The Huns in Scandinavia

The Huns in Scandinavia
A new approach centered around modern DNA
Karl O. Högström
Copyright © 2022 Karl O. Högström
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or

utilized in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now
known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in
any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing
from the author/publisher.
The image on the book cover was created by Luis Armando Alarcón and
modified by Karl O. Högström. The author/publisher of this book has been
given permission to reuse and modify all the images included in this book
free of charge.
978-91-987461-0-5 (hardcover)
978-91-987461-1-2 (paperback)
978-91-987461-2-9 (eBook)
The 1st edition of this book was published by Karl O. Högström in 2022.
Website: hogstrom.biz
Email: karl@hogstrom.biz
1
Contents
Abbreviations ...................................................................................... 4
Figures .................................................................................................. 6
Tables ................................................................................................. 28
Preface ................................................................................................ 32
Part 1: The Huns in Scandinavia ..................................................... 36

Introduction ................................................................................... 36
Y-DNA ............................................................................................ 37
The Xiongnu and the Huns........................................................... 43
The Sösdala horizon ...................................................................... 54
Hun- place names .......................................................................... 55
Cynocephalic myths ...................................................................... 58
The synergistic effect ..................................................................... 64
Conclusion ...................................................................................... 68
Part 2: The womb of nations ............................................................ 70

Scania and the Scanian lands ....................................................... 70
The Nordic Bronze Age................................................................. 72
The Proto-Germanic ethnogenesis ............................................... 76
The Langobards and the Heaðobards ......................................... 81
Hunnic presence in Germania...................................................... 83
Hunnic influence............................................................................ 89
Crossing the Baltic Sea ................................................................. 90
Scedenigge and Scedelandum....................................................... 92
Conclusion ...................................................................................... 98
2
Part 3: The eagle and the first shaman ......................................... 100
Reaching for the sky .................................................................... 100
A northern Eurasian cosmology ................................................ 101
The cult of Óðinn ......................................................................... 103
The Hunnic substrate .................................................................. 109
The Okunev substrate ................................................................. 117
A hybridized elite ........................................................................ 121
Conclusion .................................................................................... 122
Postface ............................................................................................ 124
Bibliography .................................................................................... 130
3
Abbreviations
bk./bks. = book/books
ch./chs. =chapter/chapters
FID = identification number
fig./figs. = figure/figures
fr./frs. = fragment/fragments
GF = Gotlands museum
ln./lns. = line/lines
MRCA = most recent common ancestor
pl. = planche (french)
p./pp. = page/pages
RA = Riksantikvarieämbetet
SD = supplementary data
sec./secs. = section/sections
SHM = Statens historiska museer
SI = supplementary information
st./sts. = stanza/stanzas
tbl./tbls. = table/tables
TMRCA = time to the most recent common ancestor
vol./vols. = volume/volumes
ybp = years before present
4
5
Figures
Fig. 1 C-bracteate from Funen. After Hauck et al. 1985, IK 58. Drawing by
H. Lange.
6
Fig. 2 C-bracteate from Hesselager, Funen. After Hauck et al. 1985, IK 75.3.
Drawing by H. Lange.
7
Fig. 3 C-bracteate from Maglemose (III)-C/Gummersmark, Zealand. After
Hauck et al. 1986, IK 300. Drawing by H. Lange.
8
Fig. 4 C-bracteate from Randers, Jutland. After Hauck et al. 1985, IK 142.
9
Fig. 5 C-bracteate from Wapno, Poland. After Hauck et al. 1986, IK 386.
10
Fig. 6 B-bracteate from Skrydstrup, Jutland. After Hauck et al. 1985, IK 166.
11
Fig. 7 A-bracteate from Bjørnerud, Norway. After Hauck et al. 1985, IK 24.
12
Fig. 8 A-bracteate from Selvik, Norway. After Hauck et al. 1986, IK 331.
13
Fig. 9 A-bracteate from Maen, Halland. After Hauck et al. 1985, IK 120.1.
14
Fig. 10 A-bracteate from Holmetorp, Öland. After Hauck et al. 1986, IK 279.
15
Fig. 11 Eagle-shaped gold plaque from Claestorp, Scania. After Montelius
1885, fig. 12. Drawing by O. Sörling.
16
Fig. 12 Pelta-shaped pendant from Vännebo, Västergötland. After Voss
1954, p. 195, fig. 13.2. Drawing by O. Voss.
17
Fig. 13 Pelta-shaped pendant from Finnestorp, Västergötland. After G.
Creutz 2013. RAÄ number Larv 121:1.
18
Fig. 14 Langobardic pelta-shaped pendant from Veszkény, Hungary. After
Gömöri 1987, fig. 3. Reconstruction by J. Gömöri.
19
Fig. 15 Bit from Högom, Sweden. After Ramqvist 1992, fig. 41. Drawing by
P.H. Ramqvist.
20
Fig. 16 Helmet plate from grave 1 in Vendel, Sweden. After Stolpe & Arne
1927, pl. VI: fig. 1. Drawing by O. Sörling.
21
Fig. 17 Helmet from grave 1 in Vendel, Sweden. After Stolpe & Arne 1927,
pl. V: fig. 1. Drawing by O. Sörling.
22
Fig. 18 Helmet decoration from grave 1 in Vendel, Sweden. After Stolpe &
Arne 1927, pl. VI: fig. 4. Drawing by O. Sörling.
23
Fig. 19 Helmet from grave 14 in Vendel, Sweden. After Stolpe & Arne 1927,
pl. XLI: fig. 1. Drawing by O. Sörling.
24
Fig. 20 Analysis of Q1b2. After Allentoft et al. 2022, SI: fig. S3b.4.1
Drawing by K. Högström.
1
Allentoft et al. 2022, SI: fig. S3b.4
25
Fig. 21 Approximate TMRCA dates of Q-L527 and its derivative subclades.
After Kate Reed 2022.2 Drawing by K. Högström.
2
Kate Reed 2022, personal communication, 22 July
26
Fig. 22 Approximate TMRCA dates of R-S21872 and its derivative
subclades. After FamilyTreeDNA 2022a.3 Drawing by K. Högström.
3
FamilyTreeDNA 2022a; FamilyTreeDNA 2022b
27
Tables
Tbl. 1 Approximate divergence and coalescence times of Q-L527 and a

select group of its derivative subclades + Q-L804.4 Drawing by K. Högström.
4
FamilyTreeDNA 2022a; FamilyTreeDNA 2022b; Kate Reed 2022, personal communication, 22 July;
YFull 2022
28
Tbl. 2 Approximate divergence and coalescence times of Q-M242 and a
select group of its derivative subclades.5 Drawing by K. Högström.
5
FamilyTreeDNA 2022a; FamilyTreeDNA 2022b; YFull 2022
29
Tbl. 3 Approximate divergence and coalescence times as well as
geographical regions of R-S10885, Q-YP789 and C-F6739 and its respective
derivative subclades.6 Drawing by K. Högström.
6
Arne Solli 2022, personal communication, 31 July; Iain McDonald 2022, personal communication, 1
August; FamilyTreeDNA 2022a; FamilyTreeDNA 2022b; YFull 2022
30
Tbl. 4 Approximate divergence and coalescence times of Late Neolithic
subclades located downstream of R1a, R1b and I1 that have been found in
Scandinavia.7 Drawing by K. Högström.
7
FamilyTreeDNA 2022a, FamilyTreeDNA 2022b; YFull 2022
31
Preface
The objective of this book is to analyze when and how Y-DNA subclade
Q-L527 made it to Scandinavia. I’m a co-administrator of several group
projects linked to FamilyTreeDNA. Three of these projects focus on Y-
DNA haplogroup Q-M242 and/or its derivative subclades. One of these
subclades is Q-L527 which has been my focus area for several years. I,
therefore, have a detailed knowledge about this specific Y-DNA
subclade. It is this detailed knowledge combined with a broad
knowledge base that has enabled me to construct a plausible hypothesis
regarding the origins of Q-L527. The hypothesis presented in this book
is constructed around anonymized data generated from genealogical
DNA testing. The fact that not a single ancient DNA sample (aDNA)
from Scandinavia has been shown to belong to Q-L527 leaves one with
no other option than to use modern DNA. In human genetics, a Y-DNA
haplogroup and its derivative subclades are defined by mutations,
commonly referred to as SNPs, in the non-recombining DNA of the Y
chromosome.8 The fact that the Y chromosome is only transferred from
father to son along with the fact that every patrilineal branch has
mutations on the Y chromosome that are unique to that specific branch
makes Y-DNA a useful tool when tracing human migrations.9 However,
it is only when put into a historical context that the data becomes useful.
It is this realization that prompted me to construct a coherent and
plausible hypothesis regarding when and how Q-L527 may have made
it to Scandinavia.
It should be noted that the views expressed in this book are my
personal views and are not necessarily shared by other administrators
linked to FamilyTreeDNA. I would argue that administrators like me
often have a better understanding of certain subclades compared to
many geneticists due to the fact that we have access to large datasets
regarding specific subclades.10 If scholars consulted these
8
Jobling et al. 2003, pp. 38–39, 47–49, 106, 257, figs. 2.2, 2.18
9
10
Scorrano et al. 2021, p. 228
32
administrators more often, they would understand human migrations
better, and the articles that they publish would contain less errors. Over
the years, several scholarly papers have been published about Q-M242
and its derivative subclades but some of these papers have contained
errors or insufficient data, especially concerning Q-L940 and its
derivative subclade Q-L527. One example is Huang et al. 2018 who
aimed to map the spread of Q-M242 and its derivative subclades across
Eurasia. Huang et al. 2018 did not analyze the subclades downstream of
Q-L940 and, therefore, mislabeled the Q-L527 samples from northern
and western Europe as Q-L940.11 Since the geographical distribution of
Q-L527 differs vastly from Q-L940 and Q-L932, the correct approach
would have been to analyze Q-L527 separately. The fact that only ten
loci were used to analyze Q-L940 made the generated data somewhat
questionable.12 The usefulness of STR analysis comes from looking at
multiple STR loci simultaneously and ten loci is arguably not enough.13
Another example is Grugni et al. 2019 who aimed to map the spread of
Q-M242 and its derivative subclades across both Eurasia and the
Americas. The study contained some important finds such as a
Q-Y15684 sample from Donetsk Oblast but the paper also contained
several errors.14 Just like Huang et al. 2018, the authors failed to realize
the distinct nature of Q-L527.15 Grugni et al. 2019 equated SNP
Q-F1161 with Q-L527 when in reality it is equivalent to Q-L940.16 This
error made the authors mislabel two Q-L940 samples from India as
Q-L527.17 A third example is Wang et al. 2021 who incorrectly stated
that Q-F1893 is located downstream of Q-L330 when in fact it is located
downstream of Q-L940.18 The misassignment of Q-F1893 had a
decisive impact on the conclusions reached by the authors of the paper.
These three scholarly papers were all published in well-respected
11
Huang et al. 2018, p. 112
12
Huang et al. 2018, p. 111
13
Jobling et al. 2003, pp. 64–67, 76
14
Grugni et al. 2019, SI: fig. S2, SD: tbl. S2
15
Grugni et al. 2019, p. 3, fig. 1
16
Ornella Semino 2020, personal communication, 27 May
17
Grugni et al. 2019, SI: fig. S4a; Ornella Semino 2020, personal communication, 27 May
18
Wang et al. 2021; FamilyTreeDNA 2022b
33
journals and subjected to peer review but still contained crucial errors.
One should keep these examples in mind when critiquing my research
and questioning my knowledge due to the lack of credentials. Unlike
most geneticists who use an ever-changing nomenclature based on
letters and numbers to define haplogroups and subclades, I use the same
terms as the FamilyTreeDNA haplotree where names of haplogroups
and subclades are based on SNPs.19 This lowers the risk of making the
type of errors previously described. It should be noted that
FamilyTreeDNA labels Q-L940 as Q-F1161, and to stay consistent, I
will do the same from now on.
When it is possible, I will use divergence times and coalescence
times, the latter also known as the time to the most recent common
ancestor (TMRCA), provided by Kate Reed, a fellow co-administrator
who has developed her own intuitive method of dating.20 It should be
noted that the conclusions presented in this book are not necessarily
shared by Reed. In some cases, I will use time estimates provided by
FamilyTreeDNA, YFull or from scholarly papers when none have been
provided by Reed. It should be noted that these divergence times and
coalescence times are just estimates and should not be understood as
exact dates. YFull’s time estimates are mainly generated by Big Y-500
data while Reed’s time estimates are generated by Big Y-700 data, the
latter of higher quality. It should be noted that Reed’s time estimates
(tbl. 1) correlate with those calculated by FamilyTreeDNA and YFull
except that the range is slightly compressed. Unlike the bottom up
method used by YFull that uses the average of SNPs below a point to
date them, Reed’s method uses data from both above and below to find
the average.21 YFull uses branch averages to find the average which
means that a branch consisting of two samples will be treated the same
way as a branch consisting of ten samples.22 This can create strange
anomalies if one or both of those two samples are statistical outliers.
19
Jobling et al. 2003, p. 255; FamilyTreeDNA 2022b
20
Rosenberg & Feldman 2002; Kate Reed 2022, personal communication, 22 July
21
Kate Reed 2020, personal communication, 12 September
22
McDonald 2021, p. 4
34
One such example is when a child clade is predicted to be older than its
parent clade.23 YFull fudges the numbers in those instances. Reed’s
method tries to distribute such errors across the branches.24 The method
that Reed has developed simulates the whole branch as a system of
springs where each SNP is a spring of rest length 1 and spring constant
k = 1 which means that longer branches are several springs in series,
and multiple testers on a branch are springs in parallel.25 Any difference
between a predicted length and the rest length of the spring, creates a
force calculated according to Hooke’s law that is applied in both
directions.26 Reed has built a simulator that allows the system to
automatically bounce into place. The simulator calculates the combined
forces on every branch, moves the predicted age in the direction of the
resultant force a tiny amount, and then recalculates the forces again until
they all balance and the errors are evenly distributed.27 This procedure
generates the average branch lengths. The next step is to determine the
average mutation rate. Reed has solved this by incorporating the aDNA
sample Anzick-1 into the spring system and measuring the height above
the base of the system which gives the average number of SNPs that
should have occurred between then and now.28 Reed then divides the
carbon-14 date of Anzick-1 by this number, and by doing so, finds the
average mutation rate.29 This formula is calculated from scratch every
time the algorithm runs, so if there are changes to the average number
of SNPs caused by new testers on branches local to Anzick-1, it updates
automatically. Some samples have zero private variants which would
result in a spring with zero length. Such a spring would not be able to
stretch and Reed, therefore, adds a small value (0.3) to the number of
private variants of all samples.30
23
McDonald 2021, p. 5
24
25
26
27
28
FamilyTreeDNA 2022b
29
Rasmussen et al. 2014, p. 3, aDNA: Anzick-1
30
35
Part 1: The Huns in Scandinavia
Introduction
In 2007, Professor Lotte Hedeager published a research article in
Norwegian Archaeological Review about Hunnic presence in
Scandinavia which prompted Professor Ulf Näsman to publish an article
in Fornvännen in 2008 where he argued against Hedeager’s hypothesis.
This resulted in a reply by Hedeager in Fornvännen the same year which
Näsman replied to in the same journal the following year. In 2011,
Hedeager published a book titled Iron Age Myth and Materiality: An
Archaeology of Scandinavia AD 400–1000 where she further developed
her hypothesis. Hedeager argues, among other things, that the customs
practiced by the equestrian elite in central Scania who belonged to the
Sösdala cultural horizon are indicative of Hunnic presence in southern
Scandinavia.31 In 2017, Näsman and Charlotte Fabech, PhD, published
a book titled The Sösdala Horsemen: and the Equestrian Elite of Fifth
Century Europe where they present the accumulated knowledge so far
regarding the cultural horizon known as the Sösdala style. In the final
chapter, the authors present a fictional narrative constructed around
local warriors who travel to southeastern Europe where they are
introduced to steppe nomadic customs which they later bring back to
central Scania.32 However, the authors simultaneously describe the
archaeological finds from central Scania as foreign and that they lack
local roots.33 In the 5th century CE, a cultural shift took place in
Scandinavia and eastern influences can be detected in the material
culture.34 One such example is a new ornamentation style centered
around animals and shapeshifting that is shamanistic in nature and can
be attributed to eastern influence.35 Another example is archaeological
finds from central Scania consisting of ritually destroyed and deposited
31
Hedeager 2007, p. 1; Hedeager 2011, p. 203
32
Fabech & Näsman 2017, pp. 339–341
33
Fabech & Näsman 2017, p. 343
34
Hedeager 2007, p. 46; Kim 2013, pp. 165–168
35
Montelius 1905, p. 99; Hedeager 2007, p. 46; Kim 2013, pp. 165–168
36
horse tack reminiscent of customs practiced by horse-riding nomads
such as the Huns.36 This coincides with a shift in the military
organization towards an emphasis on mounted warriors which Hedeager
argues all in all should be attributed to Hunnic presence in
Scandinavia.37 If Hedeager is correct, one would expect to find evidence
of gene flow from the east in modern Scandinavians. Furthermore, one
should also be able to date this gene flow to the Migration Period, i.e.
375–568 CE, for it to serve as evidence for Hedeager’s hypothesis. I
would argue that such evidence exists in the form of Y-DNA and 1–2%
autosomal admixture.38 My statement is based on inside knowledge
acquired from working as a co-administrator of several group projects
linked to FamilyTreeDNA. I will use anonymized data from these group
projects to argue that the geographical distribution of Q-L527 points to
a northward migration undertaken by its bearers from southeastern
Europe to southern Scandinavia during the early 5th century CE.
Furthermore, I will argue that such an event should be attributed to the
Huns, or perhaps more likely, a subservient group affiliated with the
Huns. Just like Hedeager, I will use an interdisciplinary approach to
argue my case. In addition to data generated from both modern and
ancient DNA, I will use archaeology, mythology and etymology to
strengthen my arguments.
Y-DNA
In human genetics, a Y-DNA haplogroup and its derivative
subclades are defined by mutations known as single-nucleotide
polymorphisms (SNPs) in the non-recombining DNA of the Y
chromosome.39 SNPs are unique to specific patrilineal branches and can,
therefore, be used to track human migrations.40 Y-DNA haplogroup
Q-M242 is believed to have originated in southern Siberia at the onset
36
Ørsnes 1993, pp. 183–292; Fabech & Näsman 2017, p. 341
37
Hedeager 2007, p. 51
38
Ilumäe et al. 2021, p. 1516, fig. 2; Högström 2022a; Högström 2022b
39
40
37
of the last Last Glacial Maximum (tbl. 2).41 Approximately 5–6% of the
males in southern Sweden belong to Q-M242, the highest frequency of
Q-M242 in Europe.42 The majority of these men belong to subclade
Q-L527 while a minority belong to subclade Q-L804.43 It is not known
when and how Q-L527 and Q-L804 made it to Scandinavia. Not a single
ancient human remains found in Scandinavia have been shown to
belong to either subclade. The only ancient human remains ever
determined to belong to Q-L527 was found in a Viking mass grave near
Dorset, England.44 It was determined that the man has terminal SNP
Q-BY77336, and he along with the other men in the mass grave are
believed to be Vikings from Scandinavia.45 The mass grave is dated to
the turn of the 11th century CE and is likely connected to the St. Brice’s
Day Massacre that took place in the year 1002 CE.46 This suggests that
Q-L527 was present in Scandinavia before the 11th century CE. The
Q-BY77336 sample from Dorset matches a sample from Fjärestad in
Scania registered at FamilyTreeDNA.47 The fact that several other
Q-L527 samples registered at FamilyTreeDNA can be attributed to
people either from Normandy or with Norman surnames suggest that
Q-L527 was present in southern Scandinavia already during the 9th
century CE.48 It should be noted that the Normans were sometimes
referred to as Huni by French chroniclers.49 The connection between
Normandy and southern Scandinavia, and more specifically Scania, is
evidenced by the fact that several Norman place names seem to derive
from Scanian etymons.50 One illustrative example is the Norman place
name Yvetot, recorded in the 1020s CE as Ivetoht, that likely derives
41
Karafet et al. 2002; Jobling et al. 2003, fig. 11.2; Zegura et al. 2004; Tamm et al. 2007; Karafet et al.
2008; Clark et al. 2009; Hoffecker et al. 2016; Huang et al. 2017, fig. 1; Pinotti et al. 2019, fig. 2; Ilumäe
et al. 2021, SD: tbl. S10; YFull 2022
42
Genographic Project 2020; Ilumäe et al. 2021, pp. 1510, 1515
43
Ilumäe et al. 2021, p. 1515
44
Margaryan et al. 2020, pp. 391–392, SI: Fig. S3.7
45
Chenery et al. 2014, fig. 3; Loe et al. 2014, fig. 4.30, Skull: UK_Dorset-3735; Margaryan et al. 2020, p.
392, aDNA: VK260; Endre et al. 2021; Göran Runfeldt 2022, personal communication, 26 January
46
Loe et al. 2014; Loe 2015, pp. 38–41
47
Högström 2022a; Högström 2022b
48
49
Hyltén-Cavallius 1850, p. XXXI; Hyltén-Cavallius 1863, p. 51
50
Harrison 2022, p. 246
38
from the Scanian place name Ivetofta.51 Another example is Fultot that
likely derives from Fulltofta, a place name in central Scania associated
with the Sösdala horizon which I will talk about extensively in this book.
Karafet et al. 2008 argues that Q-L527 likely originated in Inner
52
Asia. The closest relative to Q-L527 is its sister clade Q-FT377000,
both child clades of Q-FGC6927.53 The only ancient human remains
ever determined to belong to Q-FT377000 are four aDNA samples
belonging to the Okunev culture from Verkh-Askiz, Khakassia, dated to
c. 2300–1950 BCE.54 The fact that several early aDNA samples (fig. 20)
from southern Siberia have been shown to belong to Q-FGC6927 and
its derivative subclades suggests that Q-L527 originated in the same
region.55 The MRCA of Q-L527 lived c. 1100 BCE (fig. 21).56 Almost
all now living men who belong to Q-L527 are either from Scandinavia
or are patrilineal descendants of Scandinavians who migrated to other
parts of the world starting from the Viking Age and onwards.57
However, eastern European men who belong to Q-L527 do not seem to
descend from Scandinavian men since these men from Poland, Belarus
and Ukraine/Russia are found further upstream.58 The terminal SNP of
the Belarusian sample is basal Q-L527.59 The terminal SNP of the
Ukrainian/Russian sample is Q-Y15684.60 Basal Q-L527 and
Q-Y15684 have never been found in Scandinavia but both have been
found among less than a handful of samples from eastern Europe.
Q-BY106702 is located downstream of Q-Y15684 and all the men who
have tested positive for SNP Q-BY106702 are from Sweden except for
one lineage whose direct male line can be traced back to Skórka near
51
Wrangel 1938, p. 250; Harrison 2022, p. 246
52
Karafet et al. 2008; Francalacci et al. 2015, p. 6–7
53
FamilyTreeDNA 2022b
54
de Barros Damgaard et al. 2018a, SI: pp. 5, 25–26, aDNA: RISE670, RISE672–RISE674;
FamilyTreeDNA 2022b; Göran Runfeldt 2021, personal communication, 13 September
55
Jobling et al. 2003, p. 352; de Barros Damgaard et al. 2018a, SI: pp. 25–26, aDNA: RISE70, RISE672–
RISE674; Allentoft et al. 2022, SI: fig. S3b.4, aDNA: NEO309, NEO911; FamilyTreeDNA 2022b
56
57
58
59
60
Grugni et al. 2019, SI: fig. S2, SD: tbl. S2
39
Chodzież in northwestern Poland.61 The terminal SNP of the Polish
sample is Q-BY106702 and the MRCA lived c. 400 CE (fig. 21).62 The
terminal SNP of the Swedish samples is the derivative subclade
Q-BZ50069 and the MRCA lived c. 1150 CE (fig. 21).63 Another
subclade downstream of Q-Y15684 is Q-Y15683 and the MRCA of the
latter lived c. 700 CE (fig. 21).64 Q-Y15683 and its derivative subclades
have so far only been found in Sweden, Norway and Estonia. 65 The
Estonian samples match several Swedish samples and the former likely
derive from the Swedish colonization of Estonia starting from the High
Middle Ages and onwards.66 I would argue that we can use the location
of the Ukrainian/Russian sample designated as Q-Y15684 as a reference
point when we compare that sample to other samples belonging to
subclades downstream of Q-Y15684. The accumulated data seem to
indicate a northward movement of Q-Y15684 and its derivative
subclades from southeastern Europe to Scandinavia between 400 and
700 CE. The fact that all the Swedish samples belonging to subclades
downstream of Q-Y15684 are found north of the river Göta älv in
Sweden suggest that this branch reached Scandinavia via the Jutland
peninsula.67 This notion is further supported by the presence of
Q-BY137427 in Denmark and Norway, a Q-Y15684-derived subclade
whose MRCA lived c. 350 CE (fig. 21).68 Q-L527 and its derivative
subclades are virtually absent in central and southern Europe. However,
a Sardinian sample from Cagliari has terminal SNP Q-Y16739 and the
MRCA lived c. 300 CE (fig. 21).69 The Roman army that was sent to
conquer the Vandalic kingdom in 533 CE contained four hundred
Herulic mercenaries and six hundred Hunnic mercenaries, the latter led
61
62
63
64
65
Ilumäe et al. 2021, DNA: V45495, V47997; Högström 2022a; Högström 2022b
66
Blumfeldt 1961, pp. 63–178; Ilumäe et al. 2021, p. 1516, fig. 2; Högström 2022a; Högström 2022b
67
68
FamilyTreeDNA 2022a; FamilyTreeDNA 2022b; Högström 2022a; Högström 2022b
69
Francalacci et al. 2013, DNA: ERS256927; Francalacci et al. 2015, p. 6–7; Kate Reed 2022, personal
communication, 22 July
40
by several commanders.70 A portion of the army was sent to Cagliari in
534 CE to conquer the island of Sardinia.71 It is plausible that some of
these soldiers were Heruli or Huns, and the Sardinian sample may come
from one of these soldiers or commanders, likely the latter. The fact that
the Hunnic soldiers were led by several commanders, as opposed to
other ethnic groups within the same army, suggests that the Huns were
an amalgamation of different Hunnic groups who would only accept to
be commanded by their own specific leaders.72 A sample registered at
FamilyTreeDNA with terminal SNP Q-Y16739 descends from a man
with the surname Aquino which may indicate Langobardic ancestry.73
The fact that this sample has no STR matches indicates that this lineage
does not derive from Norman or later admixture.74 The Norman-derived
samples usually have several STR matches, even from Scandinavia.75 A
Q-L527 sample from Italy with the surname Tedesco indicates
Germanic ancestry, possibly Langobardic.76 It should be noted that
Q-L527 has not been found among Langobardic aDNA samples from
Hungary and Italy.77 However, some of the Langobardic aDNA samples
have East Eurasian admixture that likely derive from intermixing with
Hunnic and/or Scytho-Siberian groups.78 A noble lineage from northern
Italy belongs to Y-DNA subclade C-PH36, a child clade of C-F6379,
the latter detected in a late Xiōngnú period male from Arkhangai,
Mongolia.79 Associate Professor Hyun Jin Kim argues that the Huns
imposed a Hunnic ruling elite on several Germanic tribes.80 If correct,
the presence of Q-L527 and C-PH36 in Italy might be evidence of such
70
History of the Wars II, bk. 3 ch. 11 sec. 13, bk. 4 ch. 5 secs. 1–2 (Dewing 1916, pp. 105, 247); Hughes
2014, pp. 24, 76, 118–119; Heather 2018, pp. 123, 142
71
History of the Wars II, bk. 4 ch. 5 secs. 1–2 (Dewing 1916, p. 247); Hughes 2014, pp. 118–119; Heather
2018, p. 142
72
History of the Wars II, bk. 3 ch. 11 sec. 13 (Dewing 1916, p. 105); Sinor 1990, pp. 181, 188–189;
Hughes 2014, pp. 118–119
73
74
75
76
Schütte 1933, p. 136, 144; Högström 2022a; Högström 2022b
77
Schütte 1933, p. 136; Amorim et al. 2018, SI: tbl. 2
78
Yunusbayev et al. 2015; Amorim et al. 2018, fig. 3
79
Jeong et al. 2020, p. 896, tbl. S2c, aDNA: TUH001 (Q-Y16739); Denis Muniglia 2022, personal
communication, 23 July; FamilyTreeDNA 2022a; FamilyTreeDNA 2022b, YFull 2022
80
Kim 2015, pp. 109–128
41
a process. It should be noted that Q-Y16739 is the most numerous and
widespread Q-L527-derived subclade and, therefore, likely the chiefly
branch.
Several ancient human remains designated as Hunnic belong to
Q-M25 and its derivative subclades.81 One example is Q-YP789 that has
been detected in two Hunnic samples from Berel, eastern Kazakhstan,
dated to the early 300s CE.82 The MRCA of Q-YP789 lived c. 250 CE
(tbl. 3).83 Q-YP789 is present at a frequency of 4–5% among the
Székelys in Romania, a Hungarian ethnic subgroup, who claim to
descend from the Huns.84 Q-YP789 is also present in Poland, Russia and
Kazakhstan.85 The Székelys, and Hungarians at large, are genetically
fairly similar to their European neighbors.86 In the case of the Székelys,
there is little evidence to support their claim regarding Hunnic descent
except for the fact that some of the men belong to Y-DNA subclades
downstream of Q-M25 and R-Z94.87 My view is that most myths and
legends contain a kernel of truth. I also believe for there to be a
continuation of identity, there must be some type of genetic continuity
however small it may be, and it is usually patrilineal in nature. Subclade
Q-BZ1000 is located downstream of Q-YP789 and the MRCA lived c.
400 CE (tbl. 3).88 All the Romanian (Székely) and Polish samples except
for a Szlachta family from Poland have tested negative for Q-BZ1000.89
One Russian sample has tested negative for Q-BZ1000 while another
Russian sample as well as a Kazakh sample has tested positive.90 All the
Polish samples, other than the Szlachta family, have terminal SNP
Q-BZ351, a subclade confined to Poland.91 Q-BZ351 diverged from
81
de Barros Damgaard et al. 2018b, SD: tbl. 9; Neparáczki et al. 2019, pp. 3–4, figs. 1–3; Allentoft et al.
2022, SI: fig. S3b.4; Maróti et al. 2022, p. 2866, SD: tbl. S1a
82
Gnecchi-Ruscone et al. 2021, figs. 1, 3, aDNA: BRE004, BRE011; FamilyTreeDNA 2022a
83
FamilyTreeDNA 2022a
84
Neparáczki et al. 2019, pp. 3–4; Ćwiklak 2022
85
Ćwiklak 2022; YFull 2022
86
Fóthi et al. 2020, p. 2; Santos et al. 2020, pp. 7–8; Ádám et al. 2022, fig. 1; Long & Fehér 2022a
87
Neparáczki et al. 2019, pp. 3–4; Fóthi et al. 2020, p. 16; Ádám et al. 2022, pp. 7–8; Long & Fehér
2022a; Long & Fehér 2022b; Maróti et al. 2022, pp. 2865–2866
88
Ćwiklak 2022; FamilyTreeDNA 2022a
89
90
91
42
Q-YP789 c. 250 CE (tbl. 3).92 The fact that Q-BZ351 has not been found
outside Poland indicates that it was brought to this part of Europe not
long after its formation. The accumulated data suggest that Q-YP789
was part of a northward migration of Huns during the first half of the
5th century CE. The samples from Romania and Russia indicate that,
once the Hunnic empire collapsed, some of the men belonging to
Q-YP789 took refuge in the Carpathian Mountains while others fled
further east as stated by Jordanes.93 Q-YP789 has so far not been found
among Hungarians in Hungary. Neither has Q-L527. However, an
aDNA sample from an Avaric elite burial from the mid-7th century CE
in Szarvas, Hungary, has been shown to belong to Q-YP789.94 Csáky et
al. 2020 who detected the Q-YP789 sample analyzed seventeen male
samples from Avaric elite burials and fourteen of those samples
belonged to Y-DNA haplogroup N-M46.95 The fact that Q-YP789 is
twice as common as N-M46 among the Székelys along with the fact that
the Székelys claim Hunnic descent may suggest that Q-YP789 was a
non-Avaric lineage that was absorbed by the Avars during their
westward migration.96 This view is corroborated by the analysis of
another Avaric aDNA sample by Maróti et al. 2022 that was determined
to have terminal SNP Q-BZ1000 and a substantial amount of Sarmatian-
like admixture.97 The same study also detected considerable amounts of
Sarmatian-like admixture in several Hunnic aDNA samples.98
The Xiongnu and the Huns

