6 International killers
Did increased globalisation supercharge the spread of lethal viruses in the Viking Age?
In 2020, a team of geneticists revealed that they had discovered the earliest ever evidence of smallpox in ancient skeletons. The geneticists analysed the DNA of 1,800 individuals – some born comparatively recently; some as far back as 31,000 years ago – and found that 13 people had died with the variola virus, which causes smallpox, in their bodies. Amazingly, apart from two that date to the th|century all the skeletons were from burials at sites associated with the Vikings in Scandinavia, England and Russia – including one from a possible eZecution grave at 5t|,ohnos %ollege 1Zford. 6he findings suggest that the widespread mobility of the Viking Age could have been an important factor in explaining the spread of the virus.
6his discovery isnot the first time a deadly pathogen has been linked to Viking migrations. A few years earlier, researchers found that a particular strain of leprosy had travelled to Ireland and England from Scandinavia, putting the blame, again, on the Vikings. The researchers proposed that the disease spread because of the trade in squirrel fur – an important commodity that was shipped over long distances.
It is possible that the smallpox virus spread for similar reasons. The transmission of such diseases may have been one of the more unexpected, and less desirable effects of the increased globalisation and extensive travel carried out by the Vikings.