Hi Noah,

I wasn't intending to say that R-P312 was more or less common than R-U106 per se, merely that I + R1a + R-P312 represents most Viking Y-DNA, while R-U106 is only a small fraction.

Indeed, R-P312 is probably not much more common among Vikings in Great Britain than R-U106. I don't know of any official studies, but using data from November (because I can't be bothered looking up fresh data), Family Tree DNA's haplotree reports the following ratios of R-P312 versus R-U106 in the Scandic countries:

Denmark 93:102

Norway 245:223

Sweden 380:460

Finland 90:115

Iceland 6:0

Faroes 1:1

This means that R-U106 does edge out R-P312 in Sweden and Finland, but the opposite is true in Norway and Denmark. The relative amounts of R-P312 to R-U106 in Viking DNA therefore does depend on exactly which Viking population you are talking about, even down to the level of a specific region within each country (both R-P312 and R-U106 tend to be more common in the southern parts of Norway and Sweden).

Aptly, I'm currently visiting Orkney, proudly Viking from 875 to 1472 AD. When we talk about "Vikings" and "Viking Y-DNA in Ireland", we have to remember that it also includes a diverse group of people, not just the raiders of the 8th and 9th century. Culturally, Vikings might include anyone from the Viking-controlled isles of Scotland and Man that had been co-opted into the Viking way of life there. Genetically, Viking Y-DNA in Ireland might include the genetic legacy of the Northmen who became the Normans in Normandy and later England. So if you want to get into the finer detail of genetic make-up than the broad brushstrokes of my first e-mail, it's important to be clear what you are including as "Viking" too. Nothing's ever that simple!

Cheers,

Iain.