Professor Etienne de la Vaissière has effectively used non-
European sources to demonstrate a link between the Xiōngnú and the
Huns. One such example are two 3rd century CE texts by a Buddhist
92
FamilyTreeDNA 2022a
93
De origine actibusque Getarum, chs. 50–52 secs. 266–269 (Mierow 1908, pp. 84–85)
94
Csáky et al. 2020, p. 4, aDNA: AC4
95
Csáky et al. 2020, p. 4
96
Golden 1990, p. 257; Golden 2013, p. 51 (note 24); Beckwith 2009, p. 390–391 (note 18); Kim 2013, p.
139; Long & Fehér 2022b; Maróti et al. 2022, p. 2866
97
Maróti et al. 2022, SD: tbls. S1a, S1c
98
Jeong et al. 2020; Maróti et al. 2022, pp. 2861, 2866, SI: pp. 4–5, SD: tbl. S1c
43
monk from Bactria where the ethnonym Hūṇa in Sanskrit is equated
with Xiōngnú in Chinese.99 Another example is a letter written in 313
CE by a Sogdian merchant mentioning raids by the Xwn on cities in
northern China that contemporary Chinese sources identify as the
Xiōngnú.100 This view is opposed by Professor Paul R. Goldin who
states that there is scant basis for any connection between the two
groups.101 Kim, on the other hand, agrees with de la Vaissière but
argues that the term Hun was primarily political, a view shared by
several other scholars.102 However, Kim does not reject a genetic
connection. I agree with Kim that the term Hun should primarily be
understood as a politonym, but I also think there was some type of
genetic continuation for there to be a fundamental political and cultural
continuity between the Xiōngnú and the Huns, a view corroborated by
archaeogenetics.103 When Kim talks about political continuity, he refers
to the fact that the Huns seem to have organized their empire in the same
manner as the Xiōngnú.104 One such distinctive feature was the division
of the Hunnic empire into a western and an eastern wing ruled under a
dual kingship.105 The eastern wing was traditionally viewed as the more
powerful one and was located in what is now Ukraine and southern
Russia.106 From 434 CE to the mid-440s CE, Attila co-ruled the empire
together with his brother Bleda, the latter likely governing the eastern
part.107 However, the fact that the Hunnic empire was divided in two
wings but lacked a high king (chányú) before Attila’s takeover may
suggest that a power shift among the leading tribes and clans had taken
place during their westward migration.108
Priscus states that Attila’s empire in the late 440s CE
99
de la Vaissière 2015, pp. 178–180
100
de la Vaissière 2015, p. 180
101
Goldin 2011, pp. 220–235; Paul Goldin, personal communication, 5 December 2021
102
Kim 2015, p. 46; Fabech & Näsman 2017, p. 341
103
Kim 2013, p. 31; Kim 2015, pp. 6–8; Maróti et al. 2022, pp. 2860–2861
104
Kim 2015, pp. 86–87
105
Kim 2015, pp. 86–87
106
Kim 2015, pp. 86–87
107
De origine actibusque Getarum, ch. 35 secs. 180–181 (Mierow 1908, p. 56); Sinor 1990, p. 188; Kim
2015, pp. 86, 92–93
108
Ishjamts 1994, p. 154; Golden 2011, p. 25 (note 33)
44
encompassed the whole of Scythia and the islands of the ocean, the
former referring to the Pontic-Caspian steppe while the latter is thought
to refer to Scandinavia that at the time was believed by the Romans to
be a large island with other smaller islands surrounding it.109 Jordanes
states that the Huns referred to Attila as “the sole possessor of the
Scythian and German realms”.110 Bede states that there were Huns
living in close proximity to the Old Saxons and the Danes in the late 7th
century CE which arguably should not be taken literally but rather as
reflecting a distant memory of the political landscape of the 5th century
CE before the Adventus Saxonum.111 Further evidence can be found in
several contemporary Roman sources that mention Hunnic military
campaigns along the river Rhine in 430 CE and 436–437 CE.112
According to Widsið, wars were fought between the Goths and the Huns
in the forests near the river Vistula.113 The forestland along the lower
Vistula in northwestern Poland was the birthplace of the Wielbark
culture, an Iron Age archaeological complex associated with the
Goths.114 In the 3rd century CE, the major part of the Goths migrated
south but small pockets of the Wielbark culture remained in the lands
around the lower Vistula until the 5th century CE.115 One such example
is Pruszcz Gdański where a large settlement cluster of the Wielbark
culture was still located during the first half of the 5th century CE.116
The Huns in Widsið are referred to as Attila’s host.117 This passage in
Widsið along with Priscus’ account suggest that these wars took place
during Attila’s lifetime which in turn suggests that a northward
migration of Huns took place during the first half of the 5th century CE
109
Priscus, fr. 8 (Gordon 1960, p. 91); Sinor 1990, p. 189; Kim 2015, p. 54; Lindström 2022, p. 315
110
De origine actibusque Getarum, ch. 49 sec. 257 (Mierow 1908, pp. 80–81)
111
Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum, bk. 5 ch. 9 (Sellar 1907, pp. 316–317); Campbell 1995, pp.
123–124
112
Historia Ecclesiastica, bk. 7 ch. 30 (Zenos 1890, pp. 169–170); Epitoma Chronicon, 1322 (Mommsen
1892, p. 475); Chronica Gallica A. CCCCLII, 118 (Mommsen 1892, p. 660); Sinor 1990, p. 187; Kim
2015, p. 80
113
Widsið, lns. 119–122 (Chambers 1912, pp. 221–222); Schütte 1933, p. 27
114
Kaliff 2001, pp. 23–25; Heather 2010, pp. 103–107; Stolarek et al. 2019, pp. 2, 8, 10, fig. 7
115
Kaliff 2001, pp. 26–29; Heather 2010, pp. 124–125; Pędziszewska et al. 2020, pp. 192–194
116
Pędziszewska et al. 2020, p. 193
117
Widsið, lns. 119–122 (Chambers 1912, pp. 221–222)
45
which is also what Hedeager argues.118 The Belarusian Q-L527 sample
is from Hrodna that is adjacent to the initial core region of the Wielbark
culture around the lower Vistula.119 Q-L527 has not been found among
Gothic aDNA samples from the Wielbark culture.120
If there truly was a northward migration of Huns, it is difficult
to discern exactly who these people were. Jordanes refers to the Huns
as “a whirlwind of nations”.121 One possible candidate might be the
Akatziri who lived in what is now Ukraine and were part of the eastern
wing of the Hunnic empire.122 Priscus refers to the Akatziri both as
Scythians and as Huns.123 It has been argued that some aspects of the
ritually deposited horse tack found in central Scania show Sarmatian
influence.124 Some of the Akatziri tribes tried to rise up against Attila
but the uprising was quelled and Attila’s eldest son Ellac was installed
as their leader.125 Kim argues that Bleda had previously been the ruler
of the Akatziri.126 If Kim is correct, it would mean that the Akatziri were
at the center of power before Bleda was killed by Attila. The Akatziri
seem to have been a larger tribal confederation in its own respect where
tribes and clans were ruled by different leaders, and just like the Huns
at large, may have contained tribes belonging to different ethnicities.127
According to Jordanes, the Vidivarii were a people made up of various
tribes who lived along the southern coast of the Baltic Sea near the
mouth of the river Vistula.128 This area roughly corresponds to the initial
core region of the Wielbark culture. The Vidivarii may reflect remaining
pockets of Goths who had fused with other ethnic groups.129 Jordanes
further states that the Aesti lived to the east of them, and south of the
118
Hedeager 2007
119
120
Stolarek et al. 2019, SD: tbl. S1, aDNA: PCA0088–PCA0114; YFull 2022
121
De origine actibusque Getarum, ch. 24 sec. 126 (Mierow 1908, pp. 39–40)
122
Maenchen-Helfen 1973, pp. 431–438; Blockley 1992, p. 73; Kim 2015, pp. 84–86
123
Sinor 1990, pp. 190–191, 200; Given 2014
124
Fabech & Näsman 2017, p. 336
125
Sinor 1990, p. 190; Kim 2015, pp. 84–87
126
Kim 2015, pp. 85–86
127
Sinor 1990, pp. 190–191; Given 2014, p. 56; Peter Golden 2021, personal communication, 14
December
128
De origine actibusque Getarum, ch. 5 sec. 36 (Mierow 1908, p. 60); Schütte 1933, pp. 12, 27
129
Schütte 1933, p. 12
46
Aesti lived the Akatziri, the latter area roughly corresponding to
Belarus.130 The sample from Hrodna, Belarus, may indicate that Q-L527
was part of this northward migration of the Akatziri.
Another possible candidate might be a group related to the
Sabirs. A runic inscription on a C-brateate (fig. 5: IK 386) found in a
hoard in Wapno, not far from Chodzież, bears the unique runic
inscription “sabar” (ᛋᚨᛒᚨᚱ).131 The hoard has been dated to the
beginning of the 6th century CE.132 There is no consensus regarding the
meaning of the inscription.133 IK 386 is a bastard of a specific subgroup
of Scandinavian C-bracteates and it seems to have been made locally in
Wapno.134 The same thing can be said about another C-bracteate (IK
211) from the same hoard.135 A row of connected squares depicted on
IK 211 has been interpreted as echoing runic inscriptions found on
similar C-bracteates from Scandinavia.136 The peculiarities regarding IK
386 and IK 211 may indicate that the C-bracteates from the Wapno
hoard belonged to an individual who did not speak a Germanic language
as a first language. With this in mind, I would like to suggest that the
runic inscription on IK 386 may derive from the same root that gave rise
to the ethnonym of the Sabirs.137 The Sabirs are mentioned in accounts
from the 5th and 6th centuries CE as a steppe nomadic group living east
of the river Don.138 Both Jordanes and Procopius refer to the Sabirs as
Huns.139 Other authors refer to them as related to but different from the
Huns, implying their mixed descent.140 The same root seems to also be
130
De origine actibusque Getarum, ch. 5 sec. 36 (Mierow 1908, p. 60)
131
Hauck et al. 1986, IK 386 (p. 163); Bursche & Rogalski 2020, pp. 559–560, 578 Pesch 2020, pp. 421–
425
132
Pesch 2020, p. 422
133
Pesch 2020, p. 423
134
Hauck et al. 1986, IK 386 (p. 163); Bursche & Rogalski 2020, pp. 559–560, 578; Pesch 2020, pp. 421–
425, figs. 10.3, 10.5, map 10.4
135
Hauck et al. 1985, IK 211 (p. 277); Bursche & Rogalski 2020, pp. 559–560, 578; Pesch 2020, pp. 421–
425, figs. 10.3–10.4, map 10.3
136
Pesch 2020, p. 422
137
Maenchen-Helfen 1973, p. 440; Golden 1980, p. 127; Golden 2011, p. 147; Golden 2013, pp. 49–55
138
De origine actibusque Getarum, ch. 5 sec. 37 (Mierow 1908, p. 56); Maenchen-Helfen 1973, pp. 431–
432; Sinor 1990, p. 200; Golden 2011, pp. 146–147; Golden 2013, pp. 49–55
139
De origine actibusque Getarum, ch. 5 sec. 37 (Mierow 1908, p. 11); History of the Wars V, bk. 8 ch. 3
sec. 5 (Dewing 1928, pp. 74–75); Sinor 1990, p. 200; Golden 2013, pp. 49–55; Kim 2013, p. 138; Bell-
Fialkoff 2016, pp. 231–232
140
Sinor 1990, p. 200; Bell-Fialkoff 2016, pp. 231–232
47
preserved in the ethnonyms Sabar and Sabur/Sabïr that both designate
subsets of the Kyrgyz who at least partially originated along the upper
Yenisei.141 Professor Omeljan Pritsak argues that the ethnonyms Sabir
and Xiānbēi have the same etymology, the latter referring to a
Mongolic- or Para-Mongolic-speaking group who supplanted the
Xiōngnú as the hegemonic power in Inner Asia during the latter half of
the 2nd century CE.142 The early 4th century human remains from Berel,
eastern Kazakhstan, are designated as Xianbei-Hun because they
represent a mixed population, both genetically and culturally.143 The
Xianbei-Hun cultural-chronological horizon in Berel, dated to the 2nd–
4th century CE, has analogies in southern Siberia.144 The autosomal
DNA of the Xianbei-Hun samples from Berel can be described as a
mixture of local Pazyryk (Scythian) ancestry and externally-derived
Siberian ancestry, and they align autosomally with later Hunnic aDNA
samples from Hungary and western Kazakhstan.145 As previously
mentioned, two male aDNA samples from Berel, dated to c. 300 CE,
have terminal SNP Q-YP789.146 One of them was buried with a Hunnic-
type bow.147 Another contemporary male aDNA sample (BRE014) from
Berel has terminal SNP R-BY172798.148 The MRCA of R-BY172798
lived c. 200–350 CE (tbl. 3) which means that BRE014 may have been
the progenitor of this Y-DNA lineage, a suspicion substantiated by the
fact that he was buried in one of the elite burial mounds.149 R-BY172798
is nowadays found in Russia and Albania while its sister clade
R-S10438 is found in Russia, Kazakhstan, China, Türkiye, Jura
(France), Hungary and Sweden.150 The MRCA of R-S10438 lived c. 250
141
Golden 2013, p. 51 (note 18); Peter Golden 2021, personal communication, 13 December
142
Pritsak 1976, pp. 17–30; Ishjamts 1994, p. 151–152; Golden 2013, p. 50
143
Gnecchi-Ruscone et al. 2021, figs. 1–3, SI: pp. 8–9
144
Gnecchi-Ruscone et al. 2021, SI: p. 8
145
de Barros Damgaard et al. 2018b, aDNA: DA100 (R-S21872); Gnecchi-Ruscone et al. 2021, p. 4, SI:
pp. 8–9, SD: S1, aDNA: BRE004 (Q-YP789), BRE011 (Q-YP789), BRE013 (Q-BZ93), BRE014 (R-
BY172798), HUN001/VZ-12673 (R-FGC56425), KRY001 (R-BY172798); Maróti et al. 2022, pp. 2860–
2861, SI: p. 6; FamilyTreeDNA 2022a; YFull 2022
146
Gnecchi-Ruscone et al. 2021, SI: pp. 8–9, SD: S1, aDNA: BRE004, BRE011; FamilyTreeDNA 2022a
147
Gnecchi-Ruscone et al. 2021, SI: pp. 9, aDNA: BRE011
148
Gnecchi-Ruscone et al. 2021, SI: pp. 8–9, SD: S1, aDNA: BRE014; FamilyTreeDNA 2022a
149
Gnecchi-Ruscone et al. 2021, SI: pp. 8–9, SD: S1; FamilyTreeDNA 2022a; YFull 2022
150
FamilyTreeDNA 2022a; FamilyTreeDNA 2022b; YFull 2022
48
CE (fig. 22).151 A Hunnic aDNA sample from western Kazakhstan,
dated to the mid-5th century, has the same terminal SNP as BRE014.152
A contemporary Hunnic aDNA sample from Budapest, Hungary, has
terminal SNP R-FGC56425, a subclade downstream of R-S10438, and
the MRCA of the former lived c. 400 CE (fig. 22).153 This Y-DNA
lineage is also found in Jura, France, an area that historically belonged
to the Burgundian kingdom.154 It is plausible that R-FGC56425 was
introduced to the Burgundian population in conjunction with the Hunnic
military campaigns launched against them in the 430s CE.155 Another
R-S10438-derived subclade, namely R-Y38432, is exclusively found in
Sweden.156 R-Y38432 diverged from R-S10438 c. 250 CE (fig. 22) and
the MRCA lived in the 4th or 5th century CE.157 The fact that R-Y38432
has not been found in continental Europe may indicate that it was
brought to Scandinavia not long after its formation. It should be noted
that the estimated TMRCA of R-Y38432 is partly based on the TMRCA
of the larger sister clade R-FGC56440.158 Iain McDonald, PhD, argues
that “the breakup of R-S10438 seems to be the start of a mass expansion
or migration of this super-family” and that “R-S10438 is the haplogroup
that is historically most important in this recent sequence”.159 I would
argue that the same thing can be said about Q-FGC6945 and its major
child clade Q-Y16739 that seem to have undergone a similar process
around the same time (figs. 21–22). Maróti et al. 2022 states that the
Hunnic sample from Budapest, Hungary, autosomally clusters with
ancient Xiōngnú and Xiānbēi aDNA samples as well as modern
151
Gnecchi-Ruscone et al. 2021, SI: pp. 8–9, SD: S1; FamilyTreeDNA 2022a
152
Gnecchi-Ruscone et al. 2021, SD: S1, aDNA: BRE014, KRY001
153
Nagy 2010, pp. 137–175: Skeleton TU46; Gnecchi-Ruscone et al. 2021, SD: S1; Maróti et al. 2022,
aDNA: HUN001/VZ-12673 (TU46); FamilyTreeDNA 2022a; FamilyTreeDNA 2022b; Yfull 2022
154
Schütte 1933, pp. 36–41, 121; FamilyTreeDNA 2022a; FamilyTreeDNA 2022b
155
Historia Ecclesiastica, bk. 7 ch. 30 (Zenos 1890, pp. 169–170); Epitoma Chronicon, 1322 (Mommsen
1892, p. 475); Chronica Gallica A. CCCCLII, 118 (Mommsen 1892, p. 660); Sinor 1990, p. 187; Kim
2015, p. 80
156
FamilyTreeDNA 2022b
157
Arne Solli 2022, personal communication, 31 July; Iain McDonald 2022, personal communication, 1
August; FamilyTreeDNA 2022a; FamilyTreeDNA 2022b
158
Arne Solli 2022, personal communication, 31 July
159
Iain McDonald 2022, personal communication, 1 August
49
Kalmyks and Mongols.160 The same thing can also be said about the
Hunnic sample from western Kazakhstan and the Xianbei-Hun samples
from eastern Kazakhstan.161 Professor Emeritus Peter Golden suggests
that Xiānbēi-derived elements may have taken part in the early
westward migrations undertaken by Turkic-speaking steppe nomads.162
I would argue that the accumulated data suggest that R-S10885 and its
derivative subclades as well as Q-YP789 were brought to Europe by the
Huns and that this Hunnic subgroup had a sizable amount of Xiānbēi-
like ancestry.163 Furthermore, I would argue that the data suggest that
this group of Huns made it to Scandinavia. This view is substantiated
by the presence of R-S23592 in Sweden and Poland, a subclade located
upstream of R-S10885 that has been detected in several aDNA samples
from Inner Asia connected to steppe nomadic cultures.164
A Swedish mid-15th century version of Þiðreks saga, known in
Swedish as Didrikssagan, may shed some light on what happened a
thousand years prior.165 I would argue that the Swedish manuscript
known as Skokloster 115/116 is a patchwork of myths from different
time periods, both continental and southern Scandinavian, a view shared
by scholar Gunnar Olof Hyltén-Cavallius.166 With this in mind, I would
suggest that chapters 34–54 in Skokloster 115/116 may contain a distant
memory of Hunnic presence in Scandinavia, a view entertained by
Hyltén-Cavallius.167 According to Skokloster 115/116, Attila became
the ruler of Hunaland and his capital was called Susa, a place name often
associated with Soest in northwestern Germany.168 However, Soest was
never the capital of the Huns or even a place of great importance in the
160
Maróti et al. 2022, pp. 2860–2861, figs. 2–3, aDNA: HUN001/VZ-12673
161
Gnecchi-Ruscone et al. 2021, p. 4, figs. 1–4, aDNA: BRE004, BRE007, BRE008, BRE011, BRE013,
BRE014, HUN001/VZ-12673, KRY001
162
Golden 2013, p. 53
163
R-S10885 and its derivative subclades may very well be the Y-DNA branch which Attila belonged to.
164
de Barros Damgaard et al. 2018b, aDNA: DA49 (R-S23592), DA55 (R-S23592); Jeong et al. 2020,
aDNA: CHN008 (R-S23592), CHN012 (R-S23592); FamilyTreeDNA 2022b
165
Skokloster 115/116; Hyltén-Cavallius 1850, p. XLI; Henning 1970, pp. 27–32
166
Hyltén-Cavallius 1850, pp. I–XLV
167
Hyltén-Cavallius 1850, pp. XIII, XXX–XXXV, 30–41; Hyltén-Cavallius 1863, pp. 51–52
168
Skokloster 115/116, ch. 33 (Hyltén-Cavallius 1850, pp. 29–30); Hyltén-Cavallius 1850, pp. XII–XVII,
421; Zoëga 1910, p. 215; Escher & Lebedynsky 2007, pp. 33–37; Mersiowsky 2010, pp. 163–164
50
5th century CE as pointed out by Hyltén-Cavallius and other scholars.169
Susa may instead refer to a settlement along the river Susat in southern
Russia, the area where the Huns would have resided before they crossed
the river Don and attacked the Goths in the 370s CE.170 If correct, it
lends credence to Kim’s view that the center of power was located in
the eastern part of the Hunnic empire, a view shared by Professor
Emeritus Denis Sinor.171 Susat is a Turkic word and may date back to
the time of the Huns.172 However, Golden urges caution since we do not
even know what language the Huns spoke, a view shared by Kim.173
The fact that Susa is mentioned in Skokloster 115/116 may indicate that
this passage describes the political landscape before the center of power
shifted to the Hungarian plains. It should be noted that the
aforementioned Q-Y15684 sample is from Donetsk Oblast that is
adjacent to the area where Susat is located.174 The Skokloster 115/116
manuscript mentions several Hunnic expeditions and armies being sent
to Scandinavia. The first expedition is a smaller expedition led by
Attila’s nephew with the aim of asking the Swedish king for his
daughter Ercha’s (Kreka) hand in marriage. The Swedish king turns
down the offer. A second expedition led by a Hunnic nobleman named
Rodolf is sent to the land of the Swedes with the same aim, but the
Swedish king turns down the offer once again. Attila then gathers an
army and reportedly attacks the Swedes. The Swedish king is unable to
go toe to toe with the Hunnic army and, therefore, asks the king of
Zealand for help. Together they are able to repel the Huns who retreat
beyond a vast forest. The manuscript mentions a third expedition led by
the same Hunnic nobleman with the intention to infiltrate the Swedish
kingdom. When the expedition arrives in Scandinavia, the nobleman
instructs Attila’s nephew and the rest of the men to settle and build
169
Hyltén-Cavallius 1850, p. XV; Mersiowsky 2010, pp. 163–164
170
De origine actibusque Getarum, ch. 24 sec. 123 (Mierow 1908, p. 39); Schütte 1933, pp. 19–20
171
Sinor 1990, pp. 182, 203; Kim 2015, pp. 86–87
172
Krivosheev 2007, pp. 44–46; Peter Golden 2021, personal communication, 15 December
173
Peter Golden 2021, personal communication, 15 December; Hyun Jin Kim 2021, personal
communication, 15 December
174
Ornella Semino 2020, personal communication, 27 May
51
houses in an area next to a vast forest. Ercha and her sister Berta elope
with the nobleman and his men. The Swedish king then attacks the Huns
who take refuge in a fortress near a vast forest. The nobleman sends two
of his men to ask Attila for help. Attila gathers another army and travels
to the land of the Swedes once more. When reinforcement arrives, the
Huns are able to win the battle. There is a local legend from Osby in
northern Scania about a nobleman named Hunne Hoss who together
with his men take refuge in a fortress when attacked by locals who
oppose his heathen beliefs.175 Another version tells that it was people
coming from the north who attacked Hunne Hoss and his men.176 This
local legend might be a distant memory of the aforementioned battle.
The vast forest mentioned in Skokloster 115/116 may refer to the
forestland in northern Scania located just north of Sösdala. The fact that
the Swedish king specifically asks the king of Zealand for help supports
the view that the Hunnic stronghold in Scandinavia was located in
Scania due to its close proximity to Zealand. Furthermore, the king is
referred to as the king of Zealand which suggests that the origins of this
passage may date back to the Germanic Iron Age before Denmark was
unified. In a court document from 1626, an old man from Virestad
parish, just north of Osby, mentions a local legend he heard as a child
that states that a civil war took place in southern Scandinavia roughly a
thousand years prior.177 Legend has it that a man called Hunesmed along
with his equestrian companions started a rebellion against the Swedish
and Danish ruling elites which in turn ignited a full out war.178 In other
local legends from the same area Hunesmed is referred to as “gamle
Hund”, i.e. “the old dog”.179 The war reportedly brought Hunesmed and
175
L1991:3550 (KMR); Gustavsson 2009, pp. 234–236; Harrison 2022, p. 191: The fortress referred to in
both Skokloster 115/116 and the local legend from Osby might be the Iron Age fortress Hälleberga backe,
dated to c. 400–500 CE, that is located halfway between Sösdala and Osby.
176
Gustavsson 2009, p. 235
177
Allbo häradsrätts arkiv, Domböcker och protokoll vid ordinarie ting, SE/VALA/01513/A I a/1 (1609-
1626), Image ID: C0112390_00352; Hyltén-Cavallius 1850, pp. XXXII–XXXIV
178
1626), Image ID: C0112390_00351; Hyltén-Cavallius 1850, p. XXXII
179
Hyltén-Cavallius 1850, p. XXX
52
his equestrian warriors to Roma parish on the island of Gotland.180 It
should be noted that the local legend from Virestad largely corresponds
to what is told about Hunne Hoss and what is told about Rodolf and the
Huns in Skokloster 115/116. It is, therefore, plausible that these legends
refer to the same events.
The fact that Attila and his brother took over the leadership in
434 CE along with the fact that Attila’s eldest son Ellac ruled the
Akatziri already by the late 440s CE suggest that the marriage between
Attila and Ercha, and the birth of Ellac, took place before 434 CE. In
Skokloster 115/116, it is told that Attila traveled back to Susa and
married Ercha.181 In 448–449 CE, Attila is described as having a beard
sprinkled with gray which suggests that Attila had already reached a
considerable age by then.182 When one takes into account that Attila and
Bleda only were nephews of the previous co-rulers, Octar and Rugila,
the logical conclusion is that the two brothers must have made a name
for themselves already before 434 CE for them to be chosen as the next
co-rulers. The way to make a name for yourself was to lead successful
military campaigns. It is likely that Attila would have been a provincial
leader before 434 CE. The fact that Attila seems to have ruled the
western wing of the empire during the diarchic phase along with the fact
that both Priscus and John Malalas refer to Attila as a Gepid Hun suggest
that his administrative fiefdom before 434 CE was located in the
northwestern portion of the empire.183 If Skokloster 115/116 is correct,
we are provided with a plausible explanation of how Attila rose to power
that also fits within the aforementioned timeframe. Attila’s bid for
power was the fact that he had won several impressive victories and had
expanded the borders of the Hunnic empire all the way to Scandinavia.
This would help to explain why Scandinavian sources contain additional
180
1626), Image ID: C0112390_00351; Hyltén-Cavallius 1850, pp. XXXII–XXXIII
181
Hyltén-Cavallius 1850, pp. 40–41
182
De origine actibusque Getarum, ch. 35 sec. 182 (Mierow 1908, p. 57); Maenchen-Helfen 1973, p. 198;
Sinor 1990, p. 196
183
Priscus, fr. 21.1 (Blockley 1983); Chronographia, 14.10 (Jeffreys et al. 1986, p. 195); Sinor 1990, p.
188; Kim 2015, pp. 87, 109
53
information about the Huns not mentioned in other sources.184
Furthermore, Michael Veprauskas has convincingly shown with the
help of Historia Brittonum that the first phase of the Adventus Saxonum
likely took place in the late 420s, a migration event that may have been
triggered by Hunnic advancements into Scandinavia through Jutland.185
The Sösdala horizon

