Only two ancient DNA samples with Y-DNA identified as haplogroup I-L233 or one of it's downstream clades have been published. Both these samples were found in areas that border the Baltic Sea which makes them especially interesting for us given the apparent modern locus of I-Y33765 in south eastern Sweden. In the previous article I considered the older of these specimens, an I-L233, late mesolithic adult male known as "Spiginas 1" that was excavated in Lithuania in 1985. In the present notes I want to concentrate on the much younger specimen, originally catalogued as "5860-13" but more recently designated "VK22", an I-A8462 12th century adult male that was excavated in 1938-40 in north-western Russia.
The archaeological context of "5680-13" (Figure 1) is particularly interesting and has been extensively reviewed by Evgeniy L.Nosov and his colleagues (2018). Although their book is written in Russian each chapter contains a helpful and comprehensive summary in English. In Chapter 3, Nadezhda Platonova and Serafina Sankina report and discuss excavations of an elite Christian cemetery adjacent to the Church of St Clement at Zemlyanoye Gorodishche (Earthen Hillfort), Staraya Ladoga, Russian Federation. In the late 1930's, the individual "5680-13" was one of 65 skeletons recorded from this cemetery when it was first excavated by a team led by Vladislav I Ravdonikas and Grigoriy P Grozdilov. In 1941, the physical anthropologist Alexander N Yuzefovich was the first to observe "The strikingly Norse features of the 11th century skeletons sharply differentiate the Staraya Ladoga series from the Slavonic ones". The significance of his observations concerning a possible Scandinavian origin for the individuals buried at St Clement's church has, during the past decade, been internationally investigated (Magaryan et al.,2020; Douglas Price et al., 2019). All the skeletons recovered from the cemetery are now part of the collection of the Peter the Great Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography (Kunstkamera), St Petersburg, Russian Federation.
Figure
1: Location of skeleton "5680-13" (VK22) in the southern half of the
medieval cemetery of St Clement church at Zemlyanoye Gorodishche,
Staraya Ladoga, Russian Federation. (a) Relationship of Staraya Ladoga
settlement (red icon) to Lake Ladoga and to the Baltic Sea (b) The
Kremlin and earth hillfort. Red rectangles represent the approximate
position of the 11th century St Clement church and its cemetery. Cross
symbol indicates approximate burial location of individual "5680-13"
(VK22). (c) Map of excavation sites at Zemlyanoye Gorodishche. (Source of site plan Fig.B7, Nosov et al., 2018). [Click on image to enlarge]
The pre-World War II excavations by the team of Ravdonika and Grozdilov indicated that the cemetery had been used over many decades and that, at least in part, those interred there represent a quite distinct population. The earliest graves were in the southern part of the cemetery and had been dug in rows. These graves contained men aged under thirty years together with some children and infants but adult female burials were notably absent. In contrast the layout of the more recent graves in the northern part of the cemetery was irregular and in this part of the cemetery the skeletal remains included both sexes. Throughout the St Clement cemetery all graves suggested a Christian burial rite with almost no grave goods. Typically individuals lay on their backs with heads to the west. Radio carbon dating of bone samples indicates burials began in the eleventh century.
During
the medieval period, in the Ladoga region adjacent to the River
Volkhov, a significant Viking age trade emporium developed. This was because the
river was part of one of the major routes linking Scandinavia with the Black
Sea and eastern Roman Empire. From historical sources we are told that
in 1019, when Yaroslav the Wise, Grand Prince of Kiev married the
daughter of King Olav of Sweden their alliance resulted in the "Ladoga
Jarlsdom" passing to Ragnvald Ulfsson who was the grandson of Skagel
Toste (909-975). Skagel Toste has been linked by some writers with the
Toste or Tusti mentioned as taking Danegeld in England on the U344 runestone at Orkesta in Vallentuna near Stockholm. Although this appears an interesting idea it seems to me this connection is
unlikely as the period from 954-980 saw little Viking raiding in England
and no large payments of tribute are recorded. However, returning to our main
narrative, documentary evidence shows that Jarl Ragnvald was in fact permanently exiled from the Swedish court to Staraya Ladoga with his
entire household and retinue. It is conjectured (Nosov et al., 2018) that some male members
of the Jarl's comitatus may be represented among the burials at St
Clement. Certainly men who came with Jarl Ragnvald may have had
Christian beliefs and it is possible that the cemetery was the place
where such warriors were buried. Snorri Sturlusson recounts in the
Heimskringla that Ragnvald and his guards were involved in conflict with
endogenous pagan tribes.
Whatever his true background, the "5860-13" individual was buried among the distinctive population of young male skeletons from the southern half of the cemetery (see Figure 1b & c). Based on his long bones his body length has been estimated at between 166 and 169.3cm and this compares with an average for the cemetery "warrior" group of 170.6-172.6cm. It has been observed that this is appreciably taller than the height of the modern Russian population in the Ladoga region (Nosov et al., 2018).
