in the Scandinavian region. [13], The Finns and the Smi maintained their separate language identity even at a time when other Uralic speakers were losing their language to the Indo-Europeans. Your email address will not be published. Fashion It seems the research project is well-funded too (https://kaw.wallenberg.org/forskning/atlas-med-forhistoriskt-dna-ger-ny-bild-av-manniskans-ursprung), so they seem to have the best tools available to analyze this type of scientific data. Other Scandinavians with high cheekbones include Fredrik Ljungberg, Mads Mikkelsen, and Tim Avicii Berg. of the Nordics (Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Finland, Iceland, Faroe Islands, and Greenland). Archeological evidence on display on the Viking Museum of Oslo shows some very large Norsemen that are believed to have weighed around 130-140 kilograms, which amounts to 287-309 pounds. Quiz Its worth keeping in mind that being a Viking was more of a profession than ethnicity, and seeing as that profession included raiding, pillaging and striking fear into the minds of their enemies, it makes sense that these folks were a bit larger and stronger on average. [8] Your email address will not be published. I then categorized the colors as either light or dark: In other words, 85% of my friends and family in southern Scandinavia have light hair (ranging from blonde to light brown), and 75% have light eyes (blue, green, hazel, or grey). 1999. History When adding genetic evidence to the Baltic-Finnish and the Smi language relationship, it appears that the two groups did descend from one single genetic and linguistic population, with the Finns diverging because of Baltic and Germanic agricultural influences; however, because of the distinctness between the two groups, the common ancestor may have divided as long ago as 23,000 BP and then reunited at around 8,500 BP. DNA studies have also shown that around 40% of modern Swedish men have their roots in bronze age migrations from the Russian steppes, 40% from bronze age migrations via northern Germany, and 20% from before the bronze age migrations. 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The Greeks or Hellenes are an ethnic group and nation indigenous to Greece, Cyprus, southern Albania, Anatolia, parts According to a Popular Science Monthly study, most Scandinavians have wavy hair, with some parts of northern Scandinavia having more coarse/straight hair. Germanic Who is this group of people? Although light features are standard, some swedes have darker hair and eyes. They also have a rather rounded face and very delicate facial features. Vikings were mostly blond (with Danes specifically being mostly red-haired) according to skeletal DNA studies, but identifying as Viking wasnt limited to people with Scandinavian ancestry (vikingr just means pirate after all). Is History ChannelsVikingsworth watching? But again, this isnt exclusive to every Swede, so its still possible for some to have more angular faces. So even though many Swedes dont receive a lot of sunlight during certain parts of the year (especially up north), they generally have adequate vitamin D levels [5]. This data may not be representative of the Nordic region as a whole, but at least it gives you an insight into what actual Scandinavian people look like in 2023. While it doesnt necessarily have to be blonde, it can also be different shades of light brown. As a Scandinavian, you may be more prone to have high cheekbones. And despite my own hesitations, Short also believes that when the sagas describe feats of extraordinary strength they may not entirely be heroic exaggeration. This means Scandinavian hair mostly fall into these categories: So Scandinavian hair color is mostly light in character, but what types of characteristics does Scandi hair have? Read more about how The Last Kingdom, Vikings, and Game of Thrones compare. The Scandinavian facial features are unique in terms of appearance. Is the origin of this theory SVTs The first Swedes ? Furthermore, according to a 2016 study published in Wiley, people of European origin generally have a facial hair growth pattern concentrated around the upper lip, cheek, neck, and chin, so it can be assumed that most Scandinavians also are able to generally grow whats considered a full and thick beard. Mediterranean Europeans The Mediterranean may be a region of Europe that features Spain, The other agents, [10] He left Sweden at 19 to explore the world, and stayed abroad for almost 8 yearsduring which he backpacked, worked every job there was, earned a degree from UC Berkeley, and met the future mother of his children. Vikings were known to braid their beards in different ways according to written primary sources, among them the stories about Svein Tveskgg (Forkbeard), known for his beard that was split into two braids. Beards and mustaches were very common in Vikings according to archeological findings and written records. Scientists are now able to create eerily realistic facial reconstructions, getting us closer than ever to finding out who they were and what the Vikings looked like. It should also be added that the countries around the Dinaric Alps in Western Balkans would place in the top if S.E. Get in to the Viking spirit at home with our premium museum-quality prints sent right to your doorstep with free shipping worldwide. Still this does not answer the underlying question of where the Smi originally came from. 1. (Gene Expression), [14] The study of Y chromosomal polymorphisms also seems to support the theory of the Smis long isolation; however, it seems that they were not always living completely alone. Stereotypical Scandinavian traits and facial features have since the early 20th century included straight, blonde hair; blue eyes; tall figure; a straight nose; thin lips; and non-prominent cheekbones, according to Werner & Bjrks 2014 book Blond and Blue-eyed. There is still a large amount on new information to be uncovered about the Smis very ancient past. Combining all of these sources (archaeological evidence, DNA findings, and written texts) gives us a fuller picture of how Viking Age hairstyles mightve looked, does show some interesting findings. The Viking beard was a source of pride and honor among the free men, and insulting ones beard could result in a deadly outcome or sometimes even prolonged feuding between families. Oslo But in the end, study co-author Ashot Margarayan still concludes that Vikings were blond in their majority, while the National Museum of Denmark believes most Danes were red-haired. Names [cited February 26 2005]. Fairly recent mass-grave findings in Sweden show some Scandinavians from the Viking Age that were around 180-190 cm tall, and the largest Viking DNA study ever embarked upon shows that the Vikings were highly likely to be tall. Well, in many cases not at all. Karl, Clothes March 1998. Although the rest of the Nordics generally view Sweden in a positive light still, there has been a slight shift towards more people having a more negative image of Sweden and Swedes lately. Music Below the neck, this body hair is generally concentrated on the arms and legs in the Nordics. (Sajantila), [10] Vikings largely had similar genetic markers linked to eye color as modern-day Scandinavians according to a massive Viking DNA study published in 2020, meaning the vast majority (50-80+% depending on region) would have blue, green, or hazel eyes following the findings in Peter Frosts European hair and eye color. They originated from Europe but spoke a Uralic language among themselves. Besides their high noses, they have high cheekbones. There have been multiple publications that have looked at how the Scandinavian Personality Traits are prevalent as much as the light hair and light eyes are prevalent in people with heritage in this region of Europe. One was Finnish and the remaining five were Karelian. The Origin and Genetic Background of the Smi. Get some Scandi spirit in your home with our premium museum-quality prints sent right to your doorstep with free shipping worldwide. We exists to inform people about the people, culture, and history of Northern Europe. Average Height in the Nordics (Data & Graphs), The average height of both males and females in the Nordic countries (Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Finland, and Iceland) are all among the tallest 20 countries in the world (or top 10%), but why is that? Iceland With the help of modern DNA analysis of ancient Viking remains, we can also establish factors such as what hair color was most common among the Norse people, if they had a lot of body hair, and how likely it was that they had a beard (or at least could grow one). published in The American Journal Of Human Genetics. height of adult males during the Viking Age (in cm). 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