The Sösdala horizon is concentrated to southwestern
Scandinavia and is defined by certain archaeological finds such as
ceremonial horse bridles and pelta-shaped pendants.186 Finds of
ceremonial horse bridles are concentrated to Scania and Västergötland
while pelta-shaped pendants are found both together with these
ceremonial horse bridles as well across a much wider region
corresponding to the Sösdala horizon at large.187 The Sösdala style is
named after two sets of ceremonial horse bridles that were ritually
destroyed and deposited on a ridge near Sösdala in central Scania.188
Similar finds have been found in Fulltofta, also located in central
Scania.189 All these finds are dated to the first half of the 5th century CE
and are reminiscent of similar finds from eastern Europe that are dated
to the late 4th and the early 5th centuries CE.190 The nature of these
finds, the way they were deposited and the limited distribution of similar
finds in Europe is according to Mogens Ørsnes, PhD, an indication that
these finds belong to a princely Hunnic context.191 I would argue that
the closest equivalent to the finds from central Scania is an undamaged
horse bridle along with a pelta-shaped pendant found in a princely grave
184
Skokloster 115/116, chs. 34–54; Hyltén-Cavallius 1850; Chambers 1912, p. 48; Hervarar saga ok
Heiðreks/Saga Heiðreks konúngs ens vitra (Kershaw 1921, pp. 3–10, 79–150; Kershaw 1922, pp. 142–
161, 200–205); Kim 2013, pp. 112–113
185
Historia Brittonum, sec. 66 (Giles 1906, p. 416); Schück 1907, p. 5; Alcock 1971, pp. 104–105;
Campbell 1995, p. 124; Veprauskas 2001
186
Bitner-Wróblewska 2017, pp. 259–261
187
188
Fabech 2017a; Fabech 2017b; Näsman 2017a
189
Fabech 2017a; Fabech 2017b; Näsman 2017a
190
Tomka 1987, pp. 156–161; Hedeager 2007, p. 51
191
Ørsnes 1993, pp. 183–292; Näsman 2017b, pp. 122–123
54
in Jakuszowice, Poland.192 The grave from Jakuszowice has been
designated as belonging to the same princely Hunnic context.193 There
are clear similarities between the archaeological finds from both central
Scania and Jakuszowice and archaeological finds from
Untersiebenbrunn, Coşoveni and Kačin that all belong to the larger
Sösdala-Untersiebenbrunn horizon.194 There are also analogies between
the archaeological finds from Jakuszowice and the archaeological finds
from an elite Hunnic grave in Nagyszéksós, Hungary.195 The graves
from Jakuszowice and Nagyszéksós are both dated to the early 430s CE,
pre-dating the reign of Attila.196 The finds from Jakuszowice arguably
point towards a northward migration of Huns before the 430s CE.
Hun- place names

Southern Sweden has an unusually large amount of hun- place
names compared to the rest of Scandinavia.197 Furthermore, there seems
to be a correlation between the distribution of these place names and the
distribution of Q-L527 in Scandinavia. In the book The Sösdala
Horsemen: and the Equestrian Elite of Fifth Century Europe, one
chapter is dedicated to analyzing place names in the Sösdala area.
However, the author does not mention or analyze the most obvious place
name, Hunnrörsbackarna, which is located within close proximity to the
ridge where the ceremonial horse bridles were found.
Hunnrörsbackarna, the aforementioned ridge and the nearby Iron Age
grave field Vätteryd are all located along the same road. Places of
importance such as burial mounds and stone monuments were often
erected next to ancient roads to maximize exposure.198 The place name
Hunnrörsbackarna was recorded for the first time in 1815 but the name
192
Kazanski & Mastykova 2017, p. 299
193
Kazanski & Mastykova 2017, p. 299
194
Rodzińska-Nowak 2020, pp. 389–390
195
196
197
Areskoug 1981, pp. 5–36
198
Hávamál, st. 72 (Bray 1908, pp. 80–81; Bellows 1923, p. 43); Andreeff 2012; Helmbrecht 2012, p. 89
55
is obviously much older.199 Other versions of the same place name are
Hunsrörskulle and Hunrörs höjderne.200 The name can be interpreted as
meaning “the Hunnic cairn” or “the hills with the Hunnic grave”.
However, no cairn or grave has been found in that locality. It is widely
known that many burial mounds and stone monuments in Scandinavia,
particularly in Scania, have been leveled or destroyed over the centuries
by locals.201 A drawing of the Vätteryd grave field made in 1822
depicted approximately 600 erected stones, but a century later, the
amount had been reduced by c. 40%.202 It is plausible that the same
thing happened at the locality known as Hunnrörsbackarna. This notion
is supported by the fact that a nearby locality known as Dödekullarna,
which means “the mounds/hills of the dead”, neither contains any burial
mounds or graves.203
In the book Iron Age Myth and Materiality: An Archaeology of
Scandinavia AD 400–1000, Hedeager mentions a few Scandinavian
hun- place names such as Húnar, Húnaherred, Hunna by and Hunneberg
which she argues derive from the Huns.204 As evidence, Hedeager refers
to Professor Knut Liestøl’s article in Historisk Tidsskrift from 1924.205
The idea of Hunnic presence in Scandinavia is nowadays widely
rejected by academia, especially by Swedish academics. The fact that
most academics will not even entertain the idea leads them to not
include it as a possible explanation when analyzing the etymology of
these place names. The ethnonym Hun is of uncertain origin, but
Professor Robert Werner suggests that it may derive from Tocharian
“ku” which means dog.206 Werner points out that the Xiōngnú were
referred to as dogs by the Chinese.207 Werner’s hypothesis is plausible
in my opinion. However, I would suggest Tocharian “kuñiye” instead
199
L1990:2130 (KMR)
200
Areskoug 1981, p. 34
201
Sjöborg 1815, pp. 117–118; Fabech et al. 2017, pp. 77–105; Lindström 2022, pp. 194–195
202
Sjöborg 1822, p. 105; Fabech et al. 2017, p. 87
203
L1990:2012 (KMR)
204
205
Liestøl 1924, pp. 53–67
206
Werner 1967, p. 555; White 1991, pp. 27, 125; Mallory & Adams 1997, p. 168; Douglas 1999, p. 179
207
Werner 1967, p. 555
56
of “ku”, the former being an adjectival derivative of the latter.208
Golden, however, objects to this view.209 Many hun- place names in
Scandinavia seem to derive from “hund” which means dog/hound.210
One such example is Hunnestad in Halland. The name was first recorded
in 1461 as Hwndestade and the hun- prefix is believed to derive from
the genitive plural form of “hund”.211 The suffix -stad means stead or
place and it started being used during the Roman Iron Age.212 Similar
names are Hunnestad in Scania, Hunnerstad in Småland and Hunnestäde
on the island of Gotland. Another example is Hunneberg in
Västergötland.213 Professor Karl Gustav Ljunggren argues that
Hunnestad and other hun- place names derive from the Huns.214
On the island of Gotland, one can find place names such as
Hunninge, Hunnstäde and Atlingbo. Hunninge contains the suffix -inge
which may designate a group of people and the name could be
interpreted as meaning the Huns or the dwelling place of the Huns.215
The -ing suffix started being used during the Roman Iron Age. 216 One
of the image stones from Hunninge, dated to the turn of the 8th century
CE, presumably depicts scenes from the poem Atlakviða.217 Another
image stone from Ire near Hunnstäde, dated to the 5th–7th century CE,
depicts the same symbols (whirl and rosettes) found on the ritually
deposited horse tack from central Scania.218 Yet another image stone
from Tängelgårde, dated to the turn of the 8th century CE, depicts a rider
holding a shield with the same whirl depicted on the pelta-shaped
pendant from Fulltofta.219 The rider holding the shield might be Attila.
Atlingbo was first recorded in the mid-14th century CE.220 The first
208
Douglas 1999, p. 182
209
Peter Golden 2021, personal communication, 13 December
210
Zoëga 1910, p. 215; Hellquist 1922, p. 246; Areskoug 1981, p. 5–36; Kroonen 2013, p. 256
211
Hellquist 1922, p. 247; Ståhl 1979, pp. 15–16; Wahlberg 2016, p. 139
212
Wahlberg 2016, pp. 299–300
213
Wahlberg 2003, p. 136; Wahlberg 2016, p. 139
214
Ljunggren 1959, pp. 1053–1112; Ståhl 1979, pp. 15–16
215
Wahlberg 2016, pp. 155–156
216
Wahlberg 2016, p. 155
217
GF C9286; Nylén & Lamm 2003, p. 99; Guðmundsdóttir 2012, p. 1038, fig. 9
218
GF C8563:136; Nylén & Lamm 2003, p. 172; Dal 2017, fig. 14; Näsman 2017a, figs. 12, 17
219
SHM 4373, FID: 108186; Nylén & Lamm 2003, pp. 67, 190; Näsman 2017a, fig. 17
220
57
segment of the name is thought to mean the descendants of Attila while
the suffix -bo means area or district.221 It should be noted that Atlingbo
is located within close proximity to Roma, the place name mentioned in
the legend from Virestad parish.222 Similar place names to Atlingbo are
Attlered in Västergötland and Attlingstorp in Närke. There are several
Q-L527 samples from Gotland registered at FamilyTreeDNA but not a
single one from the neighboring island of Öland.223 Öland has only one
hun-/hund- place name, namely Hunderum, also known as Hunerum,
located in Böda parish at the northern tip of the island.224 A spiral-
shaped gold trinket and a solidi minted by the Roman emperor Marcian,
thus dated to c. 450–457 CE, have been found in Hunderum.225 A pelta-
shaped pendant has been found in the ruins of Sandby Borg, an Iron Age
fortress located on the southern part of the island.226 The fortress was
sacked in the late 5th century CE and all the men and boys inside the
fortress were killed.227 What may potentially be a ritually slaughtered
dog was found among the human remains in Sandby Borg.228 The
scarceness of hun- place names and Q-L527 on the island might be
connected to what happened at Sandby Borg. The fact that the
inhabitants of Sandby Borg had close ties to the Roman empire may
have caused the attack.229
Cynocephalic myths
Myths about dog kings can be found in various Old Norse
230
texts. According to chapter 12 in Hákonar saga góða, a king named
Eysteinn conquered Eynafylke och Sparbyggafylke in Trøndelag and
221
222
1626), Image ID: C0112390_00351; Hyltén-Cavallius 1850, pp. XXXII–XXXIII
223
224
Fallgren 2006, pp. 46–48
225
SHM 16364; SHM 4370; Fallgren 2006, pp. 46–48; Herschend 1980, pp. 143, 163, 257
226
Gunnarsson et al. 2016, pp. 42, 48–49, fig. 35
227
Gunnarsson et al. 2016, pp. 58–60
228
Gunnarsson et al. 2016, pp. 59, 86, fig. 73
229
Werner 1949, pp. 263–265, 270; Fischer 2017, pp. 313–327; Lindström 2022, pp. 371–385; Harrison
2022, pp. 189–191
230
Olrik 1901, p. 16
58
appointed a subordinate dog king whose seat was located in Inderøy.231
Q-L527 is uncommon in Norway, especially further north, but common
in the area centered around Inderøy.232 In Chronicon Lethrense, the plot
takes place in Jutland and the dog king is appointed by king Adils.233
The appointed dog king is named Rakke which means whelp or dog.234
When Rakke is killed, Adils appoints a new subordinate king whom the
author connects with the island of Læsø, east of Vendsyssel.235 Annales
Ryenses further connects the second subordinate king with Lusehøj near
Viborg, located just south of the Limfjord.236 In Jutland, Q-L527 have
so far only been found in the area around the western inlet of the
Limfjord where one can also find the place name Rakke by.237
Hundborg is located nearby, first recorded in 1231 as Hunbiærg, and in
1367 as Hwndburgh.238 Gudmund Schütte, PhD, argues for a connection
between Hundborg and Rakke by and suggests that the prefix of both
place names refer to dogs.239 Another Rakkeby is located in Vendsyssel,
north of the Limfjord. In stanza 4 in Atlamál in grœnlenzku one can read
that Attila’s men traveled on the Limfjord.240 There are just a few place
names in Scandinavia that contain the rakke- prefix. Aside from the two
rakke- place names in northern Jutland, there is also Rackeby and
Rackeryd in Västergötland as well as Rakkestad in Østfold. One Q-L527
sample is from Rackeby in Västergötland.241 The place name Hunsala
is located nearby. Rackeryd in Västergötland is located near Vännebo
where a ceremonial horse bridle with a pelta-shaped pendant (fig. 12)
has been found. The archaeological finds from Vännebo belong to the
Sösdala horizon and have been dated to the first half of the 5th century
231
Hákonar saga góða, ch. 12 (Finlay & Faulkes 2016, pp. 96–97)
232
233
Chronicon Lethrense (Olrik 1901, p. 16)
234
Chronicon Lethrense (Olrik 1901, p. 16); Zoëga 1910, p. 328; Hellquist 1922, p. 619; de Vries 1977, p.
432; Kroonen 2013, p. 404
235
Chronicon Lethrense (Olrik 1901, p. 16)
236
Annales Ryenses (Olrik 1901, pp. 16–19)
237
238
Sortfeldt 1922, pp. 391–409
239
Sortfeldt 1922, pp. 391–409
240
Atlamál in grœnlenzku, st. 4 (Bugge 1867, p. 292); Atlamál in grœnlenzku, st. 4 (Bellows 1923, p. 501)
241
59
CE.242 Another Q-L527 sample is from Rakkestad in Østfold.243 It is
possible that the rakke- place names and the myths about dog kings
reflect an initial dispersal event by Q-L527 during the 5th century CE
or it may reflect a later second dispersal event during the 6th or the 7th
century CE. Some Q-L527 samples found in these areas may also be
due to much later internal migrations within Scandinavia.
The Wulfings and the Hundings mentioned in historical texts
from northern Europe may reflect Hunnic, or at least steppe nomadic,
presence in northern Europe.244 The Hundings are mentioned two times
in Widsið, one time in line 23 as living in northern Europe, and a second
time in line 81 as living in a distant land.245 This suggests that the
Hundings originally lived in one of these two places and later migrated
to the other. In Myths of the Dog-Man, Professor David White compares
cynocephalic myths from Europe, India and China and is able to
convincingly narrow down the place of origin to Inner Asia.246 Many of
these myths either equate these Cynocephali (dog-men) with the
Xiōngnú, the Huna and/or the Huns or locate them within close
proximity to these groups.247 Chinese sources mention two different
ethnogeneses of the Xiōngnú. The first version is found in The History
of the Northern Dynasties and The Book of Wei that both tell of a
Xiōngnú father who built a tower in the north with the aim to present
his two daughters to Tengri.248 The story goes on to tell that a wolf
prowled at the base of the tower one night. When the younger daughter
heard the wolf howling, she thought the wolf was sent by Tengri and,
therefore, chose to become his wife. The wolf begat a son who became
the progenitor of a nation.249 The second version is found in Records of
the Grand Historian and Seeking the Obscure in the Records. According
to the former source, the ruling clan of the Xiōngnú were descendants
242
Nordqvist, 2017, p. 248
243
244
Widsið, lns. 23, 29 (Chambers 1912, pp. 195, 197); Beowulf, lns. 459–472 (Heaney 2001, pp. 32–33)
245
Widsið, lns. 23, 81 (Chambers 1912, pp. 195, 214)
246
White 1991, pp. 115, 124, 185
247
White 1991, pp. 59–60, 114–139
248
White 1991, pp. 136–137; Kim 2013, p. 117
249
White 1991, pp. 136–137; Kim 2013, p. 117
60
of Yǔ the Great, the first ruler of the Xià dynasty, while the latter source
states that when the last Xià ruler Jié was dethroned by the Shāng, his
son Xūnyù married his father’s concubines and fled north where his
descendants became the Xiōngnú.250 I would argue that these two
versions tell the same story. The two daughters in the tower are
reminiscent of two daughters given to Jié as concubines by a subordinate
king.251 It is told that Jié let these two sisters live in a tower.252 Seeking
the Obscure in the Records states that the Xiōngnú were known as
Xūnyù during the Shāng dynasty while Records of the Grand Historian
states that Hūnyù and Xiǎnyǔn were ethnonyms connected to the
Xiōngnú.253 It should be noted that the first Chinese character used to
write both Xūnyù and Xiǎnyǔn contain the dog radical “quǎnbù”, a
graphical component representing a dog, and Xiǎnyǔn literally means
“long-snouted dog”. With this in mind, I would suggest that the wolf
mentioned in the first version might be a reference to Xūnyù. A similar
story is also found in Skokloster 115/116 where the Hunnic nobleman
Rodolf approaches Ercha and her sister who live in a tower.254 In the
end, Attila weds Ercha and the nobleman Rodolf weds her younger
sister.255 It should be noted that the Germanic name Rodolf means
“renowned wolf”.256 White shows that many of the cynocephalic myths
locate the Cynocephali as living adjacent to the Amazons or Amazon-
like women.257 The Cynocephali are often described as savage, unclean
and subhuman in these myths. I believe a demystified version of the
same story is retold by Jordanes who refers to old traditions that describe
the Huns as the offspring of the union between a group of self-governing
women, the Haliurunnae, and unclean spirits, the latter “scarcely
human”.258 If this hypothesis is correct, we are able to fuse many of the
250
Shǐjì, vol. 110; Shǐjì Suǒyǐn, vol. 25
251
Nivison 2009, p. 140
252
Nivison 2009, p. 140
253
Shǐjì, vol. 110; Shǐjì Suǒyǐn, vol. 25; Goldin 2011, p. 237
254
Skokloster 115/116, chs. 44, 50 (Hyltén-Cavallius 1850, pp. 35–36, 39)
255
Skokloster 115/116, ch. 54 (Hyltén-Cavallius 1850, pp. 40–41)
256
Schütte 1933, p. 348
257
White 1991, pp. 53–55, 58–60, 114–139, 185–187
258
De origine actibusque Getarum, ch. 24 secs. 121–122 (Mierow 1908, pp. 38–39)
61
myths connected to the Xiōngnú, the Huna and the Huns into a single
myth that may have been a unifying founding myth among the Hunnic
tribes. It has been argued that words referring to wolves and dogs were
used as clan names and anthroponyms by both Turkic- and Mongolic-
speaking groups.259 It should be noted that lupine and canine myths
existed among various cultures that spoke Indo-European languages
already during the Bronze Age.260 It is possible that the self-
identification with wolves and dogs was transmitted from the latter to
the former through intermixing or these traditions may have developed
independently from one another.261 A third option is that they originate
from an earlier common source.
Professor James McMahon argues that the author of the Old
Norse poem Atlakviða engages in wordplay with the intent to assign
Attila and the Huns lupine and canine traits.262 This underlying theme is
introduced in stanza 8 where Guðrún sends a gold ring with a wolf hair
wound around it, all wrapped in wolf fur, to her brother Gunnar.263
Guðrún’s intention is that the gift should function as a warning of
Attila’s bad intent. The gift can be interpreted in two ways, either as a
reference to Attila, or as a reference to the lost treasure of the Niflungr
(Nibelungs). McMahon argues that the wolf referred to in line 1 in
stanza 11, who is said to be the future ruler of the Niflungr’s treasure,
should be understood as a reference to Attila rather than a reference to
wolves in the wilderness.264 I would argue that the author probably
intended this line to be read both ways and that the author used this
technique as a literary device to communicate an underlying theme. The
most convincing evidence of this underlying theme is found in lines 5–
8 in stanza 11 where the author describes how bears fight a pack of dogs
259
Golden 1980. pp. 131–132; Sinor 1990, pp. 288, 314, 406; White 1991, pp. 116, 123–124, 135–137;
Golden 2011, pp. 42–44, 109, 328–329, 367–370
260
Höfler 1934; White 1991, pp. 14–15, 27, 125; Mallory & Adams 1997, pp. 31, 541–542; Anthony &
Brown 2017, pp. 134–148; Kaliff & Østigård 2022, pp. 42–69
261
White 1991, pp. 15, 27–28, 125; Ishjamts 1994, p. 156; Golden 2011, pp. 25 (note 36), 38–49; Kroonen
2013, p. 256
262
McMahon 1991, p. 187
263
Atlakviða, st. 8 (Bugge 1867, pp. 283–284); McMahon 1991, pp. 188–189
264
Atlakviða, st. 11 ln. 1 (Bugge 1867, p. 284); McMahon 1991, pp. 187–188
62
which clearly is a metaphor for the battles fought between the Niflungr
and the Huns.265 This notion is further substantiated by the fact that the
author several times connects the Niflungr with bears and the Huns with
dogs.266 In line 4 in stanza 41, one can read “oc hvelpa leysti” which
translated to English means “and released the dogs”.267 This line is
generally thought to refer to the household dogs of Attila’s estate.268
McMahon instead argues that it is a reference to Attila’s two murdered
sons.269 Old Norse hvelpr is a cognate to modern English whelp and an
equivalent to Old Norse rakke.270 With the dog kings in mind, I would
argue that line 4 in stanza 41 contains multiple meanings, but mainly is
a reference to the subordinate kings who were released from their
servitude by the death of Attila. Simultaneously, it is also a reference to
Attila’s sons who were or would have become subordinate
chieftains/kings under him. This view is corroborated by lines 5–8 in
stanza 43 which states that Guðrún killed three kings of a nation,
referring to the murder of Attila and his sons.271 This notion is further
supported by lines 1–2 in stanza 42 in Guðrúnarkviða hin forna where
Attila says “hugda ec mer af hendi hvelpa losna” which translated to
English means “dogs I dreamed from my hand I released”.272 It is quite
clear that these lines, as well as the rest of stanza 42, refers to Attila’s
murdered sons. Professor Neil Hultin, just like McMahon, argues that
the author of Atlakviða uses words and phrases that have several layers
of meaning.273 Hultin points out the author’s frequent usage of words
that contain val- and argues that this prefix simultaneously connotes
both “dead/bloody” and “foreign”.274 I would argue that the former
connotation relates to the official narrative while the latter relates to the
265
Atlakviða, st. 11 lns. 5–8 (Bugge 1867, p. 284); McMahon 1991, pp. 189–190
266
McMahon 1991
267
Atlakviða, st. 41 ln. 4 (Bugge 1867, p. 290); McMahon 1991, pp. 189–190
268
Bellows 1923, pp. 497–498
269
McMahon 1991, pp. 192–193
270
Zoëga 1910, pp. 218, 328; Hellquist 1922, p. 619; de Vries 1977, pp. 271, 432; Kroonen 2013, p. 404
271
Atlakviða, st. 43 lns. 5–8 (Bugge 1867, p. 291); Atlakviða, st. 46 lns. 5–8 (Bellows 1923, pp. 497–498)
272
Guðrúnarkviða hin forna, st. 42 lns. 1–2 (Bugge 1867, p. 273); Guðrúnarkviða hin forna, st. 43 lns. 1–2
(Bellows 1923, p. 463)
273
Hultin 1974, p. 862
274
Hultin 1974, pp. 863–866
63
underlying theme that aims to defame the Huns. This is in line with other
Old Norse texts which generally portray Attila and the Huns in a
negative light.275 What sets Atlakviða apart from other Old Norse texts
is that the poem seems to contain esoteric knowledge not found in other
texts.276 One example is the connection made between the sons of Gjúki,
i.e. the Niflungr, and the Burgundians living along the middle Rhine.277
Another example is the connection made between the Huns and dogs.278
McMahon points out that stories were circulating in Italy during the
Early Middle Ages that stated that Attila’s father was a dog.279
The synergistic effect

The proposed migration routes presented in this book are based
on archaeological finds belonging to the Sösdala-Untersiebenbrunn
horizon and modern DNA samples belonging to Q-L527 and Q-YP789.
The Q-Y15684 sample from Donetsk Oblast points to a likely starting
point in southeastern Ukraine or southern Russia where they would have
migrated northwest to the area around Bar and Vinnytsia in western
Ukraine.280 There seems to have existed two main migration routes
further north from this area. The first route would have taken a northern
path, east of the river Vistula, that would have taken them first to Kačin,
and from there further north to the Baltic coast via Brudnice or
Hrodna.281 Archaeological finds from Volyn and Tumiany, the former
located southeast of Kačin and the latter located north of Brudnice and
Hrodna, point to the existence of a northern route.282 Further evidence
is a Hunnic arrowhead found in Cecele which is located between Kačin
and the northern localities.283 Two Q-L527 samples, one from Hrodna,
Belarus, the other from Lithuania, as well as several Q-YP789 samples
275
Uecker 1972, p. 63; McMahon 1991, p. 194
276
McMahon 1991, pp. 195–196
277
Atlakviða, sts. 18–19 (Bellows 1923, p. 489–490); Dronke 1969, p. 59; Harrison 2022, p. 199
278
McMahon 1991, pp. 195–196
279
McMahon 1991, pp. 187, 195–197
280
Fabech & Näsman 2017, figs. 1, 8
281
Woźniak 2013, p. 10; Näsman 2017b, fig. 11
282
Fabech & Näsman 2017, fig. 2; Näsman 2017a, p. 165
283
Rodzińska-Nowak 2020, fig. 9.18
64
from central Poland, is further evidence of this northern route.284 The
second route would have taken a northwestern path, west of the river
Vistula, that would have taken them first to the area around Jakuszowice
and Przemęczany, and from there further north to the Baltic coast.285
The archaeological finds from Świlcza, located southeast of
Jakuszowice, seem to indicate the existence of a northwestern route.286
The Q-L527 sample from Chodziez and several Q-YP789 samples from
central Poland as well as archaeological finds from Góra Birów,
Pyszków and Piwonice, all located between Jakuszowice and the
northern localities, are further evidence of this northwestern route,
perhaps with additional starting points.287 The area around Pruszcz
Gdański and Juszkowo near the Baltic coast likely corresponds to the
area around the lower Vistula where clashes occurred between the Goths
and the Huns according to Widsið. This notion is supported by the fact
that the archaeological finds from Juszkowo, such as a spatha sword of
Asian type, likely belong to a Hunnic context.288 Both archeological
sites are dated to the first half of the 5th century CE, and just like the
finds from Jakuszowice, predates the reign of Attila.289 Once the bearers
of Q-L527 and R-Y38432 arrived at the southern Baltic coast, some
would have crossed the Baltic Sea to Scania while others would have
taken a northwestern route via Jutland. The presence of R-Y38432 in
Sweden is convincing evidence that the Huns made it to Scandinavia.
The distribution of Q-L527 and its derivative subclades in
Scandinavia and archeological finds attributed to the Sösdala horizon
indicate at least two entry points, a southern route by Q-BY2014 via
Scania, and a northwestern route by Q-Y15684 via Jutland. The fact that
R-Y38432 is exclusively found in Sweden suggests that its bearers
arrived in Scandinavia via the southern route. The Sösdala horizon is
284
Ćwiklak, 2022; Högström 2022a; Högström 2022b
285
Mączyńska 2017, p. 113; Näsman 2017b, p. 113; Bitner-Wróblewska et al. 2020, figs. 6.4, 6.5; Kontny
2020, fig. 20.4; Machajewski & Schuster 2020, p. 355–356, map 8.3–8.4
286
Mączyńska 2020, p. 453, fig. 12.2; Rodzińska-Nowak 2020, p. 372
287
Mączyńska 2020, p. 466, figs. 12.3–12.5; Miłek 2020, fig. 18.8, Machajewski & Schuster 2020, pp.
357–358, map 8.3–8.4
288
Kontny 2020, fig. 20.4; Machajewski & Schuster 2020, pp. 357–358
289
Machajewski & Schuster 2020, pp. 357–358; Pędziszewska et al. 2020, p. 193
65
concentrated to southwestern Scandinavia, namely Scania,
Västergötland, Jutland and Zealand as well as south- and southeastern
Norway.290 When studying figure 1 from Margaryan et al. 2020, one can
see that, aside from Zealand, barely any of the c. 300 analyzed aDNA
samples were from these regions.291 The meager result regarding
Q-L527, therefore, comes as no surprise. Furthermore, Zealand does not
belong to the core region of the Sösdala horizon and there is only one
Q-L527 sample registered at FamilyTreeDNA from the island.292
Q-L527 is mainly found in Skånelandene, i.e. the Scanian lands, and
Götaland, and to a lesser extent in Svealand. Q-L527 is also present in
northern Jutland, southeastern Norway and Trøndelag. The latter three
have already been explained with the help of myths about dog kings and
rakke- place names. The presence of Q-L527 in eastern Svealand and
southeastern Norrland seems to mainly derive from later internal
migrations within Sweden but the archaeological finds from Högom
may hint otherwise.293 The original core region of Q-L527 was probably
restricted to the southwestern portion of what is now Sweden.
Q-BY2014 and its derivative subclades are mainly found south
of the river Göta älv in Sweden and it is likely that this branch arrived
in southern Scandinavia either via the Danish islands or the Baltic Sea.
The low frequency of Q-L527 in Denmark favors the latter hypothesis.
The major subclades downstream of Q-BY2014 are mainly found in
Scania and the neighboring provinces as well as in Västergötland.294
This points towards an initial dispersal event from Scania to the
neighboring provinces. The majority seems to have dispersed northwest
along the west coast into Halland and Västergötland while minor groups
seem to have dispersed northeast into Småland and Blekinge. This view
is corroborated by a local legend from Västergötland that tells of wars
fought between the Huns and local Geats and that the former arrived in
290
291
Margaryan et al. 2020, p. 391
292
293
Ramqvist 2017; Högström 2022a; Högström 2022b
294
66
Västergötland from the south.295 The explanation for this initial
dispersal event might be found in Skokloster 115/116 that describes
wars being fought between Swedes and Huns near vast forests. In
chapter 39 it is told that the Swedish king together with the king of
Zealand defeated the Huns who then retreated beyond a vast forest. As
previously mentioned, this forestland may refer to the forestland that
stretches the border between Scania and the provinces to the north. The
highest frequency of Q-L527 in Scandinavia is found in Halland in an
area centered around Hunneskogen.296 The place name Hunneskogen
can be interpreted as meaning “the Hunnic forest”. In Samlingar för
Nordens fornälskare, Professor Nils Henrik Sjöborg mentions two other
similar place names, Hunnskogen, also known as Hundskogen, on the
island of Adelsö in Lake Mälaren, and Hundskogen near Sösdala in
Scania.297 Legend has it that the place name Hunnskogen on the island
of Adelsö derives from the Huns.298 This place name may reflect the
journeys made by the Hunnic nobleman Rodolf and Attila’s nephew to
ask the Swedish king for his daughter’s hand in marriage. Hunnskogen
in Halland and Hundskogen near Sösdala are part of the same forestland
and the former may derive from the episode mentioned in chapter 39
while the latter may derive from the episode mentioned in chapter 41
where Rodolf instructs the Huns to settle and build houses in an area
next to a forest. Sjöborg mentions an erected stone located in
Hundskogen in Scania that is referred to as “King Racka’s grave”.299
Sjöborg also mentions a burial mound on the island of Adelsö that to
this day is referred to by the same name.300 Furthermore, there is an
erected stone in Rackeby, Västergötland, that to this day is referred to
as “King Racke’s stone”.301 Legend has it that “King Racke the dog” is
buried at this location.302 Sjöborg argues that there is a connection
295
Götlind 1926, pp. 138–140
296
297
Sjöborg 1830, p. 27
298
299
300
L2017:2056 (KMR); Sjöborg 1830, p. 27
301
L1961:2282 (KMR)
302
L1961:2282 (KMR)
67
between the Huns, the Rakke myths and hun-/hund- place names such
as Hunnestad and Hunneberg.303
Conclusion
A major obstacle when trying to map the spread and distribution
of Q-L527 and its derivative subclades is that some group members have
taken very detailed SNP tests such as Big Y-700 while others have taken
very simple STR-tests. One, therefore, poses the risk of misinterpreting
the gathered data. Another obstacle is that a large portion of those who
take Y-DNA tests never join any group projects. A third obstacle is that
genealogical DNA testing is much more common in northern Europe
compared to eastern Europe and other parts of the world. With all that
said, I would still argue that the gathered data so far point towards a
northward migration of Q-L527 from southeastern Europe to
Scandinavia during the first half of the 5th century CE. This in turn
correlates with the distribution of archaeological finds belonging to the
Sösdala horizon which seem to have spread in the same manner and
within the same time frame. The fact that these phenomena seem to be
connected to the northward migration of R-Y38432 and Q-YP789 as
well as the archaeological finds from Jakuszowice and Juszkowo
suggest that all these phenomena should be attributed to a Hunnic
context. Furthermore, the fact that the archaeological finds from
Sösdala, Fulltofta and Jakuszowice presumably belong to a princely
Hunnic context lends further weight to this argument. After reading the
preprint of this book, Kim commented: “I think personally that there is
a lot of circumstantial evidence that points to some kind of Hunnic
presence in Scandinavia”.304 A similar view was expressed by
Golden.305 My conclusion is the same: the evidence presented in this
book may draw criticism for being of a circumstantial nature, but when
structured into a coherent hypothesis, it creates a synergistic effect
303
Sjöborg 1815, p. 130; Sjöborg 1822, pp. 105–106; Sjöborg 1830, p. 27
304
Hyun Jin Kim 2020, personal communication, 11 August
305
68
which lends credence to the hypothesis regarding Hunnic presence in
Scandinavia.
69
Part 2: The womb of nations
Scania and the Scanian lands