In a recent molecular genetics study (Magaryan et al.,2020), individual "5680-13" was one of seventeen burials from the St Clement cemetery that were used to characterize Viking age population genomics. In this investigation skeleton "5680-13" was given the sample ID, "VK22". Ancient DNA extracted from the "VK22" skeleton confirmed his Y-DNA haplogroup as I-A8462. In the modern European male population this haplogroup has so far only been identified in the British Isles and more particularly in Scotland and the northern half of Ireland (Figure 2). In view of earlier comments about the putative origins of men buried at Zemlyanoye Gorodishche it seems possible that his Y-DNA haplogroup could imply "VK22" grew up in the northern British Isles and subsequently traveled, possibly via Sweden, to Staraya Ladoga where he served in the guard of a prince of the Rus. Such a biography would demonstrate the potential mobility of Y-DNA during the Viking age and it would also emphasize that the find location of a marker obtained using ancient DNA may differ significantly both from its historical origin and from the region of its prevalence in modern populations.
Figure 2: Distribution of I-A8462 in modern male populations in Europe and the British Isles (Source: https://phylogeographer.com, June 2022)
In a further recent paper (Douglas Price et al., 2019) the authors used strontium isotope analysis to show that about one third of the individuals (n=5) from the southern part of the St Clement cemetery who they tested (n=15) are first-generation migrants likely from central Scandinavia or another area with very high 87Sr/86Sr values (Figure 3). All this "Scandinavian" group had strontium ratios well above 0.7150. In contrast, individual "5860-13" showed 87Sr/86Sr values that were almost the lowest of any in the sample examined. Douglas Price et al.,(2019) suggest the burials with values below 0.7150 may either indicate local individuals or individuals from Gotland both of whom may have grown up eating terrestrial and marine food from the Baltic. Although the authors say "at present, we are unable to resolve this question" they conclude that "all (or many) of these individuals are non local [to Staraya Ladoga] and all (or many) of the individuals in this study would be from Sweden or Gotland". Given the prevalence of I-A8462 in the British Isles and particularly in Scotland, it seems to me, it can be argued that individual "5680-13" more likely grew up in the British Isles since his strontium values are also consistent with those for that area which range between 0.07078 and 0.7165 (Evans, Chenery & Montgomery, 2012). Hence it seems to me the combination of Y-DNA haplogroup and strontium isotope estimates make it likely the "5680-13" man was a first-generation migrant from the northern British Isles.
So, in the context of our interest in ancient DNA samples that are phylogenetically close to the I-Y33765 clade, the recent studies on the "5680-13" skeleton from Staraya Ladoga have illustrated the potential during the Viking period for male movement from the British Isles into the eastern Baltic Sea. Hence, it is as if "5680-13" had used a "return ticket" for the journey we conjecture must have been taken by the patriarch of the English arm of I-Y33765, from Sweden to Somerset, at about the same time.
In addition, it seems to me, the proximity of the "5680-13" burial to a church dedicated to St Clement is yet another, somewhat whimsical, coincidence. As I have discussed several times already the cult of St Clement has been shown to have particular significance for the Scandinavian ruling elites of the Viking Age (Crawford, 2008). To illustrate this point from the perspective of the "5680-13" burial in the cemetery at Zemlyanoye Gorodishche I think it well worth quoting from the English summary to Chapter 3 of the review of those excavations (Nosov et al., 2018), written by Platonova and Sankina in which they observe: -
"The consecration to the name of Pope St Clement also confirms that the first church was built as early as the 11th century. In the times of Vladamir and Yaroslav, St Clement still was considered as the main heavenly protector of the Rus'. However, already as early as the 12th century, the cult of St Clement as the first saint associated with the Rus' is ousted by the cult of St Andrew the First-Called. In Rus' of the 12th-13th century, practically no stone temples dedicated to St Clement are known. Ladoga is nearly [the] single exception".
References
Crawford, B.,(2008)., The Churches Dedicated to St. Clement in Medieval England. A Hagio-geography of the Seafarer´s Saint in 11th Century North Europe. St. Petersburg: Axioma, 237 pp.
Douglas Price,T, Moiseyev,V, & Grigoreva, N., (2019)., Vikings in Russia: origins of the medieval inhabitants of Staraya Ladoga, Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences, https://doi.org/10.1007/s12520-019-00897-2
Evans,JA, Chenery, CA, & Montgomery, J., (2012), A summary of strontium and oxygen isotope variation in archaeological human tooth enamel excavated from Britain, Journal of Analytical Atomic Spectrometry, 27, 754-764
Margaryan, A., et al., (2020)., Population genomics of the Viking world, Nature, 585, 390–396. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-020-2688-8
Nosov,EN, Platonova,NI, Beletsky,SV, Kirpichnikov,AN, Kurbatov,AV, Lapshin,VA, Milyaey,PA, & Sankina,SL (2018)., Advance in Archaeology of Staraya Ladoga: materials and studies, Proceedings of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Institute for the History of Material Culture, Vol. LIII, Neva Book Publishing House, St Petersburg, Russian Federation, 536pp
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