"Half the population of the Viking-town Sigtuna were migrants" Topic

"New analysis of the remains of 38 people who lived and died in the town of Sigtuna during the 10th, 11th and 12th century reveals high genetic variation and a wide scale migration. The study is the largest of its kind so far in Sweden and a combination of several methods, including DNA analysis and Strontium isotope analysis of teeth. The results are published in a new article in Current Biology.

Sigtuna is well known as one of the earliest actual cities in the area and was formally founded around 980 AD. More unknown is the fact that the picturesque town, which today is home to around 10 000 people, was a distinctly cosmopolitan place back then. Researchers at Stockholm university, in cooperation with Uppsala University, Middle Eastern Technical University in Turkey, the British Geological Survey in the UK, and Curt-Engelhorn-Zentrum Archäometrie in Germany, have analyzed the remains of 38 individuals from six different burial sites in Sigtuna. The analysis is based on a combination of methods from archeology and osteology, including DNA analysis and Strontium analysis of the teeth (isotope and level of Strontium in teeth varies depending of where the individual lived in their youth). The results are clear: around half the population of Viking age Sigtuna originated from outside Mälardalen…"
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Amicalement
Armand

I wonder how many were willing immigrants.

People keep finding newcomers in ancient and medieval cities and acting as though this is surprising. In London, where we have semi-decent records, the urban population can't raise enough children to adulthood to replace themselves until Victorian times. Just to keep the population constant, they have to import adults. Remember these people are pretty much clueless on sanitation: dying of typhoid and diphtheria--apart from "childhood diseases"--was perfectly normal and expected.

You mean slaves, captives and hostages probably making up the majority of those

Agree!

Amicalement
Armand