For the readers to understand why a group of equestrian warriors would
choose to migrate north and settle in Scandinavia, one has to
contextualize it to make sense, which is what I aim to do in the second
part of the book. Few people know about Skånelandene, a historical
region located in southern Scandinavia. Skånelandene means the
Scanian lands. Skåne, known in English as Scania, is the heartland of
this region. Scania and Scandinavia have the same etymology, and both
derive from the Proto-Germanic compound *Skaðinaujō that should be
understood as “the dangerous land on the water”.306 The stem can be
reconstructed as *skaðan- which means danger or damage.307 The
second segment -aujō means land partially or entirely surrounded by
water.308 The name originally designated Scania or the Scanian lands
and much later came to designate the entire Scandinavian peninsula.309
The fact that later groups such as the Goths, the Langobards, the Anglo-
Saxons and the Sámi referred to their place of origin, alternatively the
entire world, by names that stem from *Skaðinaujō indicates that the
Proto-Germanic people referred to their homeland by this name.310 This
in turn suggests that the Proto-Germanic urheimat should be equated
with Scania or the Scanian lands. It is generally assumed that the first
segment of the compound *Skaðinaujō refers to the reefs outside the
coast of southwestern Scania that would have been dangerous to
seafarers even in ancient times.311 Though plausible, I think this
hypothesis is incorrect. I would argue that the first segment of
*Skaðinaujō instead refers to the fact that the Indo-Europeans would
306
Knut 2003, p. 1
307
Hellquist 1922, p. 767; Knut 2003, p. 1; Kroonen 2013, p. 441
308
Hellquist 1922, pp. 767–768; Knut 2003, pp. 1–2; Kroonen 2013, p. 41
309
Montelius 1905, pp. 69–70, 95; Schütte 1933, pp. 327–328; Knut 2003, p. 2
310
Historia langobardorum codicis gothani, ch. 2 ln. 17 (Waitz 1878, p. 8); Chronicon Æthelweardi, bk. 3
ch. 3 (Giles 1906, p. 24); Historia Langobardorum, bk. 1 ch. 1 (Foulke 1907, pp. 2–3); De origine
actibusque Getarum, ch. 4 sec. 25 (Mierow 1908, pp. 7–8); Schütte 1933, pp. 327–328
311
Hellquist 1922, p. 767; Knut 2003, pp. 1–2
70
have viewed southern Scandinavia as a dangerous place.312 The
construction of defensive palisades and the usage of specialized war
arrowheads by various groups in southern Scandinavia during the Late
Neolithic is evidence of ongoing conflicts.313 Further evidence is the fact
that the Neolithic farmers in Scandinavia, unlike in other parts of
Europe, were largely wiped out by the incoming Indo-Europeans.314
Evidence can also be found in the Norse myths that tell of a war between
the incoming Æsir, i.e. the Indo-European pastoralists, and the native
Vanir which culminated in a peace settlement and subsequent
intermarriages between the two groups.315 Ynglinga saga states that a
power shift took place over time which shifted the power of authority
from the Æsir to the patrilineal descendants of Njǫrðr, i.e. the Vanir.316
These myths are in turn corroborated by archaeogenetics, or more
precisely, by the proliferation of Y-DNA haplogroup I1 (I-M253) in
Scandinavia from c. 1800 BCE and onwards.317 I would argue that the
mythical Æsir-Vanir War reflects a half-remembered conflict that dates
back to the Late Neolithic or the Early Bronze Age. The MRCA of
I-M253 lived c. 2850–2600 BCE (tbl. 4).318 The fact that the TMRCA
of I-M253 is roughly contemporaneous with the TMRCAs (tbl. 4) of
various Indo-European-derived R1a and R1b lineages present in
Scandinavia along with its rapid proliferation during the Nordic Bronze
Age indicate that this group of non-Indo-European men took part in the
demographic processes that shaped the Proto-Germanic ethnos.319 This
can be contrasted with the MRCAs of Q-L527 and Q-L804 who both
312
Lindström 2022, pp. 119–161
313
Malmer 2002; Shennan 2018, pp. 179–181; Iversen 2016, pp. 69–86; Egfjord et al. 2021, pp. 4, 12, 15–
16, fig. 1c; Lindström 2022, pp. 136–139, 153–154; Kristian Kristiansen 2022, personal communication,
14 April
314
Allentoft et al. 2022, p. 12
315
Gylfaginning, ch. 23 (Brodeur 1916, pp. 26–27); Skáldskaparmál, ch. 1 (Brodeur 1916, pp. 92–93);
Vǫluspá, sts. 21–25 (Bellows 1923, pp. 10–11); Dumézil 1973, p. 8; Davidson 1993, p. 72; Ynglinga saga,
ch. 4 (Finlay & Faulkes 2016, pp. 7–8)
316
Ynglinga saga, chs. 4, 9–10 (Finlay & Faulkes 2016, pp. 8–9, 13–15)
317
Allentoft et al. 2015, p. 170, SI: fig. 6a; Allentoft et al. 2022, pp. 10, 17
318
FamilyTreeDNA 2022a; YFull 2022
319
Allentoft et al. 2015, aDNA: RISE94 (R-PF6162), RISE98 (R-Z2265), RISE179 (I-M253); Malmström
et al. 2019, tbl.1, aDNA: ber1 (R-Y2395), oll009 (I-DF29); Kassian et al. 2021, figs. 1–2; Allentoft et al.
2022, aDNA: NEO52 (R1b-?); Göran Runfeldt 2022, personal communication, 26 January;
FamilyTreeDNA 2022a, FamilyTreeDNA 2022b; YFull 2022
71
lived towards the end of the 2nd millennium BCE (tbl. 1) which indicate
that these Y-DNA lineages did not participate in the pre-proto phase of
the Germanic ethnogenesis.320 This view is further substantiated by the
fact that not a single aDNA sample from Scandinavia have been shown
to belong to either of these subclades. It is likely that the MRCA of
I-M253 lived in Götaland as indicated by Allentoft et al. 2022 (preprint)
and other studies.321 The accumulated evidence suggests that the initial
core region of I-M253 equates to the mythical Vanaheimr, i.e. the realm
of the Vanir. The fact that -heimr in Vanaheimr refers to an entire region
while -garðr in Ásgarðr merely refers to a fortified stronghold suggests
that the Æsir referred to the entirety of their homeland by a different
name.322 This name was in all likelihood *Skaðinaujō as previously
argued. This in turn implies that the Æsir should be equated with the
Indo-European Battle Axe culture and their descendants, and that the
Proto-Germanic urheimat, therefore, equates to Scania, the core region
of this cultural horizon.323 It should be noted that the core region of
I-M253 borders the Scanian lands to the south.
The Nordic Bronze Age
In The Rise of Bronze Age Society: Travels, Transmissions and

Transformations, Professor Kristian Kristiansen and Professor Thomas
B. Larsson argue that Kivik in Scania was the center from where new
myths and iconography spread to the rest of southern Scandinavia
during the early phase of the Nordic Bronze Age.324 If my hypothesis
about Scania being the Proto-Germanic urheimat is correct, one would
expect the center of this new culture to emerge in the same region, and
320
Kassian et al. 2021, figs. 1–2; Kate Reed 2022, personal communication, 22 July
321
Rootsi et al. 2004; Karlsson et al. 2006; Lappalainen et al. 2008; Lappalainen et al. 2009; Günther et al.
2018, SI: figs. S6.1–S6.2, aDNA: SF11 (I-Z2699); Stolarek et al. 2019, pp. 8, 10, SD: tbl. S1, aDNA:
PCA0088–PCA0114; Allentoft et al. 2022, p. 17, SI 2: pp. 150–151, 154–155; aDNA: NEO220, NEO223,
NEO227–NEO228, NEO261; FamilyTreeDNA 2022b; YFull 2022
322
Vafþrúðnismál, st. 39 (Bugge 1867, p. 71); Vǫluspá, st. 24 (Bugge 1867, p. 5; Bray 1908, pp. 284–
285); Zoëga 1910, pp. 161, 192; Gylfaginning, ch. 23 (Brodeur 1916, pp. 36–38); Vafþrúðnismál, st. 38
(Bellows 1923, pp. 78–79); Vǫluspá, st. 23 (Bellows 1923, p. 11); Kroonen 2013, pp. 169, 201
323
Price 2015, pp. 163–170; Malmer 1975; Malmer 2002; Furholt 2014, fig. 16
324
Kristiansen & Larsson 2005, p. 198
72
that is exactly what seems to be the case.325 Kristiansen and Larsson date
the etchings on the pictorial slabs in the Bredarör cairn to the turn of the
16th century BCE which coincides with a more widespread utilization
of metals and a number of accompanying social and political changes.326
One such example is the proliferation of warrior burials containing
weapons, drinking equipment and horse-related objects.327 Fragments of
human bones found inside the Bredarör cairn have been dated to the
14th century BCE and onwards.328 The fact that these bone fragments
are found both inside and outside the stone cist, and that they belong to
several young individuals who lived several centuries apart, suggests
that these bone fragments are connected to later religious ceremonies
rather than the construction of the cairn.329 Kristiansen and Larsson
argue that the cairn was built as the final resting place for a powerful
chieftain.330 The authors further argue that Kivik was the center of a
maritime chiefly network and that other chieftains visited Kivik where
they were introduced to new myths and iconography.331 The fact that
the human remains of this presumed chieftain as well as his expected
grave goods have never been found may suggest that the Bredarör cairn
was instead built in honor of a culture hero or a mythical figure. This
notion is supported by the fact that the pictorial slabs seem to depict
myths reminiscent of much later Norse myths.
The etchings on the eight pictorial slabs that make up the sides
of the stone cist are made in an iconographic style and are reminiscent
of a comic strip.332 The numbering of the pictorial slabs used in this
book are the same as in the book by Kristiansen and Larsson and in
publications by other authors.333 Two groups are depicted on the lower
part of pictorial slab no. 8. An Ω-shaped symbol is depicted next to each
325
Kristiansen & Larsson 2005, pp. 198–199; Lindström 2022, pp. 205–213, 220
326
Montelius 1905, pp. 46–47; Kristiansen & Larsson 2005, pp. 196–199; Price 2015, p. 200
327
Treherne 1995; Price 2015, p. 202
328
Goldhahn 2005, p. 99, tbl. 1
329
Goldhahn 2005, fig. 2, tbl. 1
330
331
Kristiansen 2004; Kristiansen & Larsson 2005, p. 198
332
Montelius 1905, pp. 46–47
333
Kristiansen & Larsson 2005, fig. 80; Toreld & Andersson 2015, figs. 1, 5; Toreld & Andersson 2016,
fig. 1
73
group. A similar symbol can also be found on a rock art panel just south
of Kivik that has been dated to the 16th century BCE.334 Kristiansen and
Larsson argue that these Ω-shaped symbols should be understood as the
Greek letter Ω and refers to Professor Martin Bernal who dates this letter
to pre-1400 BCE.335 I would argue that the Ω-shaped symbols instead
derive from similar-looking symbols associated with fertility and
reproduction that originated in Mesopotamia and spread to Anatolia
during the Middle Bronze Age.336 The Ω-symbol symbolizes the uterus
as demonstrated by two Babylonian terracotta reliefs dated to c. 1800
BCE.337 With this in mind, I would argue that the two groups depicted
on the lower part of pictorial slab no. 8 are the Æsir and the Vanir and
that the Ω-shaped symbol next to each group refers to the fact that these
two groups intermarried and had offspring. This notion is supported by
the image on the upper left corner of the same pictorial slab which seems
to depict the female reproductive system inside a belly with two fetuses,
perhaps depicting the first Germanic twin rulers. Two thousand years
later, Jordanes refers to Scandza as “the womb of nations”. 338 This
concept may date back to the Nordic Bronze Age and may originally
have referred to Scania. Professor Klavs Randsborg as well as
Kristiansen and Larsson relate some of the iconography displayed on
the pictorial slabs to that of contemporary ruling elites in Anatolia.339
This notion is in turn supported by the Prologue and Gylfaginning in
Snorra Edda that states that the Æsir migrated from Anatolia via Thrace
to Scandinavia.340 However, both the Prologue in Snorra Edda and
Ynglinga Saga in Heimskringla seem to contain two interwoven
migration narratives consisting of an initial Proto-Germanic founding
myth superimposed by a much later Óðinic equivalent, a view shared by
334
335
Bernal 1987, p. 16; Kristiansen & Larsson 2005, p. 193
336
Keel 1989; Bouillon 2014
337
Keel 1989, pp. 59–60; Bouillon 2014, pp. 213–214
338
De origine actibusque Getarum, ch. 4 sec. 25 (Mierow 1908, p. 7)
339
Ransborg 1993; Kristiansen & Larsson 2005, pp. 190, 199–200; Kristiansen 2010b
340
Snorra Edda: Prologue, chs. 3–5 (Brodeur 1916, pp. 6–9); Gylfaginning, chs. 9, 54 (Brodeur 1916, pp.
21, 85)
74
Professor Oscar Montelius.341
On the lower part of pictorial slab no. 7, a group of S-shaped
figures are depicted standing in a row facing a humanoid figure. At the
center of pictorial slab no. 8, the same group of S-shaped figures are
depicted flanking what seems to be a depiction of the stone cist itself.342
One plausible interpretation is that the supposed stone cist depicted on
pictorial slab no. 8 contains the humanoid figure facing the S-shaped
figures depicted on pictorial slab no. 7. Nowadays, there are eight S-
shaped figures depicted on pictorial slabs no. 7 and no. 8 respectively.
The now visible images have been painted onto the stone slabs during
modern times and do not fully match the underlying etchings.343 A
drawing by Gustaf Fredrik Feldt from 1756 depicts nine S-shaped
figures on pictorial slab no. 8, an opinion shared by several
contemporary archaeologists.344 In chapter 8 in Skáldskaparmál, the god
Heimdallr is referred to as the son of nine mothers while in chapter 16
he is referred to as the son of eight mothers (waves) plus one. 345 In
chapter 27 in Gylfaginning, Heimdallr describes himself as the son of
nine sisters.346 It is plausible that these nine sisters are the same as the
nine daughters of Ægir since the names of both denote attributes of the
sea.347 With this in mind, I would argue that the S-shaped figures should
be understood as Heimdallr’s mothers as well as personifications of the
ocean waves.348 Furthermore, I would argue that the aforementioned
humanoid figure depicted on pictorial slab no. 7 is an early version of
Heimdallr and that his cult is connected to the proliferation of warrior
burials in southern Scandinavia starting from the 16th century BCE and
onwards. In stanza 1 in Vǫluspá, Heimdallr is referred to as the
progenitor of a certain subset of people referred to as the “helgar kindir”
341
Montelius 1905, p. 150; Gunnell 2017, pp. 118–122
342
Toreld & Andersson 2015, p. 23, figs. 1, 4–5; Toreld & Andersson 2016, fig. 1
343
Goldhahn 2015; Toreld & Andersson 2015; Toreld & Andersson 2016
344
Malmer 1981, fig. 6; Randsborg 1993, fig. 3; Kristiansen & Larsson 2005, fig. 80; Toreld & Andersson
2015, p. 23, figs. 1, 5; Toreld & Andersson 2016, fig. 1
345
Skáldskaparmál, chs. 8, 16 (Brodeur 1916, pp. 113, 115); Dumézil 1973, p. 135
346
Gylfaginning, ch. 27 (Brodeur 1916, p. 40)
347
Brodeur 1916, pp. 137, 219; Bellows 1923, p. 229; Dumézil 1973, pp. 132–133; Lindow 2002, p. 169
348
Dumézil 1973, p. 135
75
that translated to English means “the holy kindred”.349 Assistant
Professor Henry Adams Bellows argues that it is a reference to mankind
as a whole but this is contradicted by Rígsþula that describes the last
recorded generation of Heimdallr’s descendants as living in close
proximity to the Danes which means that not even the Danes belonged
to this elect group.350 The mentioning of the Danes as a neighboring
people lends credence to my argument regarding Heimdallr and Scania,
a view shared by Sjöborg who argues that Heimdallr was the first ruler
of the Scanian lands.351 Both Vǫluspá and Hyndluljóð emphasize that
the myths about Heimdallr come from a distant past.352 In Rígsþula,
Heimdallr is described as the creator of a stratified society ruled by a
warrior nobility which is exactly what seems to take place at the turn of
the 16th century BCE.353 I would argue that Rígsþula is an allegory of
the progression of aristocracy and kingship and that the generations
referred to in Rígsþula rather should be understood as time periods.
Furthermore, I would argue that the myths about Heimdallr date back to
the early phase of the Nordic Bronze Age.
The Proto-Germanic ethnogenesis
During the Migration Period, Germanic tribes roamed the

European continent, and several of these tribes, such as the Goths, the
Heruli and the Langobards, claimed Scandinavian origins, a claim
corroborated by archaeology and archaeogenetics.354 According to
Origo Gentis Langobardorum, the original homeland of the Langobards
was called Scadan or Scadanan and the name reportedly meant
349
Bray 1908, pp. 276–277; Cöllen 2017, p. 94
350
Vǫluspá, st. 1 (Bellows 1923, p. 3); Rígsþula, st. 49 (Bellows 1923, p. 216)
351
Sjöborg 1792, p. 12; Bexell 1818/1931, pp. 12–18; Karlsson 1988, p. 57
352
Vǫluspá, st. 1 (Bellows 1923, p. 3); Hyndluljóð, st. 37 (Bellows 1923, p. 229); Bellows 1923, p. 217;
de Vries 1955, p. 257; Cöllen 2017, p. 84–85
353
Rígsþula (Bellows 1923, pp. 201–216); Kristiansen & Larsson 2005, pp. 199, 317
354
Historia Langobardorum, bk. 1 ch. 1 (Foulke 1907, pp. 2–3); De origine actibusque Getarum, ch. 1 sec.
9, ch. 3 sec. 23, ch. 4 sec. 25 (Mierow 1908, pp. 3, 7–8); Kaliff 2001, pp. 15, 32–41, 62–63; Hedeager
2011, p. 214; Amorim et al. 2018, figs. 2–3; Stolarek et al. 2019, pp. 2, 8, 10, fig. 7; Rau 2020, p. 664;
Wołoszyn 2020, pp. 363–364; Harrison 2022, p. 188; Lindström 2022, pp. 320–323
76
“destruction”.355 Historia langobardorum codicis gothani refers to this
land as Scatenauge.356 In Historia Langobardorum, Paulus Diaconus
refers to the same land as Scadinavia and describes it as “not so much
placed in the sea as it is washed about by the sea waves which
encompass the land on account of the flatness of the shores”.357 It has
been argued that the original homeland of the Langobards was located
in Bardengau, Germany.358 However, it can hardly be said of Bardengau
that it is surrounded by sea waves.359 Furthermore, it can hardly be said
of Scandinavia that it is defined by flat shorelines. The flat landscape of
Scania and the overall flatness of its shorelines fit well with Paulus
Diaconus’ description. If Scania truly was the Proto-Germanic urheimat
and the Langobards originated in Scania, one would expect them to
retain a more original pronunciation of the name along with a deeper
knowledge regarding its meaning and that is exactly what seems to be
the case. Widsið mentions a Langobardic king named Sceafa.360 The
same king is mentioned in Chronicon Æthelweardi which states that the
Anglo-Saxon king Æthelwulf was a patrilineal descendant of Sceaf who
arrived by boat to Scani as a young boy where he later was made king.361
The fact that Sceaf allegedly preceded Woden (Óðinn), Geat and Sceldi
(Skjǫldr) along with the fact that Sceaf lived before the Langobards left
their native homeland suggest that Sceaf did not live during the
Migration Period but rather in a distant past.362 A somewhat similar
pedigree can also be found in the Prologue in Snorra Edda.363
Kristiansen and Larsson mention customs such as marriage alliances
and the exchange of foster sons, both used to forge alliances between
ruling elites.364 These types of alliances would have been necessary to
355
Origo Gentis Langobardorum, ch. 1 (Foulke 1907, p. 327)
356
Historia langobardorum codicis gothani, ch. 2 ln. 17 (Waitz 1878, p. 8); Foulke 1907, p. 3; Schütte
1933, pp. 144–145
357
Historia Langobardorum, bk. 1 ch. 2 (Foulke 1907, p. 3)
358
Foulke 1907, p. 4; Schütte 1933, p. 141; Harrison 2022, p. 189
359
Foulke 1907, p. 4
360
Widsið, ln. 32 (Chambers 1912, p. 200)
361
Chronicon Æthelweardi, bk. 3 ch. 3 (Giles 1906, p. 24)
362
363
Snorra Edda: Prologue, chs. 9–10 (Faulkes 1995, p. 3)
364
Kristiansen & Larsson 2005, pp. 39–41, 238
77
facilitate the trade network that stretched from Scania via the Carpathian
Basin to the Aegean Sea during the Bronze Age.365 Chronicon
Æthelweardi states that, although Sceaf was unknown to the people,
they received the boy and guarded him as their own.366 This sounds like
the custom of exchanging foster sons described by Kristiansen and
Larsson. Furthermore, the fact that Sceaf was unknown to the people of
Scani suggests that he came from a distant place. Kristiansen and
Larsson argue that “the power and sacredness of geographical distance
also mean the new ruling chiefs are often derived from external sources
... and the arrival of chiefly newcomers becomes a cosmological event
rather than an intrusion”.367 Such founding events are often
accompanied by new customs and new technologies.368 This notion is
supported by Chronicon Æthelweardi that states that the boy Sceaf was
“sheathed in arms”.369 The images on pictorial slab no. 1 in the Bredarör
cairn depicts a pointed conical hat positioned above a ship, the former
surrounded by weapons.370 The pointed conical hat is a symbol of
divinity/rulership with ties to Anatolia.371 With this in mind, I would
argue that the heraldic-like composition on pictorial slab no. 1 depicts
the origin story of Sceafa and that the myths about him reflect the arrival
of a new ruling elite at the onset of the Nordic Bronze Age. It is plausible
that this new elite are the same as the “helgar kindir” mentioned in
Rígsþula, and that these men claimed a connection to Heimdallr to
justify their right to rule.
According to Historia Langobardorum, the Langorbards were
originally known as the Winnili, but due to overpopulation, the people
were divided into three groups, and one group was made to seek new
abodes.372 The group that had to leave their native homeland would later
365
Kristiansen & Larsson 2005; Vandkilde 2014
366
367
368
Kristiansen & Larsson 2005; Kristiansen 2009, pp. 125–126; Vandkilde 2014
369
370
Toreld & Andersson 2015, figs. 1, 5
371
Kristiansen & Larsson 2005, pp. 101, 291, 313
372
Historia Langobardorum, bk. 1 chs. 1–2 (Foulke 1907, pp. 3–4); Westrin 1909, p. 973; Schütte 1933,
pp. 140–149
78
be known as the Langobards. This group, according to Historia
Langobardorum, was led by two brothers, Ibor and Aio, and their
mother, Gambara.373 The Langobardic founding myth along with other
Germanic myths about twin rulers are reminiscent of the divine twins
found in earlier Indo-European myths.374 What sets the Langobardic
founding myth apart is the additional female character who echoes the
female companion of the divine twins.375 This female companion was a
solar goddess associated with the dawn.376 I would argue that the images
depicted on pictorial slab no. 2 in the Bredarör cairn illustrates a sun
journey reminiscent of the sun journey hypothesized by Kristiansen and
Larsson.377 However, these images arguably also exhibit similarities
with the two cosmologies presented in chapters 10 and 11 in
Gylfaginning.378 The two circles depicted next to the ship on the lower
left corner of pictorial slab no. 2 may be interpreted as the rising sun and
moon.379 This notion is supported by two indistinct etchings on the
upper part of the slab that seem to depict a disc and semicircular disc.380
One rounded hat is depicted above the two circles while another rounded
hat is depicted further to the right.381 The two rounded hats are
reminiscent of the hats worn by the Stockhult figurines from Scania, and
these images as well as the Stockhult figurines should be understood as
references to the divine twins.382 The divine twins sometimes appear as
personifications of the morning- and evening-star and the positioning of
the two rounded hats likely reflect this aspect.383 Four creatures are
depicted moving in a diagonal path starting from the lower left corner
where one finds the two circles towards the ledge on the upper right
373
374
Gylfaginning, chs. 10–11 (Brodeur 1916, pp. 22–23); Mallory & Adams 1997, pp. 129–130, 231–232;
Kristiansen & Larsson 2005, pp. 297, 319; West 2007, pp. 187–191
375
Mallory & Adams 1997, pp. 129–130, 231–232; Jackson 2002
376
Mallory & Adams 1997, pp. 129–130, 231–232; Jackson 2002; Lindström 2022, p. 169
377
Kristiansen & Larsson 2005, fig. 139a; Toreld & Andersson 2016, fig. 2
378
Gylfaginning, chs. 10–11 (Brodeur 1916, pp. 22–23)
379
Toreld & Andersson 2016, fig. 2
380
381
382
Montelius 1905, fig. 58; Toreld & Andersson 2015, p. 24
383
Jackson 2002, p. 78; Kristiansen 2010a, p. 80
79
corner of the slab.384 The two supposed horses in front are being pursued
by two tailed creatures, likely progenitors of the wolves Skǫll and Hati
Hróðvitnisson mentioned in chapter 12 in Gylfaginning.385 This notion
is supported by the fact that one of the supposed wolves is about to catch
up with the rear horse which is reminiscent of how Skǫll is foretold to
catch up with Sól who drives the sun chariot.386 The two objects
depicted next to the two horses may be understood as the two bellows
mentioned in chapter 11 in Gylfaginning.387 All these components are
reminiscent of the cosmology presented in chapter 11 except for the fact
that only two horses seem to be depicted on the slab which is more in
line with the cosmology presented in the preceding chapter.388 The ship
may also be connected to the cosmology in chapter 10 since it likely
depicts Naglfari and should be understood as the ship in earlier Indo-
European myths that transports the sun, and likely also the moon,
through the underworld back to their initial starting point.389 This notion
is supported by the fact that the bow of the ship is facing the two
circles.390 The axes depicted above the ship likely serve as protection as
it travels through the underworld.391 The two lines stretching from the
ledge on the upper right corner of the slab down to the stern of the ship
form what could be described as a tunnel and may be interpreted as a
path to the underworld as hypothesized by Kristiansen.392 All the
aforementioned components combined creates a cosmology that is
cyclical and coherent. Traces of a similar cosmology, but less coherent,
can be found on rock art panels all over southern Scandinavia. 393 This
in turn supports the view that the iconography and myths originated in
Scania and from there spread to other parts of southern Scandinavia as
384
385
Gylfaginning, ch. 12 (Brodeur 1916, pp. 23–24)
386
Gylfaginning, ch. 12 (Brodeur 1916, pp. 23–24)
387
388
Gylfaginning, chs. 10–11 (Brodeur 1916, pp. 22–23)
389
Gylfaginning, chs. 10, 43, 51 (Brodeur 1916, pp. 22, 56, 77–81); Vǫluspá, st. 50 (Bellows 1923, p. 21);
Skáldskaparmál, ch. 75 (Faulkes 1995, p. 162); Jackson 2002; Kristiansen & Larsson 2005, fig. 139;
Kristiansen 2010a; Kristiansen 2013, p. 85
390
391
Kristiansen & Larsson 2005, fig. 139a; Kristiansen 2010a, p. 78
392
393
Kristiansen & Larsson 2005; Kristiansen 2009, p. 127; Kristiansen 2010a; Kristiansen 2013
80
argued by Kristiansen and Larsson.
The Langobards and the Heaðobards
In Beowulf, the author describes an ongoing feud between the

