When geneticists became interested in Viking Age migration and mobility, about 20 years ago, their evidence was drawn from the DNA of modern populations. More recently, ancient DNA (aDNA) techniques have been refined to the extent that evidence from archaeological skeletons is now being brought into the discussions. While modern DNA can provide large datasets, it remains a question how well these represent populations of over a thousand years ago. On the other hand, aDNA is indeed ancient, but the datasets are small and therefore also not necessarily representative. The historical and literary texts about Viking Age migration and mobility also suffer from doubts about how representative they are. This common characteristic of texts and genetics indicates that an interdisciplinary approach would be fruitful. This paper will explore intersections between ancient texts and aDNA to suggest some ways forward.

大约20年前，当遗传学家对维京时代的迁徙和迁徙产生兴趣时，他们的证据来自现代人群的DNA。最近，古老的DNA（aDNA）技术已经得到完善，以至于考古学证据已被纳入讨论范围。尽管现代DNA可以提供大型数据集，但仍然存在一个问题，即它们如何代表一千多年前的人口。另一方面，aDNA确实是古老的，但是数据集很小，因此也不一定具有代表性。有关维京时代迁徙和迁徙的历史和文学著作也对它们的代表性表示怀疑。文本和遗传学的这一共同特征表明，跨学科的方法将是富有成果的。