Thursday 12 February 2009

Major study to map our Viking heritage

MEN with long family links to West Cumbria are wanted to take part in a study to uncover the area’s Viking heritage.

Researchers at the University of Leicester are seeking men from northern England to help map the impact the arrival of Vikings in about 900AD had on the area.

Professor of genetics Mark Jobling said some knowledge of how Vikings affected the landscape could be gauged from archaeology and place names, such as Branthwaite, Flimby, Birkby, Crosby, Allerby and Dovenby, but the effect on genetics was less clear.

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