Heaðobards and the Danes, and the two groups are described as separate
tribes unlike later Scandinavian sources that describe the conflict as a
family feud.394 Widsið mentiones the Langobards, Heaðobards and the
Danes as three separate groups.395 A passage in Beowulf describes how
the Heaðobard king Ingeld (Ingjaldr) is incited by one of his thanes to
avenge the murder of his father Frōda (Frōði) by killing a Danish
retainer.396 The following lines describe how either Ingeld or a second
Danish retainer is able to escape due to his knowledge of the land.397
The wording of the phrase “con him land geare”, which translated to
English means “he knows the land altogether”, suggests that the
Heaðobards and the Danes lived on the same landmass.398 It is highly
unlikely that the fugitive would have been able to make it back home
alive if one of the groups lived south of the river Elbe and the other
group lived on the island of Zealand. However, if the event took place
in Scania, a region whose western part was controlled by the Danes and
whose eastern part, as previously argued, was controlled by the
Heaðobards, the successful escape becomes much more plausible. Line
47 in Widsið refers to the Heaðobards as “wicinga cynn” which
translated to English means “the Viking kindred”.399 Hedeager argues
that Widsið was composed in the 6th century CE.400 If Hedeager is
correct, it means that it is the first reference ever to Vikings, predating
the earliest attestation of Old Norse vikingr by several centuries.401 It
also means that the word was originally associated with the Heaðobards
394
Schütte 1933, p. 150; Beowulf, lns. 2020–2069 (Heaney 2000, pp. 139–141)
395
Widsið, lns. 28, 32, 45–49 (Chambers 1912, pp. 197, 200, 205)
396
Beowulf, lns. 2020–2069 (Heaney 2000, pp. 139–141)
397
Beowulf, lns. 2061–2062 (Hall 1892, p. 70; Heaney 2000, pp. 140–141)
398
Beowulf, ln. 2062 (Heaney 2000, pp. 140–141)
399
Widsið, ln. 47 (Chambers 1912, pp. 80, 205); Harrison 2022, pp. 200, 217
400
Hedeager 2011, pp. 184–186
401
Skeat 1891, p. 479; Faarlund 2004, p. 25
81
but later came to be associated with the Danes who had subdued and
subsumed the former, a view shared by Harrison.402 This opinion is
further substantiated by Snorri Sturluson who lists Vinnill, likely a
reference to the Winnili, as a sea-king.403 The fact that the Old Norse
word “vík” means bay suggests that at least some of the Heaðobards
lived along the shores of a bay.404 Scania has several old place names
that contain the word “vík” such as Kivik, Vik, Skälderviken and
Vikingstrand, and the last example literally means “the shore of the
Vikings”. It has been argued that the homeland of the Heaðobards was
located in Bardengau but it can hardly be said of Bardengau that it is
located next to any bay.405 Furthermore, the Vikings did not originate in
northern Germany. I would argue that the Heaðobards should be
understood as the Winnili who remained in Scania.406 The village
Ingelstad in southeastern Scania has given its name to the parish and the
hundred to which it belongs. The prefix Ingel- derives from the personal
name Ingjaldr (Ingeld).407 As previously mentioned, the suffix -stad has
been in use since the Roman Iron Age.408 The name of the hundred was
first recorded in the mid-1200s as Ingilstath.409 One can still find the
foundation of an ancient fortress of unknown age in the village. A land
surveying record from 1671 mentions an ancient stone mansion at the
site that is referred to as “King Ingel’s house”.410 Another land
surveying record from 1672 mentions a large erected stone surrounded
by an additional twenty erected stones and the stone structure is referred
to as “King Ingel’s grave”.411 One of the stones, likely the middle one,
can still be found at the site.412 The Heaðobard thane who incites Ingeld
to kill the Danish envoy is unnamed in Beowulf but referred to as
402
Harrison 2022, p. 205, 217
403
Schütte 1933, p. 141; Skáldskaparmál, ch. 74 (Faulkes 1995, p. 155)
404
Skeat 1891, p. 479; Faarlund 2004, p. 25
405
Skeat 1891, p. 479; Schütte 1933, p. 141; Faarlund 2004, p. 25; Harrison 2022, p. 201, 216–217
406
Harrison 2022, pp. 200–201
407
Wahlberg 2016, pp. 156, 401
408
Wahlberg 2016, pp. 299–300
409
Wahlberg 2016, pp. 156, 401
410
L1991:6580 (KMR)
411
L1991:6723 (KMR); Hansson 1989, p. 32
412
L1991:6723 (KMR)
82
Starkaðr in book 6 in Gesta Danorum.413 Professor Sophus Bugge
argues that the name Starkaðr means “the strong Heaðobard”.414
Historian Peter Frederik Suhm argues based on Saxo Grammaticus’
writings that Starkaðr died c. 460 CE in Scania.415 In book 6 in Gesta
Danorum, Saxo Grammaticus describes how Starkaðr fights a battle on
the plain of Roliung.416 In book 8, Saxo Grammaticus states that
Starkaðr was buried on the plain of Rølung, likely the same plain as
Roliung.417 Sjöborg as well as Åke Olhlmarks, PhD, locate Starkaðr’s
final resting place near Vegeholm in northwestern Scania.418 I would
propose an alternative hypothesis that instead locates Starkaðr’s final
resting place near Råå, also located in northwestern Scania, where one
can still find the place names Råljung and Starkodders hög, the latter
literally meaning “Starkaðr’s mound”.419 A local legend from Råå
recorded in the late 1660s states that a battle was fought at Raaeliung
(Råljung) and that Starkaðr is buried at the same location.420 It should
be noted that the place name Vikingstrand is located within close
proximity to Råljung and Starkodders hög. Additional legends about
Starkaðr from northwestern Scania have been recorded by Professor
Axel Olrik and Professor Arthur Stille.421 The structures attributed to
Ingeld and Starkaðr may have been incorrectly assigned to them. With
that said, the accumulated evidence points to Scania as the homeland of
Ingeld, Starkaðr and the Heaðobards, a view shared by Professor Dick
Harrison, although with some modification.422
Hunnic presence in Germania
Bardowiek, located near the German coast of the Baltic Sea, as
413
Gesta Danorum, bk. 6 (Elton & Powell 1894, pp. 244–259); Harrison 2022, p. 202–204
414
Westrin 1917, pp. 1014–1015
415
Suhm 1782; Sjöborg 1815, p. 119
416
Gesta Danorum, bk. 6 (Holder 1886, p. 196; Elton & Powell 1894, p. 240)
417
Gesta Danorum, bk. 8 (Holder 1886, p. 274; Elton & Powell 1894, p. 330)
418
Sjöborg 1815, pp. 119–120; Sjöborg 1830, pp. 183–184; Ohlmarks 1963, pp. 114, 123–124
419
L1988:2583 (KMR)
420
L1988:2583 (KMR)
421
Olrik 1910; Stille 1922
422
Harrison 2022, pp. 188–189, 201–203, 216–217, 223–227
83
well as Bardowick and Bardengau, located along the river Elbe, likely
reflect the southward migration of the Langobards from Scania.423
Furthermore, it is likely that Bardowiek equates to Scoringa mentioned
in Historia Langobardorum.424 The Langobards, led by Ibor and Aio,
migrated through several territories until they arrived in Vurgundaib.425
It is generally believed that the first segment Vurgund- refers to the
Burgundians.426 Professor Friedrich Bluhme (1868) argues that
Vurgundaib should be understood as the territory abandoned by the
Burgundians when they migrated southward to the middle Rhein.427
Bluhme refers to chapter 2 in Historia langobardorum codicis gothani
which states that the Langobards migrated to Patespruna (Paderborn)
where they reportedly lived for a long time.428 Chapter 2 further states
that the Langobards chose Agelmund as their first king while they lived
in Patespruna.429 This passage is almost identical to a passage in chapter
14 in Historia Langobardorum which states that the Langobards chose
Agelmund as their first king while they lived in Vurgundaib.430 With
this in mind, I would argue that Vurgundaib should be equated with
Paderborn in Westphalia. Chapter 16 in Historia Langobardorum states
that the Langobards embarked on yet another migration, and that they
crossed a river where they were attacked and defeated by the
Vulgares.431 It is generally believed that the Vulgares should be equated
with the Huns since this event must have taken place before the Bulgars
arrived in Europe.432 Chapter 16 further states that the Vulgares killed
Agelmund and carried away his only daughter.433 Chapter 17 mentions
423
Schütte 1933, pp. 111, 140–150
424
Historia Langobardorum, bk. 1 ch. 7 (Foulke 1907, p. 11); Schütte 1933, p. 145
425
Historia Langobardorum, bk. 1 ch. 13 (Waitz 1878, p. 54; Foulke 1907, pp. 21–23); Origo Gentis
Langobardorum, ch. 2 (Foulke 1907, p. 328); Schütte 1933, p. 145
426
Foulke 1907, pp. 22–23; Schütte 1933, p. 145
427
Foulke 1907, pp. 22–23
428
Historia langobardorum codicis gothani, ch. 2 lns. 18–19 (Waitz 1878, p. 8); Foulke 1907, pp. 22–23
429
Historia langobardorum codicis gothani, ch. 2 lns. 20–21 (Waitz 1878, p. 8)
430
Historia Langobardorum, bk. 1 ch. 14 (Foulke 1907, pp. 24–26)
431
Historia Langobardorum, bk. 1 ch. 16 (Waitz 1878, pp. 55–56; Foulke 1907, pp. 28–29)
432
Historia Langobardorum, bk. 1 ch. 16 (Foulke 1907, pp. 28–29); Schütte 1933, p. 145; Maenchen-
Helfen 1973, pp. 127–129, 432; Menghin 1985, p. 14; Golden 2011, pp. 70, 143
433
84
a sequential battle won by the Langobards.434 The notion of Hunnic
presence in western Germany is supported by the contemporary
chronicler Socrates Scholasticus who in his Historia Ecclesiastica tells
of a battle in 430 CE east of the river Rhine between the Huns and the
Burgundians.435 The Huns reportedly lost the battle due to the
unexpected death of Uptar (Octar) which caused confusion among their
ranks.436 Two other contemporary chronicles, Epitoma Chronicon by
Prosper Aquitanus and Chronica Gallica of 452, describe how the Huns
in an alliance with the Roman general Flavius Aetius destroyed the
Burgundian kingdom centered around Worms in 436–437 CE.437 It is
likely that Attila was present during these battles and that he had a
leading role in the destruction of the Burgundian kingdom in 437 CE.438
Some of the myths about Óðinn may reflect a mythologized
memory of Hunnic presence in northern Europe. In Ynglinga saga,
Snorri Sturluson describes how Óðinn migrates with his people from
Tyrkland, i.e. the land of the Turks, to Scandinavia where he allegedly
resettles with some of his people.439 The C-bracteates are arguably the
first concrete evidence of the Óðinn cult and the starting point of this
cultural phenomenon is dated to the mid-5th century CE.440 This
suggests that the northward migration undertaken by Óðinn must have
taken place prior to this date. The fact that the author mentions both
Rúmverjar, i.e. the Romans, and Turkic peoples suggest that this
migration event took place after the Huns arrived in Europe in the 370s
CE.441 According to Ynglinga saga, Óðinn first traveled from Tyrkland
to Garðaríki, i.e. Russia, and from there to Saxland where he made
himself king and some of his sons subordinate chieftains.442 Óðinn then
434
435
Historia Ecclesiastica, bk. 7 ch. 30 (Zenos 1890, pp. 169–170); Sinor 1990, p. 187
436
Historia Ecclesiastica, bk. 7 ch. 30 (Zenos 1890, pp. 169–170); Sinor 1990, p. 187
437
Epitoma Chronicon, 1322 (Mommsen 1892, p. 475); Chronica Gallica A. CCCCLII, 118 (Mommsen
1892, p. 660); Kim 2015, p. 80
438
Kim 2015, p. 80
439
Hedeager 2011, pp. 215; Ynglinga saga, ch. 5 (Finlay & Faulkes 2016, p. 8)
440
Rundkvist 2006, p. 348; Axboe 2007, pp. 71–76, 95–96; Oehrl 2020, p. 454
441
Schütte 1933, pp. 19–20; Golden 2011, pp. 24–33; Yunusbayev et al. 2015, pp. 2–3, 9–10; Ynglinga
saga, ch. 5 (Finlay & Faulkes 2016, p. 8); de Barros Damgaard et al. 2018b, p. 371
442
Hedeager 2011, pp. 215–216; Ynglinga saga, ch. 5 (Finlay & Faulkes 2016, p. 8)
85
traveled via Denmark to Sweden where he settled with some of his
people.443 It should be noted that the account in Ynglinga saga
corresponds exactly to the hypothesized migration route taken by the
bearers of both Q-L527 and R-Y38432 during the early 5th century CE.
The account in Ynglinga saga is corroborated by the Prologue in Snorra
Edda that states that Óðinn appointed one of his sons named Vegdeg
(Wecta) as king of East Saxland, i.e. Old Saxony, another son named
Beldeg (Baldr) as king of Westphalia and a third son named Sigi as king
of Frankland, i.e. the Benelux region and western Germany.444 The
passage in Snorra Edda is corroborated by various Anglo-Saxon royal
genealogies that claim patrilineal descent from Óðinn via either Wecta
or Beldeg.445 This may indicate that the ruling elite of these continental
Germanic tribes contained Hunnic elements, a view shared by Kim and
other scholars.446 A more direct link between the Huns and Óðinn is
found in Vǫlsunga saga where Óðinn is said to be the father of Sigi and
the grandfather of Rerir, both referred to as kings of Hunaland. 447 Sigi
and Rerir allegedly lived a few generations prior to the reign of Attila
which may imply that the Huns were present in northern Europe already
at the turn of the 5th century CE.448 The Germanic tribes who crossed
the river Rhine in 406 CE likely did so to escape the Huns.449 However,
it should be noted that Vǫlsunga saga, just like Didrikssagan, are
crossover narratives and, therefore, should not be taken literally even
though various passages may contain kernels of truth.450
As previously mentioned, Susa in Didrikssagan is often equated
with Soest in Westphalia.451 I would argue that the Huns likely
controlled both Soest and Susat at one point, and that different stories
about the Huns merged over time, but that Susa mainly refers to the
443
Hedeager 2011, pp. 215–216; Ynglinga saga, ch. 5 (Finlay & Faulkes 2016, pp. 8–9)
444
Snorra Edda: Prologue ch. 4 (Brodeur 1916, pp. 8–9); Schütte 1933, pp. 69–70, 72
445
Giles 1906, pp. 5, 11, 24, 43, 396, 413
446
Reynolds & Lopez 1946, pp. 45–53; Kim 2013; Green 2015
447
Zoëga 1910, p. 215; Vǫlsunga saga, ch. 1 (Finch 1965, pp. 1–3)
448
Vǫlsunga saga, ch. 1 (Finch 1965, pp. 1–3)
449
Schütte 1933, p. 6; Lebedynsky & Escher 2007, p. 233; Kim 2013, pp. 160–161; Zaroff 2017, p. 242
450
Harrison 2022, pp. 212–215
451
Escher & Lebedynsky 2007
86
latter since the former never was the capital. However, if Susa is to be
equated with Soest, it will only help to strengthen my hypothesis.
Q-BY103840, a subclade downstream of Q-Y16739, is present in
western and northwestern Germany, and the MRCA of Q-BY103840
lived c. 500 CE (fig. 21).452 It should be repeated that TMRCA dates are
not exact dates, just rough estimates. This is evidenced by the fact that
Reed’s dating of Q-BY103840 has fluctuated between the 5th and the
6th century CE over time. The German samples belong to two derivative
subclades, namely Q-BY69660 and Q-BY183347, and neither of these
subclades have been found in Scandinavia. One of the German samples
with terminal SNP Q-BY69660 is from Fülme, Westphalia, not far from
Soest.453 Fülme is also located within close proximity to Hunnebrock.
Hunnebrock was first recorded in the 1100s CE as Hundesbroc and in
the 1200s CE as both Hunnesbroke and Hundesbroke.454 Once again,
we see how the hun- prefix fluctuates between hun- and hund- over time.
The hun- prefix in Hunnebrock is recorded alternately with a hund-
prefix up to the 1800s which indicates that it derives from hund.455 The
German linguist Jens Kersting, PhD, agrees with this view, but just like
his Swedish counterparts, rejects any connection between hun- place
names and the Huns.456 Two samples from Belgium belong to Q-L527
and Q-L712 respectively but their terminal SNP is unknown.457 A
sample from the Netherlands analyzed by Karmin et al. 2015 was shown
to belong to Q-L527 but its terminal SNP is also unknown.458 It should
be noted that several neck rings with stamp ornaments in the Sösdala
style, dated to the 420s–430s CE, have been found in Velp, Gelderland,
a Dutch area bordering Westphalia.459 Q-BY103840 is also present in
southern Sweden but these samples from eastern Scania and Småland
452
453
454
Meineke 2011, p. 148
455
Meineke 2011, pp. 148–149
456
Areskoug 1981, pp. 5–36; Mathias Strandberg 2019, personal communication, 2 October; Jens Kersting
2021, personal communication, 24 March
457
Ćwiklak 2022; Högström 2022b; Rist Van de Weyer 2020, personal communication, 2 July
458
Karmin et al. 2015, SI: fig. S35, DNA: F12
459
Quast 2009; Quast 2017
87
have terminal SNP Q-FTB90009, a sister clade of the German
subclades.460 The fact that these Q-BY103840-derived subclades
diverged during the Migration Period indicate that they arrived in their
respective regions during that time. This in turn implies that some of the
bearers of Q-BY103840 must have migrated either from or to
Scandinavia during the Migration Period. One possible scenario is that
the distribution of Q-Y16739 and Q-BY103840 in continental Europe
is the result of migrations undertaken by the Heruli from and to
Scandinavia in the 6th century CE as reported by Procopius.461 Another
possibility is that its distribution reflects migrations by the Huns and
their allies in the 5th and 6th centuries CE as previously argued. It
should be noted that these two scenarios are not mutually exclusive. If
the latter scenario is correct, it is not far-fetched to think that some of
these men may have intermingled with the Angles, Saxons and Jutes to
the north. Bede states that there were Huns living in close proximity to
the Old Saxons and the Danes as late as the 7th century CE.462
Furthermore, the place name Hunnkamp in Holstein, just like
Hunnebrock, may derive from the Huns. Caitlin Green, PhD, argues that
there were Hunnic elements among the Germanic tribes who took part
in the Adventus Saxonum.463 It should be noted that some of the
Q-L527-derived subclades exclusively found in Britain diverged in the
3rd and the 4th centuries CE.464 This means that these lineages could
have arrived in Britain in conjunction with the Adventus Saxonum. The
finding of a strap junction in Britain that is nearly identical to a late 5th
century CE strap junction from Sjörup, central Scania, might be
evidence of an early arrival date.465 Yet another piece of circumstantial
evidence can be found in a 9th century CE travel account by Ibrâhîm
ibn Ya`qûb al-Tartushi that states that the inhabitants of Hedeby,
Schleswig, performed guttural throat singing, a cultural expression
460
461
History of the Wars III, bk. 6 ch. 15 secs. 1–36 (Dewing 1919, pp. 414–425)
462
Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum, bk. 5 ch. 9 (Sellar 1907, pp. 316–317)
463
Green 2015
464
Högström 2022a; Högström 2022b, DNA: Q-Y4929, Q-YP4568
465
Helgesson 2002, pp. 97, 99; Fabech et al. 2017, fig. 8; Fabech & Näsman 2017, fig. 3
88
mainly found in Khakassia, Altai, Tuva and Mongolia.466
Hunnic influence
Several legends found in Historia Langobardorum may be
attributed to Hunnic or at least steppe nomadic influence. One example
is found in chapter 11 in book 1 where the Langobards claim to have
cynocephalic warriors among their ranks.467 These cynocephalic
warriors are described as men with dog heads who consume human flesh
and blood.468 Several of the cynocephalic myths mentioned by White
tell of men with dog heads who consume human flesh.469 Similar myths
are also told about the Scythians and other steppe nomadic groups.470
Another similar story can be found in The Secret History of the Mongols
where Jamuqa refers to Temüjin’s four elite generals as dogs who
consume human flesh.471 Jamukha further describes how Temüjin
releases these four dogs from their iron chains.472 This passage is
reminiscent of passages in Atlakviða and Guðrúnarkviða hin forna that
describe how Attila consumes human flesh and how his dogs are set
free.473 As previously argued, the dogs referred to in these Old Norse
poems may be understood as subordinate kings or chieftains. The canine
terminology used in The Secret History of the Mongols might be a
cultural legacy from the Xiōngnú. Support for this view may be found
in The Book of Wei that tells of a kingdom west of the Pamir mountains
that in 457 CE was ruled by a king of Xiōngnú descent referred to as
Hūní.474 Professor Christopher P. Atwood argues that Hūní should be
understood as part of a title rather than a personal name.475 If Atwood is
466
Birkeland 1954, pp. 103–104; Levin & Edgerton 1999, pp. 80–87; Jones 2001, p. 177; Levin 2010;
Braucher 2016; Harrison 2022, p. 101
467
Historia Langobardorum, bk. 1 ch. 11 (Foulke 1907, pp. 19–20); White 1991, p. 61
468
Historia Langobardorum, bk. 1 ch. 11 (Foulke 1907, pp. 20); White 1991, p. 61
469
White 1991, pp. 34, 54–55, 58–61, 73, 118–119
470
White 1991, pp. 32–34, 60
471
The Secret History of the Mongols, ch. 7, p. 195 (de Rachewiltz 2015, p. 112)
472
The Secret History of the Mongols, ch. 7, p. 195 (de Rachewiltz 2015, p. 112)
473
Atlakviða (Bellows 1923, pp. 480–498); Guðrúnarkviða hin forna (Bellows 1923, pp. 450–464)
474
Wèishū, vol. 102; Atwood 2012, pp. 32–33; Kim 2013, p. 39
475
Atwood 2012, p. 37
89
correct, the dog kings in Old Norse sources as well as the Scanian legend
about Hunne Hoss may reflect the same type of Hunnic titles. This type
of title may have been awarded to both Huns and non-Hunnic allies who
had leading positions within the Hunnic administrative apparatus.
Another example of Hunnic influence is found in chapter 15 in book 1
which states that the Langobards were hindered by the Amazons from
crossing a certain river, but that Lamissio was able to defeat the
strongest of them, and by doing so, enabled the Langobards to safely
cross the river.476 Many of the cynocephalic myths mentioned by White
associate the Amazons or Amazon-like women with the Cynocephali,
and often describe them as living on opposite sides of a body of water,
usually a river.477 The fact that the name Lamissio/Lamicho means
“little barker” suggests that this legend is related to the cynocephalic
myths mentioned by White.478 Chapters 16–17 states that Lamissio
became king of the Langobards after Agelmund was killed by the
Vulgares, i.e. the Huns.479 As previously mentioned, Kim argues that
the Huns imposed a Hunnic ruling elite on several Germanic tribes.480
If correct, the legend about Lamissio may reflect a temporary transfer
of power to a “dog king” after the Langobards were defeated by the
Huns. This notion is supported by stanza 19 in Guðrúnarkviða hin forna
where Attila’s emissaries are referred to as Langbarz which according
to Bellows is a reference to the Langobards.481
Crossing the Baltic Sea

As previously mentioned, some Hunnic groups may have
crossed the sea once they arrived at the southern coast of the Baltic Sea.
This notion is supported by the fact that Q-Y16739 and the other
subclades downstream of Q-BY2014 are found at a high frequency in
476
477
White 1991, pp. 18, 34, 52–61, 73, 114–139, 183–190
478
Harris 2004
479
Historia Langobardorum, bk. 1 chs. 16–17 (Foulke 1907, pp. 28–30)
480
Kim 2015, pp. 109–128
481
Guðrúnarkviða hin forna, st. 19 (Bugge 1867, p. 269); Guðrúnarkviða hin forna, st. 20 (Bellows 1923,
pp. 456–457)
90
southern Sweden but not in Denmark. This stretch of the Baltic Sea
should not be understood as a barrier but rather as an integral part of a
larger trade network stretching from southern Scandinavia to
southeastern Europe and beyond.482 The shortest distance across the sea
is between Koszalin and southeastern Scania. The fact that solidi minted
by Valentinian I, Theodosius II, Valentinian III and Leo I have been
found in localities around Koszalin, namely Malechowo, Cisowo and
Karlino, suggest that this area was an important hub during the
Migration Period.483 If one takes the route that runs from Koszalin along
the west coast of the island of Bornholm, one arrives at the portion of
the Scanian coast that belongs to Ingelstad hundred. This is also where
one finds the largest stone ship in Scandinavia.484 A clay pot found
inside the stone ship contained burned human bones dated to 330–540
CE as well as a charred food crust dated to 540–650 CE.485 Charcoal
remains dated to 540–650 CE have been found underneath an
undisturbed boulder belonging to the stone structure.486 These facts
combined suggest that the stone ship was erected at the turn of the 7th
century CE and that the reason for doing so was at least partially to
commemorate an important individual who died in the mid-400s CE.487
In a Scanian context, grave fields with erected stones and stone ships
are exclusively found in central and eastern Scania except for a minor
incursion into northwestern Scania.488 This may suggest that western
and eastern Scania were populated by two different tribal groups.489 This
notion is supported by the fact that the ceramic material from the Roman
Iron Age differs between western and eastern Scania.490 Fabech et al.
2017 argue that central Scania was a fault line between two polities, one
centered around Uppåkra in the southwest, and another centered around
482
Fischer 2017, fig. 4
483
Tybulewicz 2011, figs. 8–9; Bursche et al. 2017, pp. 121, 123
484
Harisson 2022, p. 224
485
Strömberg 1997, pp. 51–71; Harisson 2022, p. 224
486
Strömberg 1997, pp. 51–71; Harisson 2022, p. 224
487
488
Helgesson 2002, pp. 75–77; Harisson 2022, p. 224
489
Harrison 2022, pp. 223–227
490
Stjernquist 1955; Näsman 1998; Helgesson 2002, pp. 135
91
the Kristianstad plain in the northeast.491 The authors further argue that
the area around Sösdala was oriented north- and eastwards towards the
Kristianstad plain.492 If correct, it may suggest that the warriors in
central Scania guarded this borderland on behalf of the polity in the east,
i.e. the Heaðobards. If it is correct that the Huns held a temporary sway
over the Langobards, it is likely that the latter would have informed the
former about Scania and the Heaðobards and perhaps also facilitated
contacts between the two groups. The Huns along with their allies may
have been invited to guard the border region in central Scania or to give
military support to the Heaðobards in the same way as Vortigern invited
the Saxons to Britain to do the same.493
Scedenigge and Scedelandum

