Abstract
The impact of human mobility on the northern Euro-
pean urban populations during the Viking and Early Middle Ages and its repercussions in Scandinavia
it- self are still largely unexplored. Our study of the de- mographics in the final phase of the
Viking era is the first comprehensive multidisciplinary investiga- tion that includes genetics,
isotopes, archaeology, and osteology on a larger scale. This early Christian dataset is
particularly important as the earlier com- mon pagan burial tradition during the Iron Age was
cremation, hindering large-scale DNA analyses. We present genome-wide sequence data from 23 indi-
viduals from the 10th to 12th century Swedish town of Sigtuna. The data revealed high genetic
diversity among the early urban residents. The observed vari- ation exceeds the genetic diversity
in distinct mod- ern-day and Iron Age groups of central and northern Europe. Strontium isotope data
suggest mixed local
and non-local origin of the townspeople...