麻豆传媒

THE last Viking king was not laid to rest with his mother, contrary to the belief of historians for at least the last 500 years. Sven Estridsen died in 1074 and was buried in Roskilde cathedral on the Danish island of Sjaelland. His mother, Estrid, was supposedly buried nearby. Now an analysis of DNA from the royal teeth has revealed that 鈥淓strid鈥� is not his mother after all 鈥� she is more likely to have been his daughter-in-law.

Jorgen Dissing, at the Institute of Forensic Medicine in Copenhagen, Denmark, extracted mitochondrial DNA from the pulp of molars from the skeletons. Mitochondrial DNA is useful for analysing ancient remains because there are many copies per cell so DNA breakdown causes fewer problems during analysis than it can in nuclear DNA samples.

If Estrid is Sven鈥檚 mother the DNA should be identical because mitochondria are passed exclusively from a mother to her offspring. But they weren鈥檛. Moreover, the condition of the teeth and bones suggest that the woman was around 35 when she died, Dissing told the International Association of Forensic Science meeting in Hong Kong last week. Historical records tell us Sven鈥檚 mother died aged around 75.

It may not be necessary to change the plaques naming the tombs, however, as one of Sven鈥檚 daughters-in-law was also called Estrid.