The references to Scania and the Scanian lands in Beowulf are
ignored in English translations by Professor Seamus Heaney and
Professor John Lesslie Hall but are in part correctly translated in the
Swedish translation by Professor Bo Gräslund. The fact that neither
Heaney nor Hall make a direct translation of Scedenigge in line 1686
and Scedelandum in line 19 indicate that they are both unsure about the
exact meaning of these words.494 Heaney translates both Scedenigge and
Scedelandum as “the north” while Hall translates Scedenigge as “the
Scylding dominion” and Scedelandum as “the lands of the
Danemen”.495 Gräslund, on the other hand, translates both words as
Scania.496 I agree with Gräslund that Scedenigge (Sċedenīġ), just like
Scani in Chronicon Æthelweardi, refers to Scania, not Scandinavia.497
There is a direct cognate to Scedelandum in the Danish language,
namely Skånelandene, which means the Scanian lands. I would,
therefore, argue that Scedelandum should be understood as a reference
491
Fabech et al. 2017, pp. 92–96
492
Fabech et al. 2017, p. 93
493
Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum, bk. 1 ch. 14 (Sellar 1907, pp. 28–29); Veprauskas 2001
494
Beowulf, lns. 19, 1686 (Hall 1892, pp. 1, 58; Heaney 2001, pp. 2–3, 116–117)
495
Beowulf, lns. 19, 1686 (Hall 1892, pp. 1, 58; Heaney 2001, pp. 2–3, 116–117)
496
Beowulf, lns. 19, 1686 (Gräslund 2022, pp. 16, 85)
497
Chronicon Æthelweardi, bk. 3 ch. 3 (Giles 1906, p. 24); Svennung 1963
92
to the Scanian lands, not Scandinavia. If correct, it would mean that this
term is much older than what is generally believed. The mentioning of
Scedenigge and Scedelandum in Beowulf suggest that the Danish center
of power was located in Scania. It should be noted that neither Lejre nor
the island of Zealand are mentioned anywhere in the manuscript.498
Fabech and Jytte Ringtved, PhD, argue that the central part of Zealand
and the Scanian diagonal running from northwest to southeast should be
understood as borderlands, and that the lands in between, on both sides
of the Øresund strait, belonged to the same sociopolitical sphere.499 This
view is shared by Bertil Helgesson, PhD, who argues that the
aforementioned geographical area should be associated with the Danes
and that Uppåkra was their initial center of power.500 This notion is
corroborated by Widsið that mentions two Danish groups, the Denum
and the Sæ-Denum, the former likely referring to the Danes in western
Scania and the latter to the Danes on the island of Zealand.501 The
conflict described in Beowulf between the Danes and the Heaðobards,
and which ultimately leads to the burning of Heorot, is reminiscent of
what the archaeologists have found in Uppåkra.502 The fact that they
have found several burned down halls and buildings in Uppåkra from
the 4th to the 7th century CE as well as the remains of several murdered
individuals inside these buildings point to an ongoing conflict within
Scania during this specific time period.503 In lines 1970–2151 in
Beowulf, the namesake tells king Hygelac about his visit to Heorot.504
Lines 2910–2920 retells the death of Hygelac in Friesland, an event
dated to either the 510s or the 520s CE.505 Archeological excavations
have been undertaken in Lejre since the 1980s but the archaeologists
498
499
Fabech 1993; Fabech & Ringtved 1995; Helgesson 2002, pp. 165–167
500
Helgesson 2002, pp. 165–171; Harrison 2022, pp. 194–195
501
Widsið, lns. 28, 35 (Chambers 1912, pp. 197, 202)
502
Beowulf, lns. 80–85 (Heaney 2001, pp. 6–7; Gräslund 2022, pp. 18–19)
503
Larsson 2011, pp. 196–199; Larsson & Söderberg 2013, pp. 241–244; Larsson 2015a, pp. 150–151;
Larsson 2018, pp. 17–19; Harrison 2022, pp. 195–196
504
505
Montelius 1905, p. 89; Schück 1907, pp. 14, 29; Schütte 1933, pp. 168, 176, 311, 373; Newton 1994, p.
27; Carruthers 1998, p. 37; Beowulf, lns. 2910–2920 (Heaney 2001, pp. 196–197); Flierman 2017, p. 60;
Harrison 2022, pp. 210–211
93
have so far not found a burned down hall dated to the early 500s CE.506
Gräslund argues that it is incorrect to equate Heorot with Lejre since the
former was built by Hrōðgār (Hróarr) and the latter by his nephew
Hrólfr Kraki (Hroðulf).507 Instead, Gräslund argues that Heorot was
located in southeastern Zealand.508 However, no burned down hall from
the early 500s CE has been found in that area either.509 The fact that
Uppåkra is the only location in southern Scandinavia where
archaeologists have found a burned down hall from the early 500s CE
suggests that Uppåkra was the location of Heorot but that the center of
power was moved to Lejre by Hrólfr Kraki due to the conflicts that
plagued southern Scandinavia during this time period.510 Archaeologists
have found large amounts of antlers in Uppåkra, especially from red
deer, and these antlers were used to make combs and other tools.511 The
name Heorot means hart (stag) and may originate from this extensive
production of tools made of antlers.512 Another possible explanation, or
perhaps related to the previous one, is that the name as well as the
production of combs were connected to the worship of and self-
identification with Yngvi-Freyr who according to Gylfaginning used the
antler of a red deer to kill the giant Beli.513 This notion is further
supported by the fact that Beowulf refers to the Danes as “Ingwina”
which means “friends of Yngvi-Freyr” and to king Hrōðgār as “frēan
Ingwina” which means “the lord of the Ingwins”.514
The fact that the Danes are connected to Yngvi-Freyr, a god
mainly associated with the Swedes and other northern groups, may
suggest that the Danes originated further north.515 This view is
506
Christensen 1991; Christensen 2010; Christensen 2015; Gräslund 2018, pp. 139–140; Lotte Hedeager
2021, personal communication, 21 April
507
Gräslund 2018, pp. 139–140
508
Gräslund 2018, pp. 139–140
509
Christensen 2015, pp. 133–149; Lotte Hedeager 2021, personal communication, 18 April
510
Näsman 1998; Larsson 2011, pp. 196–199; Larsson & Söderberg 2013, pp. 241–244; Larsson 2015a,
pp. 150–151; Larsson 2018, pp. 17–19
511
Larsson 2018, pp. 20–21; Harrison 2022, pp. 86–87
512
513
Gylfaginning, ch. 37 (Brodeur 1916, p. 49); Orchard 1997, p. 16; Lindow 2002, p. 73
514
Beowulf, lns. 1044, 1319 (Hall 1892, pp. 36, 46; Heaney 2001, pp. 68–69, 92–93; Gräslund 2022, pp.
59, 71)
515
Gunnell 2017, pp. 119–120
94
supported by Jordanes who states that the Danes were of the same stock
as the Swedes and that they had driven out the Heruli from their native
land.516 Support for this claim may be found in line 6 in Beowulf that
partly reads “egsode Eorle”.517 Gräslund, correctly in my opinion,
translates this phrase as “struck the Heruli with terror”.518 The fact that
Eorle is capitalized by Heaney unlike the plural forms “eorlum” and
“eorla” indicates that Heaney is aware that Eorle most likely is a
reference to the Heruli.519 This view is shared by Helgesson who argues
that the Heruli were the original inhabitants of western Scania but that
they were expelled by the Danes who absorbed some of the commoners
while others fled to eastern Scania.520 Helgesson argues that the Danes
should be understood as a new incoming elite.521 A similar view is also
expressed by Harrison.522 The fact that Scyld, the progenitor of the
Danes, is described as having arrived from abroad lends further support
to this view.523 The leveling of a Late Neolithic burial mound in
Uppåkra sometime between the 3rd and the 5th century CE may signify
the arrival of a new ruling elite, i.e. the Danes.524 A cluster of
presumably archaic dan- place names, namely Dänninge,
Dänningelanda and Dänningeborg, located just north of Scania, may
point to their place of origin or bear witness of their southward
migration.525 The Heruli may also have lived on the Danish isles, and
their ethnonym, which is a cognate to earl, may reflect the remnants of
a westerly chiefly network that was set up during the Nordic Bronze
Age.526 If correct, it may help to explain the existence of several
seemingly independent Herulic groups.527 Decem Libri Historiarum
516
De origine actibusque Getarum, ch. 3 secs. 21–23 (Mierow 1908, pp. 6–7); Harrison 2022, pp. 182–185
517
Beowulf, ln. 6 (Heaney 2001, p. 2)
518
Beowulf, ln. 6 (Gräslund 2022, p. 15)
519
Beowulf, lns. 6, 791, 1281, 1866, 2142, 2190, 2248 (Heaney 2001, pp. 2–3, 52–53, 89–90, 126–127,
144–145, 148–149, 152–153)
520
Helgesson 2002, pp. 165–171
521
Helgesson 2002, pp. 165–171
522
Harrison 2022, pp. 119, 182–187, 193–197
523
524
Schück 1907, pp. 4–5, 7, 12; Larsson et al. 2015, pp. 148–152
525
Widsið, ln. 35 (Chambers 1912, p. 202): “Denum”; Beowulf ln. 2050 (Heaney 2001, p. 138): “Dene”
526
Harrison 2022, pp. 93–94, 183–185
527
Schück 1907, p. 7
95
refers to Hygelac as a Dane while later sources like Beowulf refer to him
as a Geat.528 The supposed kinship between the two groups is
corroborated by Chronicon Æthelweardi that refer to Geat as a
descendant of Sceldi (Skjǫldr).529 This notion is further substantiated by
the fact that Beowulf describes the two groups as close allies. The fact
that the Danes are not mentioned in writing prior to the 6th century CE
along with the fact that they allegedly expelled the Heruli suggests that
they were a somewhat newly formed group who were not native to
southern Scandinavia.530 This view is corroborated by Johannes Magnus
who in the 16th century recorded a song sung among the Swedish and
Geatish peasantry during the Middle Ages about the Geatish provenance
of the Danes.531 Sjöborg and other early scholars such as Suhm locate
the earliest traceable Danish homeland in Scania.532
I would argue that the passages in Beowulf about Grendel and
his mother should be understood as an allegory of the aforementioned
conflicts between the Huns and certain Scandinavian tribes as described
in Skokloster 115/116. In line 107 in Beowulf, Grendel is referred to as
a descendant of Cain, a Biblical character who in Genesis 4:20 is
described as the forefather of people who live in tents and have
livestock, i.e. nomadic people.533 It should be noted that the
Cynocephali were also believed to be descendants of Cain. 534 In the
passage in Beowulf where the namesake retells his fight against Grendel
to king Hygelac, Beowulf mentions Grendel’s “māga”, i.e. male
kinsmen, and describe them as his “lāðan cynnes”, i.e. his loathsome
kindred, which suggests that Grendel is not some fabled monster but
rather a literary representation of a despised group of people, i.e. the
Huns.535 In line 103 in Beowulf, Grendel is referred to as “mearc‐stapa”
528
Schück 1907, pp. 29, 31; Decem Libri Historiarum, bk. 3. ch. 3 (Thorpe 1974); Wood 1983; Beowulf,
lns. 1202, 1484 (Heaney 2000, pp. 84–85, 102–103)
529
530
Näsman 1998; Helgesson 2002
531
Westrin 1907, pp. 807–808; Historia de omnibus Gothorum Sueonumque regibus, bk. 1 ch. 8
(Johansson & Helander 2018, pp. 31–35)
532
Suhm 1782, pp. 23, 47, 105, 542; Sjöborg 1792, p. 12; Bexell 1818/1931, pp. 10, 14
533
Beowulf, ln. 107 (Hall 1892, p. 4; Heaney 2001, pp. 8–9; Gräslund 2022, p. 21)
534
De civitate Dei, bk. 16 ch. 8 (Matthews Sanford & McAllen Green, pp. 40–44); White 1991, p. 30
535
96
which may be understood as the one who lives and moves about in the
borderlands.536 In line 1348, both Grendel and his mother are referred
to by the aforementioned epithet.537 The author of Beowulf locates this
borderland a few miles north of Heorot and describes it as a partly
forested moorland defined by one or several lakes.538 This description
corresponds exactly to the geography of the borderland in central Scania
and its location in relation to Uppåkra. Lines 1368–1372 describes an
altercation within this borderland between a stag and a pack of dogs.539
I would argue that this passage is a metaphor for the conflict between
the Danes and the Huns. In line 82, Heorot is referred to as “hēah ond
horn-gēap” which translated to English means “lofty and horn-
crested”.540 However, gēap can also mean cunning. In line 1369 the
aforementioned stag is referred to as “heorot hornum trum” which
translated to English means “a hart with firm-set horns”.541 I would
argue that both these phrases should be understood as references to both
the Danes, i.e. the Ingwins (Ingwina), and Heorot. Lines 710–836
describes the fight between Beowulf and Grendel and how the former
sever the right arm from the body of the latter.542 This passage is
reminiscent of a local legend from Västergötland that tells of a battle
between the Huns and the local Geats that culminates with a Hunnic
king losing his right arm.543 The locals preserve the severed arm just
like Beowulf preserves the severed arm of Grendel. It should be noted
that Beowulf, unlike what Gräslund claims, most likely was from
Västergötland or southern Bohuslän.544 With this in mind, I would argue
536
Beowulf, ln. 103 (Hall 1892, p. 4; Heaney 2001, pp. 8–9; Gräslund 2022, p. 20)
537
538
539
540
541
Beowulf, ln. 1369 (Heaney 2001, pp. 94–95) In line 1369, “heorot” has a double meaning.
542
Beowulf, lns. 710–836, 2096–2100 (Heaney 2001, pp. 48–57, 142–143)
543
Götlind 1926, pp. 138–140
544
Beowulf lns. 222–223 (Heaney 2001, p. 16): “brim-clifu blīcan, beorgas stēape, sīde sǣ-næssas”,
Heaney 2001, p. 17 (trans.): “sunlit cliffs, sheer crags and looming headlands”, Högström 2022 (trans.):
“glistening sea cliffs, steep lofty hills, far-reaching headlands”. The only place in southern Scandinavia
that fits this description is arguably Kullaberg in northwestern Scania. This means that Schück (1907) was
correct when he located Beowulf’s home in Västergötland or southern Bohuslän. Harrison (2022, pp. 205–
206) is critical of Gräslund’s hypothesis. Problems with Gräslund’s hypothesis: There are no
hills/mountains in Stevns, just cliffs. There is no burned down hall in Stevns from the early 500s CE.
97
that these two stories likely have a common source of origin. If correct,
it would strengthen my argument that the passages about Grendel and
his mother should be understood as an allegory of the battles between
the Huns on one side and the Danes and Geats on the other. Local
legends from Halland connect the place names Hunnestad and Hunehög
to a petty king named Hune who allegedly fought a battle against
Götrik.545 The name Götrik can be interpreted as meaning “the realm of
the Geats” or “the ruler of the Geats”, and these legends, just like the
legends from Västergötland, may reflect distant memories of battles
fought between the Geats and the Huns.546
Conclusion
As a proponent of Euhemerism, I would argue that most legends
and myths contain at least a kernel of truth, some less, others more. One,
therefore, must use an interdisciplinary approach to be able to determine
what is potentially true or not. The skalds were likely expected to know
and to be able to recite the most well-known Germanic heroic legends.
To know these legends and have them recited would have signaled that
the king or chieftain belonged to the upper echelon of the Germanic
cultural sphere. The elevated role of certain Germanic heroic legends
resulted in them being combined into crossover narratives and reworked
to attain higher entertainment value and to fit local settings. Examples
of such fictional creations are the crossover aspects in Didrikssagan and
the murder of Attila and his sons in Atlakviða and Vǫlsunga saga.547
However, this does not mean that certain passages or aspects within
these narratives cannot be true. Furthermore, these legends were used as
templates onto which local legends or political messages could be
attached. This was done by weaving a secondary hidden narrative into
Hygelac was still alive when Beowulf visited Heorot (Heaney 2000, pp. 102–103) so this episode must
have taken place in the 510s or the 520s CE, not in the late 540s CE as Gräslund (2022, pp. 157–158) tries
to argue. Ġēatas in Beowulf refers to Geats from the mainland (Schück 1907; Hellquist 1922, pp. 218–
219), not Gutes from Gotland.
545
Bexell 1818/1931, pp. 441–442; Karlsson 1988, p. 58
546
Hellquist 1922, pp. 644–645
547
Hyltén-Cavallius 1850, pp. I–XLV; Finch 1965, pp. XVIII, XXXII
98
the original narrative by using allegories or wordplay as have been
previously demonstrated. This notion is corroborated by Snorri
Sturluson who advocates the usage of ambiguous words so as to
“compose with concealed meaning” and that a line can have a different
meaning “than the previous line seemed before to indicate”.548 To think
that the inconsistencies are mainly due to forgetfulness is a simplistic
and naive understanding of how these texts came to be. The Danes, as
well as the Geats and the Swedes, came out on the other side of the
Migration Period as winners and were, therefore, able to control the
narrative. Other groups such as the Heruli, the Heaðobards and the Huns
were less fortunate. My conclusion is, therefore, that the erasure of these
groups from Scandinavian history should be viewed in the light of who
controlled the narrative.
548
Skáldskaparmál, ch. 74 (Faulkes 1995, p. 155)
99
Part 3: The eagle and the first shaman
Reaching for the sky

Little is known about the religious beliefs and practices of the Huns in
Europe during the 4th and 5th centuries CE, but it is likely that they
practiced shamanism, and just like the Xiōngnú, worshiped Tengri.549
The latter notion is supported by the fact that Tengri is attested to have
been worshiped by both the Caucasian Huns in the 7th century CE and
the Bulgars in the 9th century CE.550 If it is correct that R-Y38432, and
possibly also Q-L527, are linked to the Huns, one would expect to find
evidence of such worship in Scandinavia. I would argue that such
evidence exists, though it is of a fragmentary nature. The way the
aforementioned archaeological finds from central Scania were ritually
destroyed and deposited is reminiscent of rituals performed in
connection with funerals of contemporary Hunnic chieftains in
Hungary.551 These funerary rituals are also reminiscent of similar rituals
performed by other steppe nomadic groups like the Sarmatians and the
Alans.552 The fact that the ritually destroyed horse tack found in Sösdala
and Fulltofta were deposited on ridges may suggest that these funerary
rituals were connected to the worship of Tengri. The eastern steppe
nomads associated Tengri with hills and mountains.553 As previously
mentioned, southern Sweden is dotted with hun- places names and a
large number of these names designate elevations in the landscape.
These oronyms are mainly found in southwestern Sweden from Scania
in the south to the borderlands north of Västergötland. The distribution
of this specific category of hun- place names mirrors the heartland of
both Q-L527 and the Sösdala horizon. A local legend from
Västergötland states that the Huns used the mountain Hunneberg as a
549
Hànshū, vol. 94a; Maenchen-Helfen 1973, pp. 167–169; Man 2005, pp. 61–62; Sinor 2005, p. 4228;
Golebiowska-Tobiasz 2014, pp. 30–48
550
Maenchen-Helfen 1966, p. 81; Sinor 2005, p. 4228; Stepanov 2010, pp. 111–114
551
Bóna 1979; Tomka 1987, pp. 156–159; Hedeager 2007, p. 51; Fabech 2017a, pp. 46, 55
552
Eliade 1964, pp. 259–274; Tomka 1987, pp. 156–159; Fabech 2017a, pp. 46, 55
553
Eliade 1964; Ayanovna 2014, p. 1058
100
basecamp which indicates that the mountain derives its name from the
Huns.554 The existence of several independent legends about the Huns
from the same area suggest that this legend was not created around the
place name due to folk etymology but rather reflects a distant
memory.555 This view is opposed by Swedish linguists who argue that
the prefix of these oronyms derive from the Old Swedish word “hun”
which reportedly means ridge.556 This view becomes paradoxical in the
case of Hunneberg since its earliest attestation is Hundæbiærgh in Old
Swedish from 1325.557 Mathias Strandberg, PhD, tries to explain this
paradox by attributing this hypothetical shift in meaning to folk
etymology but the fact that its earliest attestation has a hund- prefix
along with the fact that it was recorded in Old Swedish suggest that
Strandberg is wrong.558
A northern Eurasian cosmology

The Sösdala horizon is defined by a certain type of pelta-shaped
pendants that seems to depict a northern Eurasian cosmology. Though
some of the symbols and punch mark decorations clearly derive from a
Roman context, I believe these similarities are only superficial. I would
argue that these symbols were used in new ways and given new
meanings by a new equestrian elite to reflect their northern Eurasian
cosmology, a process akin to the development of the C-bracteates.559
The shape of the pendants found in Sösdala, Fulltofta, Tormestorp,
Vännebo (fig. 12), Finnestorp (fig. 13) and Jakuszowice are reminiscent
of a tree structure.560 The upper curved part of these pendants are
554
Götlind 1926, pp. 138–140
555
Götlind 1926, pp. 138–140
556
Zoëga 1910, pp. 215–216; Hellquist 1922, p. 247; Areskoug 1981. p. 29; Kroonen 2013, p. 255;
Mathias Strandberg 2019, personal communication, 25 September
557
Wahlberg 2003, p. 136; Wahlberg 2016, p. 139
558
Kroonen 2013, p. 255; Mathias Strandberg 2019, personal communication, 25 September
559
Axboe 2007, pp. 9, 99; Levada 2013; Kiss 2016, p. 166; Fabech & Näsman 2017, p. 341; Oehrl 2020,
p. 454
560
Fabech et al. 2017, fig. 5; Fabech 2017a, fig. 9; Nordqvist 2017, figs. 29–30; Näsman 2017a, figs. 7,
17–18
101
reminiscent of a celestial sphere.561 This notion is supported by the fact
that the upper part is often decorated with one or several celestial objects
(figs. 12–13).562 One star, presumably the sun, is usually depicted at the
center of the celestial sphere.563 The pendant from Jakuszowice seems
to depict the path of a star across the celestial sphere.564 The pendant
from Fulltofta has the usual star replaced by a whirl, a symbol associated
with the sun.565 The symbolism encoded into these objects (figs. 12–13)
seems to be multilayered and may simultaneously be interpreted as
depicting a humanoid face as well as a bird of prey in flight.566
The concept of the world tree as a representation of the creation
is a common feature among cosmologies and mythologies from Siberia
and Inner Asia.567 However, it is also an integral component of Norse
cosmology and mythology.568 The world tree is often linked to
shamanistic beliefs where the shaman uses the world tree as a ladder or
pathway to ascend the heavens.569 The shamans use helping spirits in
the form of animals and mythological creatures to travel the world tree
and beyond.570 This concept is reminiscent of Norse myths about how
Ratatoskr climbs up and down the world tree Yggdrasill carrying
messages between the eagle Hræsvelgr sitting at the top and the
serpent/dragon Níðhǫggr dwelling at its roots.571 It is said that
Hræsvelgr sits at the north end of heaven which means that the top of
the world tree is where the physical heaven ends.572 Several of the pelta-
shaped pendants belonging to the Sösdala horizon can be interpreted as
both a representation of the world tree and a bird of prey in flight. The
561
Nordqvist 2017, figs. 28–30; Näsman 2017a, figs. 17–18
562
Fabech & Näsman 2017, fig. 2; Nordqvist 2017, figs. 28–30; Näsman 2017a, figs. 17–18
563
Fabech 2017a, fig. 9; Nordqvist 2017, figs. 28–30; Näsman 2017a, figs. 17–18
564
Fabech 2017a, fig. 9
565
Näsman 2017a, pp. 169–172, fig. 17
566
Gömöri 1987, fig. 3; Fabech 2017a, fig. 9; Kazanski & Mastykova 2017, fig. 6; Nordqvist 2017, fig.
30; Näsman 2017a, figs. 17–18
567
Holmberg 1927, pp. 349–353, 357; Davidson 1993, p. 69; Hoppál 2004, pp. 187–188; Kim-Maloni
2010, p. 46; Turan 2006, p. 329; Vajda 2011
568
Holmberg 1927, p. 357; Davidson 1993, p. 69
569
Anisimov 1963, p. 85–86; Davidson 1993, p. 69; Znamenski 2003, pp. 251–254; Hoppál 2004, pp.
187–188; Kim-Maloni 2010, p. 46
570
Eliade 1964 pp. 5–6, 88–99, 381; Znamenski 2003
571
Gylfaginning, ch. 16 (Brodeur 1916, p. 29); Eliade 1964
572
Gylfaginning, ch. 18 (Brodeur 1916, p. 32); Lindow 2002, pp. 181–182
102
latter notion is supported by the fact that the tip of the terminals on many
pelta-shaped pendants (fig. 13) are shaped as eagle heads.573 A celestial
object is depicted on a piece of metal attached to the bail of the pendants
from Sösdala and Jakuszowice.574 One possible interpretation is that the
pendant represents an eagle that is flying towards a celestial object
beyond the world tree. This celestial object might be Tengri who was
believed to inhabit a spiritual realm beyond the visible sky.575 It should
be noted that it is the pendants that belong to a princely Hunnic context
that has a plate with a celestial body placed above the pelta-shaped
pendant. The important role of the eagle is evidenced by an eagle-
shaped gold plaque (fig. 11) found in Claestorp, central Scania, dated to
the 4th or 5th century CE.576 It has been argued that the provenance of
this gold plaque is to be found in southeastern Europe or beyond.577
The cult of Óðinn

Hedeager argues that the largest group of bracteates, the so-
called C-bracteates, illustrates a shamanistic representation of the soul
journey.578 As evidence, Hedeager refers to the fact that the C-bracteates
seem to depict a psychopomp riding on a horn-crested horse reminiscent
of the horses with adjoining horse tack found in the Pazyryk graves in
Berel, eastern Kazakhstan.579 Similar creatures are also depicted on
early image stones from the island of Gotland. One illustrative example
is the image stone from Ire, Hellvi parish, dated to c. 400–600 CE.580
These quadrupeds are also reminiscent of creatures depicted on
shamanic drums from northern Altai.581 Professor Leonid Pavlovich
573
Gunnarsson et al. 2016, pp. 58–60; Fabech 2017a, fig. 9; Näsman 2017a, figs. 7–8, 17; Nordqvist 2017,
figs. 29–30; Hårdh 2003, p. 61
574
Näsman 2017a, fig. 7; Fabech 2017a, fig. 9
575
Eliade 1964, pp. 9, 199–200, 275
576
Montelius 1885, pp. 89–90, fig. 12; Holmqvist 1961, pp. 80–96; Fabech et al. 2017, pp. 85–86, fig. 9
577
Montelius 1885, pp. 89–90, fig. 12; Holmqvist 1961, pp. 80–96; Ray 2009, pp. 15, 33–34, figs. 44, 100,
101; Fabech et al. 2017, pp. 85–86, fig. 9
578
579
Samashev et al. 2000, p. 13; Hedeager 2011, pp. 208–209; Axboe 2021, p. 15
580
GF C10221:92; Nylén & Lamm 2003, p. 187
581
Potapov 1978, p. 170
103
Potapov argues that the prototype can be traced back to ancient rock
drawings along the upper Yenisei.582 The prototype was a heavenly stag
that transformed into a hybridized creature over time due to
syncretization.583 The shaman often had the role of a psychopomp in
Siberian and Inner Asian cultures and used helping spirits in the form of
animals and mythological creatures to accomplish the soul journey.584
Hedeager argues that the rider on the C-bracteates is an early
representation of Óðinn.585 One of the defining characteristics of Óðinn
is his role as a psychopomp.586 Hedeager argues that the 5th century
version of Óðinn was a composite god with both Germanic and Hunnic
characteristics.587 Óðr and Freya may represent a pre-Hunnic substrate
of Óðinn and Frigg and the pre-Hunnic version of Óðinn likely
corresponded more closely to the pan-Celtic god Lugus.588 Hedeager
suggests that Óðinn may partially have been modeled after Attila.589
Hedeager points out that the rider on several early C-bracteates sports a
single plait of hair (figs. 1–3).590 Traditionally, Khakass men wore their
hair in a plait equivalent to those depicted on the early C-bracteates.591
This hairstyle is called “kichege” in the Khakass language and is
believed to symbolize their strong connection with Tengri and the
spiritual world.592 Hedeager suggests that the Huns may have sported a
similar hairstyle.593 The rider and his retinue depicted on the image
582
Potapov 1978, p. 170
583
Prokofyeva 1963, p. 131; Alekseenko 1978, pp. 256–257, 261; Potapov 1978, pp. 169–177; Fitzhugh
2009
584
Prokofyeva 1963, pp. 131–133; Eliade 1964, pp. 88–99; Vasilevich 1963, pp. 58–59; Hultkrantz 1978,
pp. 38–41; Potapov 1978; Znamenski 2003; Hoppál 2005, p. 36
585
Hedeager 2011, pp. 207–209. The runic inscriptions on IK 58 (Hauck et al. 1985, p. 69) and IK 300
(Hauck et al. 1986, p. 87) read “houaʀ” and “hoʀ” respectively, both meaning “high” (de Vries 1977, pp.
200, 210; Orchard 1997, p. 74; Kroonen 2013, p. 215; Axboe 2021, p. 15), and both referring to Óðinn.
586
Davidson 1993, p. 77; Birley 1999, pp. 42, 106–07
587
Hedeager 2011, pp. 207–210, 222, 227–228; Lotte Hedeager 2022, personal communication, 30 July
588
Höfler 1934, pp. 90–91; de Vries 1970, pp. 87–88, 267
589
Hedeager 2011, pp. 222, 227–228. The runic inscriptions on A-bracteate IK 331 (Hauck et al. 1986, p.
113) can be read as “uat-uiil” or “uat-liiu” and one of the runic inscriptions on C-bracteate IK 237 (Hauck
et al. 1986, p. 28) can be read as “atiil”, both potentially referring to Attila/Atli.
590
Hauck et al. 1985, IK 58 (p. 69), IK 75.3 (p. 93); Hauck et al. 1986, IK 300 (p. 87) Axboe 2007, p. 33,
fig. 24; Hedeager 2011, p. 207; Axboe 2021, p. 15, fig. 2, Vindelev X4 (p. 14)
591
Konstantin Gulyaev 2021, personal communication, 24 February
592
Konstantin Gulyaev 2021, personal communication, 24 February
593
104
stone from Tängelgårde, Gotland, all sport a single plait of hair.594 The
fact that the rider holds a shield with the same symbol (whirl) found on
the pelta-shaped pendant from Fulltofta may indicate that these men are
Attila and the Huns.595 However, the rider may simultaneously be
interpreted as Óðinn.596 Hedeager points out that the single plait sported
by Óðinn on various bracteates often takes the shape of a bird of prey
(figs. 4–10).597 Hedeager interprets these images as the rider being “in
the disguise of a bird”.598 In Skáldskaparmál, Óðinn is described as
transforming into the hamr of an eagle.599 Hamr is a Norse shamanistic
concept pertaining to shapeshifting.600 The same episode is also narrated
on an image stone from Stora Hammars, Gotland, where Óðinn is
depicted wearing an eagle-shaped costume.601 It should be noted that
one of Óðinn’s bynames is Arnhǫfði which means “the eagle-
headed”.602 In stanza 19 in Atlamál in grœnlenzku, an eagle is described
as a hamr of Attila.603 The graves of the steppe nomads from the 4th and
5th centuries CE contain numerous objects that depict birds of prey.604
Professor Joachim Werner argues that these birds of prey are eagles and
that the eagle played a central role in the religious beliefs of the Huns.605
In Ynglinga saga, Óðinn’s is described as a human ruler with an ability
to shapeshift and his tribesmen are likened to wolves and dogs.606 This
echoes how Attila and the Huns are described in Old Norse texts. It
arguably also echoes the Wulfings and the Hundings. The most
convincing piece of evidence is found in stanza 14 in Atlakviða where
594
SHM 4373, FID: 108186; Nylén & Lamm 2003, p. 67
595
SHM 4373, FID: 108186; Nylén & Lamm 2003, p. 67; Näsman 2017a, fig. 17
596
Nylén & Lamm 2003, pp. 66–67
597
Hedeager 2011, figs. 4.20, 4.29–4.30, 9.15; Oehrl 2020, p. 455
598
Hedeager 2011, p. 207; Oehrl 2020, pp. 454–455
599
Skáldskaparmál, ch. 1 (Egilsson 1848, p. 49; Brodeur 1916, p. 95); Davidson 1993, p. 72, fig. 25
600
Zoëga 1910, p. 183; Kroonen 2013, p. 206
601
L1975:9234 (KMR); Davidson 1993, p. 72, fig. 25; Nylén & Lamm 2003, pp. 50–52; Oehrl 2020, p.
457 (note 10)
602
Eliade 1964, p. 71; Lecouteux 2016; Viðbótarþulur: Óðins nǫfn, st. 2 (Gurevich 2017, p. 735); Oehrl
2020, p. 455
603
Atlamál in grœnlenzku, st. 19 (Bugge 1867, p. 295); Atlamál in grœnlenzku, st. 18 (Bellows 1923, p.
506); Hedeager 2011, pp. 96–97
604
Werner 1956, pp. 69–81; Maenchen-Helfen 1973, p. 461
605
Werner 1956, pp. 69–81
606
Ynglinga saga, ch. 6–7 (Finlay & Faulkes 2016, p. 10); Davidson 1993, p. 77
105
Attila’s hall is referred to as “valhallo” and his watchtowers as
“liþscialfar” which arguably are references to Óðinn’s hall Valhǫll and
his watchtower Hliðskjálf.607
It is generally assumed that the birds depicted on the C-
bracteates are the ravens of Óðinn but a closer look reveals that many
of these birds are birds of prey due to the shape of their beak, a view
shared by Sigmund Oehrl, PhD.608 I would argue that one can detect
stages in the evolution of Óðinn by analyzing iconography and myths.
The C-bracteates depict Óðinn as a psychopomp accompanied by one
or two birds of prey.609 One bird of prey, likely an eagle, is usually
depicted in front of Óðinn’s face.610 As previously mentioned, a second
bird of prey is sometimes depicted as an integral part of Óðinn’s plait.
On some of the later C-bracteates, the second bird of prey is depicted in
its entirety behind Óðinn’s head.611 Helmet plates (fig. 16) dated to the
7th century CE from Vendel, Uppland, depict Óðinn as a warrior
accompanied by two birds, presumably an eagle and a raven due to the
shape of their beaks.612 In later Norse myths, Óðinn is described as an
old long-bearded man accompanied by two ravens, Huginn and
Muninn.613 I would argue that these stages illustrate the progression of
Óðinn and his changing role within the Norse pantheon, a view shared
by Hedeager.614 In Rígsþula, Heimdallr is referred to as the progenitor
of mankind and the originator of the runes while Hávamál attributes
these feats to Óðinn.615 The fact that stanza 1 in Vǫluspá mentions both
Heimdallr’s human descendants and Óðinn within the same stanza
indicate that Heimdallr was the original progenitor of mankind, or rather
607
Atlakviða, st. 14 (Bugge 1867, p. 285; Brodeur 1923, pp. 480, 487–488); Gylfaginning chs. 9, 17, 38,
41, 50 (Brodeur 1916, pp. 22, 31, 50, 52–53, 75)
608
Hedeager 2011, p. 88; Oehrl 2020, p. 455, figs. 10, 14, 16
609
Hedeager 2011, pp. 82, 86
610
Hedeager 2011, figs. 3.11, 4.20, 4.29–4.30, 9.12–9.14; Oehrl 2020, p. 455
611
Hauck et al. 1985, IK 25 (p. 27); Hedeager 2011, fig. 9.14
612
Ljungkvist 2005, fig. 1; Stolpe & Arne 1927, pl. VI: fig. 1; Hedeager 2011, fig. 4.31; Oehrl 2020, fig.
22
613
Gylfaginning, ch. 38 (Brodeur 1916, pp. 50–51); Grímnismál, st. 20 (Bellows 1923, p. 92); Davidson
1993, p. 77
614
615
Hávamál (Bellows 1923, pp. 28–67); Rígsþula (Bellows 1923, pp. 201–216)
106
the Proto-Germanic people, as demonstrated previously.616 This notion
is further substantiated by the fact that Óðinn is described in Hávamál
as merely learning (Old Norse: nám) the runes, not inventing them.617
Óðinn became the patron of the Scandinavian aristocracy and skalds
from the Migration Period and onwards.618 The aristocracy had a self-
interest in promoting Óðinn to the position of the all-father and they had
the ability to do so since they controlled the narrative.619
I would argue that the myths about Hræsvelgr and the world tree,
the early iconography connected to Óðinn and the pelta-shaped pendants
all have a shared mythological origin. Furthermore, I would argue that
this shared origin is Hunnic in nature. In stanza 37 in Vafþrúðnismál,
Hræsvelgr is described as a giant who sits at the edge of heaven in the
shape (hamr) of an eagle.620 Hræsvelgr should, therefore, be understood
as a giant who can take the shape of an eagle through shapeshifting.621
In stanza 27 in Skírnismál it is told that Hel is visible from Hræsvelgr’s
abode at the edge of heaven.622 Hel is the realm of the dead and the name
derives from Proto-Germanic *haljō which means “concealed place”.623
Hræsvelgr’s name means “corpse swallower”, and stanza 50 in Vǫluspá
describes how Hræsvelgr gnaws on corpses.624 These facts combined
point to a connection between Hræsvelgr and death. I would argue that
Hræsvelgr and Óðinn represent two versions of the same psychopomp.
Professor John Lindow points out similarities between Hræsvelgr and
Óðinn in the Norse myths but fails to notice the close resemblance
between Hræsvelgr and the early depictions of Óðinn on the C-
bracteates.625 According to chapter 16 in Gylfaginning, a black hawk
616
Vǫluspá, st. 1 (Bellows 1923, p. 3)
617
Hávamál, st. 139 lns. 4–5 (Bugge 1867, p. 61); Zoëga 1910, pp. 309–310; Hávamál, st. 140 lns. 4–5
(Bellows 1923, p. 61)
618
Byock 2005, p. XVIII; Hedeager 2011, p. 7; Gunnell 2017, pp. 117–122
619
Montelius 1905, p. 150; Axboe 2007, p. 110; Gunnell 2017, pp. 105–129
620
Vafþrúðnismál, st. 37 (Bugge 1867, p. 71; Bellows 1923, p. 78)
621
Hedeager 2011, pp. 96–97
622
Skírnismál, st. 27 (Bellows 1923, p. 115)
623
Zoëga 1910, p. 193; Kroonen 2013, p. 204
624
Gylfaginning, ch. 51 (Brodeur 1916, p. 80); Vǫluspá, st. 50 lns. 6–7 (Bellows 1923, p. 21); Orchard
1997, p. 192; Lindow 2002, p. 182
625
Lindow 2001, p. 312
107
named Veðrfǫlnir sits between the eyes of Hræsvelgr.626 I would argue
that Veðrfǫlnir is a reference to the bird-shaped plait of hair sported by
Óðinn on many C-bracteates. In chapter 51 in Gylfaginning, Óðinn is
described as dressed in a helmet and chainmail, holding his spear
Gungnir, while riding his horse.627 This description is similar to how
Óðinn is depicted on the aforementioned helmet plates (fig. 16) from
Vendel.628 The fact that the description in Gylfaginning differs from
how Óðinn is depicted on the C-bractetates suggests that the Norse
myths about Óðinn should be dated to the second half of the 6th century
CE and onwards. On the helmet plates (fig. 16) from Vendel, Óðinn is
depicted wearing a helmet decorated with an eagle.629 The same helmet
plates also depict an eagle flying in front of him and a raven flying
behind him. I would argue that this symbolic language is a progression
of the iconography displayed on the C-bracteates. The symbolic
language still retains its shamanistic origins, but it seems to diminish by
time. This in turn suggests that these shamanistic aspects were not
Germanic in nature, a view shared by Hedeager and several other
scholars.630 Furthermore, the myths about Hræsvelgr may represent
remnants of the original Hunnic version since these myths seem to
match better with the symbolism displayed on the pelta-shaped
pendants. If correct, Óðinn may represent a syncretized version of Óðr
and the former. This notion is supported by the fact that Óðinn’s
watchtower Hliðskjálf mirrors Hræsvelgr’s abode at the edge of heaven.
Another piece of the puzzle may be found in stanza 62 in Hávamál
where the author seems to equate Hræsvelgr with Óðinn.631
The nose guards on the Late Germanic Iron Age helmets found
in Vendel are shaped either as a bird of prey or as a winged man.632 The
helmet (fig. 19) from grave 14 has a nose guard shaped as a bird of
626
627
628
Montelius 1905, p. 106, fig. 111; Stolpe & Arne 1927, pl. VI: fig. 1; Hedeager 2011, fig. 4.31
629
Stolpe & Arne 1927, pl. VI: fig. 1; Hedeager 2011, fig. 4.31
630
Eliade 1964, pp. 273, 379–384; Davidson 1993, p. 69; Hedeager 2011; Pearson 2017
631
Skáldskaparmál, ch. 1 (Brodeur 1916, pp. 95–96); Hávamál, st. 62 (Bellows 1923, pp. 41, 50);
Davidson 1993, p. 77
632
Montelius 1905, fig. 108; Stolpe & Arne 1927; Lindqvist 1950
108
prey.633 The helmet (figs. 17–18) from grave 1 has a nose guard shaped
as a winged man.634 Both the bird of prey and the winged man are placed
between the eyes and may depict Veðrfǫlnir. However, the fact that the
symbolic language includes a winged man suggests that it is a reference
to Hræsvelgr, or perhaps both, since the former is an extension of the
latter as demonstrated in the previous paragraphs. This notion is further
supported by the fact that Níðhǫggr is also depicted on the
aforementioned helmets.635 It is likely not a coincidence that the eagle
and the winged man face downward towards the nose and the mouth
since the Old Norse word for breath and soul (ǫnd) is one and the
same.636 It is arguably neither a coincidence that the earliest helmet (fig.
19) from Vendel has a nose guard shaped as an eagle rather than a
winged man.637 The overall impression is that the iconography
displayed on these helmets are connected to the soul journey.
The Hunnic substrate

The C-bracteates are evidence of an early Óðinn cult that
arguably was brought to Scandinavia during the first half of the 5th
century CE by returning Scandinavian warriors. The production of C-
bracteates started in the mid-5th century CE and lasted for about a
hundred years.638 C-bracteates have been found both in western and
eastern Scania as well as in neighboring areas.639 If the elite warriors in
central Scania were returning locals, as Fabech and Näsman argue, one
would expect to find C-bracteates in this area too.640 However, not a
single C-bracteate has been found in central Scania.641 The complete
633
Montelius 1905, fig. 108; Stolpe & Arne 1927, pl. XLI: fig. 1; Lindqvist 1950, figs. 1–2
634
Stolpe & Arne 1927, pl. V: fig. 1; Lindqvist 1950, figs. 5–6
635
Stolpe & Arne 1927, pl. V: fig. 1, pl. VI: fig. 4, pl. XXXVI: fig. 4, pl. XLI: figs. 1, 7; Lindqvist 1950,
figs. 1–8
636
Montelius 1905, fig. 108; Zoëga 1910, p. 529; Stolpe & Arne 1927, pl. V: fig. 1; pl. XLI: figs. 1;
Lindqvist 1950, figs. 1–2, 5–6
637
Montelius 1905, fig. 108; Lindqvist 1950, p. 12, figs. 1–2; Ljungkvist 2005, fig. 1
638
Axboe 2007, pp. 71–76, 95–96; Rundkvist 2006, p. 348; Oehrl 2020, p. 454
639
Hauck et al. 1989, pp. 345–363; Lamm 1999, fig. 1; Helgesson 2002, fig. 24; Larsson 2015b, fig. 1;
Pesch 2020, map 10.3; Harrison 2022, pp. 52, 169–171, 195–196
640
Fabech & Näsman 2017, pp. 339–341
641
Hauck et al. 1989, pp. 345–363; Helgesson 2002, fig. 24; Pesch 2020, map 10.3
109
absence of bracteates in this area may suggest that the religious beliefs
and/or the political affiliations of these men were different from
neighboring groups. Fabech states regarding central Scania that “the
introduction of new and foreign rituals ... is coincident with a settlement
change” and that “the seemingly sudden occurrence of new cemeteries
and prestigious finds … suggests the establishment of a new order of
power”.642 It is generally assumed that the Sösdala horizon was
Germanic in nature. However, the fact that crescent-shaped (lunula)
earrings previously classified as typically Hunnic nowadays instead are
associated with the supposedly Germanic Untersiebenbrunn horizon
suggest that the nature of the larger Sösdala-Untersiebenbrunn horizon
might be more complex than previously thought.643 This sentiment is
shared by Kim who argues that archaeological finds sometimes are
mislabeled as “Germanic” or “Danubian” and that a more correct term
would be “hybrid Eurasian”.644 As previously mentioned, Kim argues
that the Huns imposed a Hunnic ruling elite on several Germanic
tribes.645 If correct, it might mean that the ruling elite of both the Sösdala
and the Untersiebenbrunn horizons contained steppe nomadic
elements.646 This notion is supported by the fact that the depositions
from Sösdala and Fulltofta were made according to steppe nomadic
customs.647 One such custom, according to Fabech, was to thrust a pole
or a lance into the ground as a symbol of the deceased.648 Fabech
suggests that a lance head found among the horse tack at the
archaeological site called Sösdala I is the remnant of a lance that was
thrust into the ground as part of the funeral rites.649 Fabech argues that
these rituals were performed as part of the soul journey.650 This custom
is reminiscent of how the Székelys erect decorated wooden poles called
642
Fabech 2017a, p. 54
643
Werner 1956, pp. 24–26; Bóna 1991; Hedeager 2007, figs. 3–4, 6; Tejral 2013, pp. 299–300, 318;
Machajewski & Schuster 2020, pp. 356–357
644
Kaliff 2001, p. 31; Kim 2013, pp. 165–170
645
Kim 2015, pp. 109–128
646
Tejral 2013, pp. 299–300, 318; Fabech 2017a, p. 55; Machajewski & Schuster 2020, pp. 356–357
647
Fabech 2017a; Maróti et al. 2022, SI: p. 6
648
Fabech 2017a, p. 55
649
Fabech 2017a, p. 52
650
Fabech 2017a, p. 52
110
“kopjafá” or “kopja” as symbols of the dead.651 Traditionally, the lances
used by the Magyar cavalry were called “kopja” which indicates that
this custom may originally have involved a lance, not a wooden pole.652
With that said, I would argue that both the lance and the wooden pole in
the aforementioned contexts should be understood as symbolic
representations of the world tree and an integral part of the soul journey.
This is evidenced by the fact that the Székely custom has analogies in
southern Siberia and Inner Asia where wooden hitching posts called
“baglaash” or “serge” are associated with ancestral spirits and the world
axis.653 The same concept is also found in various Siberian and Inner
Asian myths where the horses of gods are hitched to the world axis
which in turn is reminiscent of how Óðinn and the other Norse gods
hitch their horses to Yggdrasill.654 The notion that lances and spears
were associated with Yggdrasill is supported by the iconography found
on helmet plates (fig. 16) from Vendel where Óðinn uses his spear
Gungnir to divide a space into an upper realm with an eagle and a lower
realm with a serpent.655 The name Gungnir means “the swaying one”
and is likely a reference to the world tree Yggdrasill that is described as
shaking in Vǫluspá and Gylfaginning.656 The imagery depicted on the
helmet plates lend support to my previous claim that the bird located in
front of Óðinn originally was an eagle. The similarities between the
aforementioned cultural expressions arguably point to a shared origin
and it is likely Hunnic in nature. The notion of a shared origin is further
substantiated by the fact that the exact same six-petal rosettes found on
the horse tack from Sösdala I and Untersiebenbrunn also can be found
on early image stones from Gotland and on the wooden poles of the
651
Ortutay 1979, pp. 97–107; Kovács 2007
652
Ortutay 1979, pp. 97–107; Trubachyov 1984, p. 40; Kovács 2007; Derksen 2008, p. 234
653
Jacobson, 1993, p. 228; van Deusen 2004, pp. 53, 69; Golebiowska-Tobiasz 2014, pp. 30–48; Peemot
2019, p. 63
654
Grímnismál, st. 30 (Bellows 1923, p. 96–97); Eliade 1958, p. 277; Eliade 1964, pp. 261, 270, 380;
Pearson 2017, p. 16
655
Montelius 1905, fig. 111; Stolpe & Arne 1927, pl. VI: fig. 1; Hedeager 2011, fig. 4.31
656
Vǫluspá, st. 47 (Bellows 1923, p. 20); Gylfaginning, ch. 51 (Brodeur 1916, pp. 78–80; Faulkes 1995, p.
54); Eliade 1958, p. 277; Orchard 1997, p. 67
111
Székelys.657
There are also similarities between the symbolism encoded in
the horse tack belonging to the Sösdala horizon and the symbolism
depicted on the C-bracteates. Judging from the funerary rituals practiced
by the equestrian elite behind the Sösdala horizon, it is likely that they
viewed their horses as an integral part of their world tree cosmology and
the soul journey. Illustrative examples come from Sösdala I, Vännebo
and Finnestorp where saddle mounts are shaped as lizard-like creatures,
likely representing the serpents/dragons residing among the roots of the
world tree, and where the pendants attached to the browband are pelta-
shaped, likely representing the eagle located at the top of the world
tree.658 This view is not shared by Näsman who instead argues that the
pelta-shaped pendants were used for apotropaic purposes.659 The notion
that the saddle mounts and pelta-shaped pendants from these three
archaeological sites represent a specific cultural expression is supported
by the fact that they all belong to the Sösdala horizon.660 It should be
noted that the finds from Finnestorp were found near Händenetorp, first
recorded in 1590 as Hunestölp.661 Furthermore, the same leveled world
tree cosmology and shamanistic concepts seem to be encoded in the
terminals and mounts attached to bits from Finnestorp and Högom.662 It
is likely that the eagle-shaped terminals (fig. 15) that faced the nostrils
of the horse had the same symbolic meaning as the nose guards on the
helmets from Vendel.663 The same multilayered symbolism seems to
also be encoded in the C-bracteates. I would argue that the quadruped
depicted on the C-bracteates represents both a helping spirit and the
world tree in the same way as the shamanic drum in Siberia and Inner
Asia is perceived as both a means of transportation and a microcosm of
657
GF C8563:136; Ortutay 1979; Nylén & Lamm 2003; Dal 2017, fig. 14; Kazanski & Mastykova 2017,
fig. 3; Näsman 2017a, fig. 12
658
Bitner-Wróblewska 2017, fig. 1; Fabech & Näsman 2017, pp. 330–331, figs. 4–5; Nordqvist 2017, pp.
248–249, figs. 25, 28–31; Näsman 2017a, pp. 159–161, 180–181, figs. 7, 18, 30; Quast 2017, fig. 6
659
Näsman 2017a, pp. 159–161
660
Näsman 2017a, pp. 173–187
661
Nordqvist et al. 2017, p. 14
662
Nordqvist 2017, figs. 5, 16, 17; Ramqvist 2017, figs. 10–14
663
Nordqvist 2017, figs. 5, 16, 17; Ramqvist 2017, figs. 10–14
112
the world.664 This notion is supported by the fact that the eagle depicted
in front of Óðinn on numerous C-bracteates is located above the head of
the quadruped, and in many cases, seemingly sitting on its head while
closely facing Óðinn.665 Further support for this notion can be found on
B-bracteate IK 166 (fig. 6) where Óðinn with his bird-shaped plait of
hair is depicted next to a stag, and where a bird is depicted above the
head of the stag while two serpents are depicted below its hooves.666
The iconography depicted on IK 166 is arguably a version of the same
iconography depicted on the C-bracteates except that the former focus
on the world tree aspect while the latter focus on the soul journey. The
notion that the quadruped represents a helping spirit, and not a worldly
creature, is supported by the fact that Óðinn is depicted on several C-
bracteates (figs. 1–4) from Denmark as flying next to the quadruped
while holding onto its neck.667 This symbolic language mirrors an
account of how a Tuvan shaman describes his shamanic journey: “It is
flying, with its legs drawn in, horned, and I am flying by its side, holding
onto it but not as if I saddled it, not as if I were riding a horse. I call my
Siberian stag the small horse Chagaa daiym. But I cannot fly to the
upper world with my Siberian stag-horse”.668 This quote arguably lends
support to my previous claims regarding the syncretized nature of the
quadruped as well as the instrumental role of the eagle since the
quadruped is not able to travel to the uppermost realms. It should also
be noted that the majority of these C-bracteates are the same early C-
bracteates where Óðinn is depicted with a single plait of hair.
The notion that these shamanistic concepts are connected to the
elite behind the Sösdala horizon is supported by a specific subgroup of
A-bracteates (figs. 7–10) that arguably depict a version of the same
world tree cosmology depicted on the C-bracteates and IK 166 except
664
Holmberg 1927, pp. 519–520; Eliade 1964, pp. 168–176, 270; Potapov 1978, pp. 169–177; Znamenski
2003, pp. 112–113, 177, 264; Tillisch 2008, p. 70
665
Hauck et al. 1985; Hauck et al. 1986
666
Hauck et al. 1985, IK 166 (p. 215)
667
Hauck et al. 1985, IK 58 (p. 69), IK 75.3 (p. 93), IK 142 (p. 181), IK 209 (p. 275); Hauck et al. 1986,
IK 300 (p. 87); Axboe 2021, p. 15, Vindelev X4 (p. 14)
668
Cheremisin, 2005, p. 131; Pearson 2017, pp. 3–4
113
for the fact that the quadruped is replaced by a pelta-shaped symbol that
looks exactly the same as the pelta-shaped pendants (fig. 13) belonging
to the Sösdala horizon.669 The basis for connecting these A-bracteates
with C-bracteates is based on the fact that the head depicted on the
former sports the same bird-shaped plait of hair as the head depicted on
the latter.670 This notion is further supported by the fact that A-bracteate
IK 24 (fig. 7) contains the runic inscription “alu” (ᚨᛚᚢ) that is frequently
found on C-bracteates.671 Morten Axboe, PhD, argues that the pelta-
shaped symbol on these A-bracteates should merely be understood as
the bust to which the head is attached.672 However, this is contradicted
by the fact that additional pelta-shaped symbols are depicted on many
bracteates like in the case of A-bracteate IK 279 (fig. 10).673
Furthermore, the exact same iconography is depicted on a Langobardic
pelta-shaped pendant (fig. 14) from Veszkény, Hungary, that once upon
a time was attached to the browband of a horse’s head.674 The
iconographic correspondence suggests that the pelta-shaped symbols
depicted on the A-bracteates carry a deeper symbolic meaning. The
basis for connecting the Langobardic pendant with the aforementioned
A-bracteates is based on the fact that a head is attached to the stem of
the pelta-shaped pendant in the same way as Óðinn’s head is attached
to the stem of the pelta-shaped symbols depicted on the A-bracteates.675
The fact that one of the eyes of the head attached to Langobardic
pendant (fig. 14) is different from the other eye proves that the head
belongs to Óðinn.676 This view is further substantiated by the fact that
Óðinn was the patron god of the Langobards.677 What sets the Sösdala
style apart from these later artistic expressions is the complete absence
669
Hauck et al. 1985, IK 24 (p. 27), IK 120.1 (p. 155); Hauck et al. 1986, IK 279 (p. 67), IK 331 (p. 113)
670
Hauck et al. 1985; Hauck et al. 1986; Axboe 2021, p. 16
671
Hauck et al. 1985, IK 24 (p. 27); Axboe 2021, p. 15
672
Axboe 1991, pp. 199–200
673
Hauck et al. 1985, IK 115 (p. 147); Hauck et al. 1986, IK 221 (p. 9), IK 279 (p. 67), IK 333 (p. 116);
Axboe 2021, Vindelev X9 (p. 18), Vindelev X14 (p. 18)
674
Gömöri 1987, figs. 3, 17
675
Hauck et al. 1985, IK 24 (p. 27), IK 120.1 (p. 155); Hauck et al. 1986, IK 279 (p. 67), IK 331 (p. 113);
Gömöri 1987, fig. 3
676
Gömöri 1987, fig. 3
677
Historia Langobardorum, bk. 1 chs. 8–9 (Foulke 1907, pp. 16–19); Origo Gentis Langobardorum, ch. 1
(Foulke 1907, p. 327–328); Foulke 1907, pp. 346–349
114
of Óðinic iconography.
Kristen Pearson argues that the Óðinic package of beliefs
centered around Óðinn, Sleipnir and Yggdrasill originates from a non-
Germanic source.678 Pearson argues that the source cannot be the Sámi
since the horse does not play a decisive role in Sámi mythology and
culture.679 This notion is supported by the fact that the world axis in
Sámi cosmology is a pillar, not a world tree like Yggdrasill.680 The
closest resemblance to Yggdrasill in a European context is arguably the
Hungarian equivalent Égig érő fa.681 The fact that the axis mundi in the
cosmologies of both the Sámi to the north and the Saxons to the south
is a pillar suggests that the Scandinavians originally conceptualized the
world axis in the same way.682 This in turn supports the notion that the
Óðinic package of beliefs is a later addition that was superimposed onto
an already existing cosmological structure.683 The fact that Yggdrasill
means “Óðinn’s horse” along with the fact that Óðinn is referred to as
Sigrúnnr which means “victory tree” suggest that these Óðinic aspects
are closely interlinked and likely derive from a common source.684
Pearson argues that the source of these presumably non-Germanic
aspects is Scytho-Siberian in origin.685 Pearson proposes that some
Germanic groups may have adopted these shamanistic concepts through
interactions with Scythians in southeastern Europe but she also
mentions Hedeager’s Hunnic hypothesis as a possible explanation.686 It
should be noted that most of the historical accounts and myths
concerning the European Huns describe intermarriages and cohabitation
between them and various Germanic tribes. This view is in turn
supported by several genetic studies that have found Germanic as well
678
Pearson 2017, pp. 12–16
679
Pearson 2017, pp. 12–16
680
Holmberg 1927, pp. 222, 357; Pearson 2017, p. 16
681
Hoppál 2007, p. 78
682
Holmberg 1927, p. 222; Eliade 1964, pp. 260–263; Leeming 2003, pp. 135–137; Ramqvist 2016, p.
108; Pearson 2017, pp. 12–16
683
Montelius 1905, p. 150
684
Bellows 1923, p. 60; Eliade 1964, p. 380; Davidson 1993, p. 68; Skáldskaparmál, ch. 2 (Faulkes 1995,
p. 68); Einarsdóttir 2013, p. 32; Pearson 2017, p. 16
685
Pearson 2017, pp. 16–17
686
Pearson 2017, p. 17
115
as Sarmatian admixture among Hunnic aDNA samples.687 Some of the
Hun period samples analyzed by Maróti et al. 2022 have predominantly
Xiōngnú-like ancestry while others have predominantly Germanic- or
Sarmatian-like ancestry.688 What most of the Hun period samples have
in common is that they harbor both West Eurasian and East Eurasian
admixture to various degrees.689 Several of the Hun period samples with
predominantly Germanic ancestry were shown to have Xiōngnú-like or
Sarmatian-like admixture.690 An illustrative example is the Hun/2
aDNA sample analyzed by Neparáczki et al. 2019 that was shown to
harbor c. 33% East Eurasian admixture but belong to the largely
Germanic Y-DNA subclade R-U106.691 The accumulated evidence
suggests that the European Huns was a heterogeneous confederacy of
tribes led by a Xiōngnú-derived elite.692 This tribal confederacy is
arguably the best candidate for the cultural interface hypothesized by
Pearson.
Pearson points out that Yggdrasill with the eagle Hræsvelgr
sitting in its upper foliage is closely related to Siberian concepts of the
world tree, a view shared by Professor Mircea Eliade.693 In the book
Shamanism: Archaic Techniques of Ecstasy, Eliade extensively shows
that the eagle at the top of the world tree is perceived by various Siberian
and Inner Asian cultures as the mediator between the remote supreme
deity and the humans.694 These cultures also believe that the eagle was
the progenitor of the first shaman.695 The ornithomorphic symbolism
encoded into the costumes of the shamans arguably demonstrate the
687
Jeong et al. 2020, p. 896; Neparáczki et al. 2019, pp. 3–5, figs. 1, 3; Maróti et al. 2022, pp. 2861–2862,
2865–2866, figs. 2–3, SD: tbl. S1c
688
Maróti et al. 2022 pp. 2860–2862, 2866, figs. 2–3, SD: tbl. S1c, aDNA: MSG-1 (R-S23201),
HUN001/VZ-12673, KMT-2785, ASZK-1, CSB-3, SEI-1, SEI-5
689
Nagy 2010, pp. 140; Neparáczki et al. 2019, p. 7, figs. 1, 3, aDNA: Hun/1 (Q-M25), Hun/2, Hun/3;
Maróti et al. 2022, pp. 2860–2862, 2866, SD: tbl. S1c, aDNA: KMT-2785, ASZK-1, CSB-3, SEI-1, SEI-5
690
Maróti et al. 2022, pp. 2861–2862, SD: tbl. S1c, aDNA: CSB-3, SEI-1, SEI-5
691
Neparáczki et al. 2019, pp. 4–5, figs. 1–3, aDNA: Hun/2
692
Kim 2013, pp. 34–35, 111; de Barros Damgaard et al. 2018b, pp. 371–372; Jeong et al. 2020
693
Eliade 1964, pp. 70–71, 270, 379–380; Pearson 2017, p. 16
694
Sternberg 1930, pp. 125–153; Shimkin 1939; Eliade 1964, pp. 38, 69–71, 128, 153, 157–160;
Znamenski 2003, pp. 251–254
695
Holmberg 1927, pp. 323, 500, 505, 522; Sternberg 1930, pp. 125–153; Eliade 1964, pp. 69–71, 157–
160; Znamenski 2003, pp. 27, 66, 251–254
116
eagle-like nature inherited from the first shaman.696 The costume is
perceived as “the skin of the bird” and mirrors the Norse concept of
hamr that denotes both shape and skin.697 When comparing the myths
about Hræsvelgr and Óðinn to similar myths from Siberia and Inner
Asia, it becomes apparent that Hræsvelgr is the same character as the
aforementioned eagle and that Óðinn equals the first shaman.698 It also
becomes apparent that the remote supreme deity, the world tree and the
eagle belong to the same archaic package of beliefs.699 The role of the
eagle as a mediator between the remote supreme deity and the shaman
as well as the principal helper of the latter is most clearly developed
among groups living along the river Yenisei such as the Kachin, a subset
of the Khakass, and the Kets.700 Furthermore, the most visible traces of
Tengri worship historically were found among the Khakass who
performed sacrifices to Tengri on top of sacred mountains.701
The Okunev substrate

The Kets live along the middle Yenisei but their myths and
legends as well as toponymic evidence indicate that their ancestors
originally lived further south.702 The Kets are the last remnant of the
Yeniseian-speaking tribes who historically inhabited large portions of
central and western Siberia.703 The pre-proto phase of Yeniseian likely
coincides with the development of the Okunev culture along the upper
Yenisei in the 3rd millennium BCE.704 The Yeniseian-speaking tribes
between the upper Irtysh and the upper Yenisei were gradually
696
Holmberg 1927, pp. 323, 516, 522; Sternberg 1930, pp. 125–153; Prokofyeva 1963, pp. 128–132;
Eliade 1964, pp. 69–71, 156–160; Znamenski 2003, pp. 66, 251–254, 264
697
Zoëga 1910, p. 183; Prokofyeva 1963, pp. 128–131; Kroonen 2013, p. 206
698
Eliade 1964, pp 71, 380–381
699
Sternberg 1930, pp. 125–153; Eliade 1964, pp. 273, 277; Znamenski 2003, pp. 251–254; Tillisch 2008,
p. 29
700
Shimkin 1939, p. 161; Prokofyeva 1963, pp. 128–132; Eliade 1964, p. 153; Alekseenko 1978, p. 256–
257; Znamenski 2003, pp. 251–254; Timonina 2004, p. 136; Vajda 2010, p. 138
701
Potapov 1991, p. 263; Znamenski 2003, p. 220
702
Anuchin 1914; Shimkin 1939, p. 147, Popov & Dolgikh 1964, pp. 607–619; Vajda 2011
703
Dulzon 1959; Dulzon 1962; Werner 1996, pp. 3–4, Vajda 2001, p. 389; Anderson 2004, p. 9; Vajda
2011; Flegontov et al. 2016, pp. 1–2
704
Flegontov et al., 2016, SI: p. 112
117
displaced or absorbed by Turkic-speaking pastoralists during the Late
Iron Age.705 This view is supported by the fact that several Turkic
languages spoken in these territories, namely Khakass, Tuvan, Altai,
Shor, Tofa and Tuba, contain a Yeniseian substrate along with the fact
that these Turkic-speaking groups nowadays live in river basins with
Yeniseian hydronyms.706 This notion is further supported by the fact that
the Turkic-speaking Khakass, Northern Altaians, Teleuts and Shors
have sizable amounts of Kettic admixture.707 The high percentage of
Q1-derived (Q-MEH2) subclades and Ancient North Eurasian (ANE)
ancestry among the Kets resemble that of the Okunev culture.708
Q-MEH2 and its derivative subclades are rarely found among Turkic-
speaking groups but are found at fairly high frequencies among certain
subsets of the Chelkans, Khakass, Northern Altaians, Teleuts, Tubalars
and Tuvans as well as the Turkmens from Karakalpakstan.709 Professor
Stefan Georg argues that the name Tengri derives from Proto-Yeniseian
tɨŋVr + the Turkic possessive suffix -i, a view shared by Professor
Alexander Vovin.710 The earliest recorded version of the name is the
Sinified form “chēnglí” found in Chinese chronicles which refers to the
supreme deity of the Xiōngnú.711 This example along with similar
examples presented by Vovin suggest that the Xiōngnú contained both
Yeniseian- and Turkic-speaking elements.712 Georg argues that the
versions of the name that lack the -i suffix such as Tengir (Karakalpak
and Kyrgyz), Tigir (Khakass) and Tingir (Beltir) are the more archaic
forms.713 The Beltir form Tingir is arguably the form that most closely
705
Shimkin 1939, p. 147; Forsyth 1992, pp. 19–23; Olson 1994, pp. 100, 371–373; Timonina 2004, p.
136; Golden 2011, p. 38; Kharkov et al. 2011, p. 405; Vajda 2011; Flegontov et al. 2019, SI: p. 73
706
Vajda 2001, p. XIII; Vajda 2004; Vajda 2009, pp. 471–494; Vovin 2017
707
Flegontov et al. 2016, p. 3; Kharkov et al. 2007
708
Karafet et al. 2002, p. 772; Zegura et al. 2004, tbl. 1; Tambets et al. 2004, tbl. 3; Allentoft et al. 2015,
p. 169; Flegontov et al. 2016, pp. 2, 7, SI: tbl. 9; de Barros Damgaard et al. 2018a, figs. 4, 6, SI: pp. 25–
26; Hollard et al. 2018, pp. 104–105, fig. 3; Jeong et al. 2019; Jeong et al. 2020, p. 900; Allentoft et al.
2022, SI: fig. S3b.4
709
Kharkov et al. 2007, tbl. 1; Zhang et al. 2009; Kharkov et al. 2011, tbl. 1; Flegontov et al. 2016, SI: p.
112; Skhalyakho et al. 2016; Agdzhoyan et al. 2021
710
Georg 2001, pp. 83–100; Vovin 2003, p. 389
711
Ishjamts 1994, p. 154; Hànshū, vol. 94a; Georg 2001, pp. 89–90
712
Georg 2001, pp. 90–91; Vovin 2000; Vovin 2003, p. 393; Golden 2011, p. 27; Vovin et al. 2016
713
Eliade 1964, p. 9; Georg 2001, pp. 83–100
118
resembles Proto-Yeniseian tɨŋVr. The Beltir were a subset of the
Khakass who lived in Askiz where the aforementioned Q-FT377000
samples come from.714 The Beltir have over time been absorbed by the
Sagay, another subset of the Khakass.715 28% of the Sagay from
Butrakhty, located just south of Verkh-Askiz and Beltirskiy, belong to
Q-M242 but their terminal SNP is unknown.716 The modern Kyrgyz, at
least partially, descend from the Yenisei Kyrgyz who historically lived
along the upper Yenisei.717 The Turkmen, i.e. the Oghuz Turks,
originated in the Altai. The accumulated evidence arguably points to a
correlation between the archaic forms of Tengri and Turkic populations
with roots in the Altai and the territories along the upper Yenisei. I
would argue that this connection, which is both linguistic and genetic,
is Yeniseian in nature, and ultimately can be traced back to the Okunev
culture and other related cultures.
The Okunev culture is known for elaborately carved stone
monuments depicting complex imagery. The symbols and
anthropomorphic images found on these stone monuments suggest that
the Okunev culture had a well-developed cosmology, likely
accompanied by rituals. This notion is further substantiated by the
presence of fortified shrines called “sve” along the upper Yenisei that
are attributed to the Okunev culture.718 These walled sites are situated
on hilltops and are believed to have served as both fortifications and
shrines.719 The fact that rituals were performed on hilltops may point to
a connection with later Tengrist rituals where steppe nomadic groups
made sacrifices to Tengri at the top of elevations in the landscape. 720 It
should be noted that the stem of Tengri derives from Proto-Yeniseian
tɨŋVr which means high.721 Those Siberian and Inner Asian peoples who
do not use the name Tengri to refer to the remote supreme deity often
714
Olson 1994, pp. 100, 371–373; de Barros Damgaard et al. 2018a, SI: pp. 25–26
715
Kharkov et al. 2011, p. 404; Lavryashina et al. 2016, p. 82
716
Kharkov et al. 2011, pp. 406, 408, tbl. 1
717
718
Gottlieb 1997; Kharinsky et al. 2009; Shepard et al. 2016, p. 155
719
Shepard et al. 2016, p. 155
720
Eliade 1964; Ayanovna 2014, p. 1058
721
Georg 2001, pp. 83–100; Vovin 2003, p. 389
119
use equivalent words.722 It is likely that those names that mean high
represent an earlier mythological layer compared to those names that
refer to the physical sky. This notion is supported by the fact that the
name Tengri over time has transformed from its original Proto-
Yeniseian meaning to nowadays instead refer to the sky itself in various
languages.723 Furthermore, those names that refer to the remote supreme
deity as High correspond better with the shamanistic concept of several
celestial levels and the idea that the remote supreme deity resides in the
outermost level of the heavens.724 This arguably points towards a
process of degeneration where the remote supreme deity becomes less
relevant over time due to its remote nature and, therefore, becomes
remodeled as something more tangible like the sky or supplanted by a
lesser but more present god such as Bai-Ülgen.725 Many of the Okunev
stone monuments depict a cosmology consisting of several levels that
might be related to similar but later shamanistic concepts. The nine
celestial levels found in various Siberian and Inner Asian cosmologies
are reminiscent of the nine celestial levels in Norse cosmology where
the final level Skatyrnir is located “beyond all worlds”.726 This is
arguably a shamanistic concept that belongs to the aforementioned
Óðinic package of beliefs. Óðinn is sometimes referred to in Old Norse
texts as Hár (High) and Hávi (High One), two bynames that are
equivalents to tɨŋVr.727 The textual evidence is in turn corroborated by
C-bracteates IK 58 (fig. 1) and Vindelev X4 that contain the runic
inscription “houaʀ” (ᚺᛟᚢᚨᛉ) which means “high”.728 Óðinn may very
well be a syncretized version of all the aforementioned shamanistic and
Tengrist concepts, or in other words, the first shaman, the mediating
722
Eliade 1964, p. 9
723
Eliade 1964; Georg 2001, pp. 83–96; Vovin 2003
724
Sternberg 1930, pp. 125–153; Eliade 1964; Znamenski 2003
725
Eliade 1964; Znamenski 2003, p. 220
726
Eliade 1964, pp. 120, 233, 274–279, 382–383, 406–407; Skáldskaparmál, ch. 75 (Faulkes 1995, p. 164)
727
Zoëga 1910, p. 187; Gylfaginning, ch. 2 (Brodeur 1916, p. 15); Hávamál, sts. 109, 111 (Bugge 1867, p.
56; Bellows 1923, pp. 51–52); Grímnismál, st. 46 (Bellows 1923, p. 103); Orchard 1997, p. 74; Georg
2001, pp. 83–100; Vovin 2003, p. 389; Viðbótarþulur: Óðins nǫfn, st. 4 (Gurevich 2017, p. 741)
728
Zoëga 1910, p. 187; Hellquist 1922, p. 262; de Vries 1977, pp. 200, 210; Hauck et al. 1985, IK 58 (p.
69); Axboe 2021, p. 15, fig 2, Vindelev X4 (p. 14); Kroonen 2013, p. 215
120
eagle and the supreme deity all encapsulated into one being.
A hybridized elite
Kim has convincingly shown with the help of Chinese sources
that some of the northern Xiōngnú tribes resided in the Altai region
before embarking on their westward trek.729 It should be noted that the
Xiōngnú were present in southern Siberia already in 2nd century
BCE.730 During the late Xiōngnú period and the Hun period
considerable intermixing took place between West Eurasian and East
Eurasian groups which resulted in a higher amount of West Eurasian
admixture among the European Huns compared to the Xiōngnú.731
Some of these intermixing events occurred in Inner Asia before the
Huns embarked on their westward trek while other intermixing events
occurred once the Huns reached the Urals and subsequently eastern
Europe. Roman Zaroff, PhD, argues that ethnic boundaries, identities
and political affinities were fluid in non-Roman continental Europe
during the 5th century CE.732 Zaroff further argues that the extent of
influence posed on Germanic groups by steppe nomadic groups is
underestimated by many scholars, a view shared by Kim.733 Jordanes
states that it was common for Sarmatians to be given Germanic names
and for Goths to be given Hunnic names which arguably indicate a
certain degree of cultural fluidity.734 Some of the Germanic and
Sarmatian individuals/groups within the Hunnic tribal confederacy
evidently retained their non-Hunnic identities while others, perhaps
those of mixed ancestry, may have adopted the Hunnic politonym and
729
Wèilüè (Sānguózhì, vol. 30); Wèishū, vols. 102–103; Kim 2013, pp. 25, 38–39, 43, 117, 174, map. 1.1;
Maróti et al. 2022, fig. 7b
730
Savinov 2009, pp. 102–103; Golden 2011, pp. 42–43; Leus 2011, pp. 515–536; Kilunovskaya & Leus
2018a, pp. 45–62; Kilunovskaya & Leus 2018b, pp. 1–20; Linduff & Rubinson 2021, pp. 68–70; Peter
Golden 2021, personal communication, 13 December
731
Sinor 1990, p. 203; de Barros Damgaard et al. 2018b, pp. 371–372; Neparáczki et al. 2019, p. 7, fig. 3;
Jeong et al. 2020, pp. 896–897, 899–900, figs. 2–3; Gnecchi-Ruscone 2021, pp. 6–7, figs. 3–4; Maróti et
al. 2022, pp. 2860–2862, 2866, fig. 7, SD: tbl. S1c
732
Zaroff 2017, pp. 241, 252
733
Kim 2013, pp. 67–69; Zaroff 2017, p. 252
734
De origine actibusque Getarum, ch. 9 sec. 58 (Mierow 1908, p. 18); Kim 2013, pp. 111–112
121
Hunnic customs. It was likely individuals in the upper echelon of the
Hunnic state apparatus that intermixed over ethnic boundaries to forge
alliances between clans and families. The Sösdala horizon may reflect
one fraction of this hybridized equestrian elite whose function was to
administer the Hunnic imperial network that likely stretched all the way
to southern Scandinavia. I would argue that the Hunnic nobleman
Rodolf with his Germanic name, regardless of whether he was a real
person or a fictional character, is literary evidence of this hybridized
administrative elite. Archaeologist Jonathan Lindström argues that the
archaeological finds from Sösdala and Fulltofta shows that people in
central Scania interacted with steppe nomadic groups, presumably Huns
or Sarmatians.735 A similar view is expressed by Professor Dick
Harrison.736 The fact that basal Q-L527 and Q-Y15684 have never been
found among the multitude of samples from Scandinavia but both have
been found among less than a handful of samples from eastern Europe
indicate that at least some of the bearers of Q-L527 lived within the
boundaries of the Hunnic empire in the 5th century CE. However, it is
not possible to discern at this point in time whether these men were
ethnically Germanic or if they belonged to some other ethnic grouping.
Conclusion
The Hunnic hypothesis put forward in this book has been
criticized by some for not containing enough hard evidence. This
criticism is somewhat valid. With that said, there are numerous
examples where scholars with the right credentials are able to publish
texts that contain far less substance compared to what is presented in
this book. An illustrative example is the hypothesis regarding a possible
connection between Óðinn and Mithras.737 The proponents argue that
the aforementioned C-bracteates depict Óðinn as a Mithras-like figure,
but the iconographic evidence is circumstantial at best. Furthermore,
735
Lindström 2022, pp. 369–370
736
Harrison 2022, pp. 33, 186–188
737
Kaliff & Sundqvist 2006, pp. 212–217
122
there is no evidence of Mithraic influence in later iconography and
myths from Scandinavia. On the contrary, the Óðinic aspects of Norse
mythology point towards eastern influence that ultimately can be traced
back to southern Siberia. The fact that the C-bracteates is the first
concrete evidence of the Óðinn cult suggests that these two phenomena
are interconnected and that the starting point of the former is roughly
the same as the latter. These phenomena also coincide with the
introduction of a new ornamentation style in southern Scandinavia in
the 5th century CE known as the animal style that is centered around
animals and shapeshifting and whose origins can be traced back to
southern Siberia.738 The fact that these cultural expressions are
contemporaneous and that they all contain shamanistic aspects suggest
that they belong to the same package of beliefs. Furthermore, the fact
that the shamanistic aspects seem to diminish by time suggests that they
were picked up from a foreign source in the early 400s CE and over time
were adapted to fit the Germanic mindset. My conclusion is that the
most likely candidate to have transmitted these shamanistic concepts to
the Germanic peoples are the Huns and their allies who arrived in
Europe roughly around the same time.
738
Montelius 1905, p. 99; Axboe 2007, pp. 65–76, 141–148; Hedeager 2007, Hedeager 2011; Unterländer
et al. 2017, p. 2
123
Postface
A Mesolithic hunter-gatherer sample from Zvejnieki, Latvia, belonging
to Q-Y2700, and the aforementioned Anzick-1 sample from Montana,
USA, belonging to Q-FGC47595, show that some Q-MEH2-derived
lineages diffused from Siberia both prior to and during the Mesolithic.739
The Q-Y2700 sample from Latvia and an early Corded Ware sample
from Droužkovice, Czech Republic, belonging to Q-Y4800, show that
Q-Y4800-derived lineages have been present west of the Urals from the
Mesolithic and onwards, a view corroborated by Allentoft et al. 2022.740
Two Bronze Age samples from the northern Caucasus region have been
determined to belong to Q-YP1661 and Q-F749 respectively.741 Both
are Q-Y4800-derived subclades and the former is located downstream
of Q-SK1932 while the latter is located downstream of Q-L932.742 The
fact that both these individuals share a sizable amount of ancestry with
Upper Paleolithic Siberians from Afonatova Gora indicates that these
Y-DNA lineages and related admixture were brought to the Caucasus
region from Siberia.743 The archaeological site Afontova Gora near
Krasnoyarsk has generated two aDNA samples, one male and one
female, dated to c. 16,700 ybp and c. 15,950 ybp respectively.744 The
people from Afontova Gora were Ancient North Eurasians.745 The male
aDNA sample has been determined to belong to Q-NGQ11, a subclade
downstream of Q-MEH2.746 Professor Alexander G. Kozintsev argues
that the Okunev population ultimately descend from the Upper
Paleolithic hunter-gatherers from the Krasnoyarsk-Kask region, i.e. the
739
Rasmussen et al. 2014, aDNA: Anzick-1; Mathieson et al. 2018, SD: tbl. 1, aDNA: I4550; Wei et al.
2018, p. 1692; Colombo et al, 2022, p. 17, figs. 1, 9, 12
740
Papac et al. 2021, SD: tbl. S4, aDNA: DRO001; Allentoft et al. 2022, SI: fig. S3b.4, aDNA: ble007,
NEO501, NEO516, NEO599, NEO744
741
Wang et al. 2019, SI: pp. 49–50, 59–60, tbl. 23, aDNA: NV3001 (Q-YP1661), SA6004 (Q-F749);
Göran Runfeldt 2022, personal communication, 26 January; YFull 2022
742
FamilyTreeDNA 2022b
743
Jobling et al. 2003, p. 352; Wang et al. 2019, pp. 3, 5, figs. 2–4
744
Vasilev & Semenov 1993, pp. 218–220; Kozintsev et al. 1999, pp. 193–204; Raghavan et al. 2014, p.
89, aDNA: AfontovaGora2; Fu et al. 2016, aDNA: AfontovaGora3; Mathieson et al. 2018, SI: pp. 52–53
745
Raghavan et al. 2014, p. 89, aDNA: AfontovaGora2; Fu et al. 2016, aDNA: AfontovaGora3; Mathieson
et al. 2018, SI: pp. 52–53
746
Raghavan et al. 2014, p. 89, aDNA: AfontovaGora2; YFull 2022
124
Afontova Gora archaeological complex and related cultures.747
Kozintsev further argues that there is a craniological continuity between
the modern Sagay from Verkh-Askiz and the earlier Okunev population
from the same area as well as the Neolithic hunter-gatherers from the
Krasnoyarsk-Kask region.748 The male aDNA samples from Verkh-
Askiz have all been determined to belong to Q-FT377000.749 It should
be noted that the estimated divergence times (tbls. 1–2) of Q-FGC6927
and its derivative subclades Q-L527 and Q-FT377000 are roughly
contemporary with the Afontova Gora aDNA samples.750 I would argue
that the accumulated evidence suggests that Q-L527 originated in
southern Siberia among the Ancient North Eurasians.751 The fact that
the bearers of Q-FT377000 were still living in southern Siberia by 2000
BCE indicates that this branch had lived continuously in the same region
for more than ten thousand years.752 It is more difficult to map the
whereabouts of Q-L527 since its current distribution does not reflect its
supposed origins.
Some have argued that three Scandinavian aDNA samples
designated by Allentoft et al. 2022 as either Q1b or Q1b2 may in
actuality be Q-L527.753 After analyzing fig. S3b.4 in Allentoft et al.
2022, I conclude that these samples most likely are not Q-L527, a view
shared by geneticist Thomas Krahn at YSEQ.754 However, this
assessment is entirely dependent on the accuracy of the initial mapping
of the supposed Q-Y4800-derived aDNA samples by Allentoft et al.
2022. Krahn rightfully points out that large studies like Allentoft et al.
747
Kozintsev et al. 1999; Kozintsev 2020, pp. 138, 143
748
Kozintsev 2020, pp. 139–140, fig. 1
749
de Barros Damgaard et al. 2018a, aDNA: RISE670, RISE672–RISE674; Göran Runfeldt 2021,
personal communication, 13 September
750
Raghavan et al. 2014, p. 89, aDNA: AfontovaGora2; Mathieson et al. 2018, SI: pp. 52–53, aDNA:
AfontovaGora3; Ilumäe et al. 2021, fig. 2; YFull 2022
751
Vasilev & Semenov 1993, pp. 218–220; Kozintsev et al. 1999, pp. 193–204; Jobling et al. 2003, p. 352;
Kharkov et al. 2011, p. 408; Raghavan et al. 2014, p. 89, aDNA: AfontovaGora2; Allentoft et al. 2015, p.
169; Flegontov et al. 2016, pp. 6–7; Fu et al. 2016, aDNA: AfontovaGora3; Flegontov et al. 2019; Hollard
et al. 2018, p. 105; Kozintsev 2020, p. 142; Ilumäe et al. 2021, pp. 1515–1516, fig. 2; Zhang et al. 2021;
Colombo et al. 2022, fig. 9
752
de Barros Damgaard et al. 2018a; FamilyTreeDNA 2022b
753
Kashuba et al. 2019; Allentoft et al. 2022, aDNA: ble007, NEO599, NEO744
754
Allentoft et al. 2022, SI: fig. S3b.4; Thomas Krahn 2022, personal communication, 28 May
125
2022 seldom conduct a comprehensive Y chromosome analysis which
means that the generated clusters in fig. S3b.4 may contain errors. 755 A
Swedish Mesolithic sample labeled ble007 belongs to a cluster in fig.
S3b.4 that I classify as Q-SK1932 based on the terminal SNP of three
modern samples from the 1000 Genomes Project and one aDNA sample
belonging to the same cluster.756 These four samples (fig. 20) all belong
to subclades downstream of Q-SK1932.757 This suggests that ble007
also belongs to Q-SK1932, or more precisely, its derivative subclade
Q-Z36057 since its closest match HG03681 (fig. 20) has terminal SNP
Q-Z36057.758 Two Danish Neolithic samples labeled NEO599 and
NEO744 belong to another cluster in fig. S3b.4 that I classify as Q-L932
based on the terminal SNP of two modern samples from the 1000
Genomes Project and one aDNA sample belonging to the same
cluster.759 These three samples (fig. 20) all belong to subclades
downstream of Q-L932.760 This suggests that the two Danish samples
also belong to Q-L932, or perhaps more likely, the derivative Q-F749
branch due to its current presence in central Europe.761 I classify the
third and last Q-Y4800-derived cluster in fig. S3b.4 as Q-FGC6927
based on the fact that it contains the aforementioned Viking sample
VK260 from Dorset, England, and three of the aforementioned Okunev
samples from Verkh-Askiz, Khakassia.762 The fact that the authors place
one of the Q-FT377000 samples from Verkh-Askiz in the supposed
Q-L932 cluster (fig. 20) may indicate that the rendered clusters in fig.
S3b.4 are not fully reliable. Alternatively, the misplacement of RISE670
might be due to the quality of the sample itself. With that said, all the
other data points regarding the Q-Y4800-derived clusters are consistent
755
Thomas Krahn 2022, personal communication, 28 May
756
Haber et al. 2019; Haber et al. 2020, tbl. 1; Allentoft et al. 2022, aDNA: ERS3189355/SI-45 (Q-
Y6850), DNA: HG03943 (Q-L717), HGDP00251 (Q-SK1940), HG03681 (Q-Z36057);
FamilyTreeDNA2022; YFull 2022
757
FamilyTreeDNA 2022b; YFull 2022
758
Allentoft et al. 2022, SI: fig. S3b.4, aDNA: ble007, DNA: HG03681 (Q-Z36057)
759
de Barros Damgaard et al. 2018b; Allentoft et al. 2022, aDNA: ERS2374288/DA4 (Q-F749), DNA:
HGDP00226 (Q-FT112504) HGDP00144 (Q-FT192542); FamilyTreeDNA 2022b; YFull 2022
760
Allentoft et al. 2022, SI: fig. S3b.4; FamilyTreeDNA 2022b; YFull 2022
761
FamilyTreeDNA 2022b; Högström 2022b; YFull 2022
762
Allentoft et al. 2022, aDNA: VK260 (Q-BY77336), RICE672–RISE674 (Q-FT377000)
126
and correspond to Q-SK1932, Q-L932 and Q-FGC6927. The
Q-FGC6927 cluster also contains two other aDNA samples, namely
NEO309 and NEO911, from Novosibirsk Oblast in southern Siberia.763
It should be noted that all the samples that belong to the supposed
Q-FGC6927 cluster (fig. 20) are from Siberia except for the Q-L527-
derived sample VK260 from England. The terminal SNP of NEO309
and NEO911 are unknown at this point in time. Once the paper by
Allentoft et al. 2022 is officially published, independent actors will be
able to analyze the FASTQ data and determine the terminal SNP of
these two aDNA samples. One possible outcome is that a more
comprehensive Y chromosome analysis will show that NEO309 and/or
NEO911 in actuality are Q-L527. It should be noted that Novosibirsk
Oblast is located within the core region of the later pan-Eurasian Seima-
Turbino phenomenon.764 A fellow co-administrator, Associate
Professor Arne Solli, argues that Q-L527 and/or Q-L804 may have been
brought to eastern Europe as a result of the Seima-Turbino phenomenon,
a transcultural phenomenon that stretched from the Altai region to the
east coast of the Baltic Sea.765 Since there is no archaeological evidence
of the Seima-Turbino phenomenon reaching southern Scandinavia, Solli
argues that Q-L527 and/or Q-L804 may have been absorbed by the Huns
in eastern Europe and consequently brought to Scandinavia as I have
previously argued.766 Novosibirsk Oblast is also located within the
region termed Conq_Asia_Core by Maróti et al. 2022 where intermixing
took place in the 3rd and 4th centuries CE between the northern
Xiōngnú and other ethnic groups before they migrated further west.767
It is likely that a more comprehensive Y chromosome analysis of the
Q1b2 samples from Allentoft et al. 2022 will render deeper insights into
the origins of Q-FGC6927 and possibly also Q-L527. The final
conclusion is that there is not enough concrete evidence to draw any
763
Allentoft et al. 2022, SI: fig. S3b.4, aDNA: NEO309, NEO911
764
Chernykh 2012, fig. 5
765
Chernykh 2012, pp. 114, 117, fig. 5; Marchenko et al. 2017, pp. 2–3, fig. 1; Arne Solli 2022, personal
communication, 5 May
766
Arne Solli 2022, personal communication, 5 May
767
Maróti et al. 2022, pp. 2864, 2866, fig. 7b
127
definite conclusions at this point in time but that the accumulated
evidence creates a synergistic effect that favors the Hunnic hypothesis.
128
129
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Karl O. Högström
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my children whom I love dearly.
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A new approach centered around modern DNA

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Part 1: The Huns in Scandinavia ..................................................... 36

Part 2: The womb of nations ............................................................ 70

Postface ............................................................................................ 124

Bibliography .................................................................................... 130

FID = identification number

MRCA = most recent common ancestor

pl. = planche (french)

SHM = Statens historiska museer

TMRCA = time to the most recent common ancestor

ybp = years before present

Tbl. 1 Approximate divergence and coalescence times of Q-L527 and a

The Xiongnu and the Huns

The Sösdala horizon

Hun- place names

The synergistic effect

Scania and the Scanian lands

The Nordic Bronze Age

In The Rise of Bronze Age Society: Travels, Transmissions and

The Proto-Germanic ethnogenesis

During the Migration Period, Germanic tribes roamed the

The Langobards and the Heaðobards

In Beowulf, the author describes an ongoing feud between the

Hunnic presence in Germania

Bardowiek, located near the German coast of the Baltic Sea, as

Crossing the Baltic Sea

Scedenigge and Scedelandum

Reaching for the sky

A northern Eurasian cosmology

The cult of Óðinn

The Hunnic substrate

The Okunev substrate

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