Face of Britain - Episode 3

Neil Oliver explores the Orkney Islands and explores the Viking ancestry of the island residents. The geneticists also compared the DNA from the residents of Norway to the residents of Orkney to determine Viking ancestry.  They also compare how the residents of Orkney look in comparison to the residents of Norway.  What was the impact of the Vikings on the bloodline of Britain?  Was there a wholesale massacre of the people or did they intermarry with the locals?

The Orkney Islands were a perfect place for the Vikings to start their invasion of Britain.  Oliver explores the history of the Viking invasions.  He looks at names and shows how they can be a help in tracing a family's origins but only on the male side of the ancestry.  He looks at what the fate the Pictish men had at the hands of the Vikings.  He looks at the Orkney-Inga Saga for answers as to the fate of the Pictish men.

Oliver also looks at a shipwreck that may have impacted the genetics of the people of Orkney Island. 

Sir Walter Bodmer's continues his work in creating a genetic map of Britain.  This concludes the series on the genetic ancestry of the British.

This episode concludes with the revelation of how Viking the residents of Orkney are.

This series would be excellent for a science class studying genetics.  For use in the classroom: just highlight, copy and paste into a word document or a google document for use in the classroom.  You can easily format these questions to your specifications.

You can find the link for the YouTube video here.

Face of Britain Episode 3 Questions:

1. What is helping with and often enhancing archeology?
2. Where did Neil Oliver go to see Viking ancestry?
3. How did the Orkney Islands become part of Scotland?
   
4. What does the name Flett mean?
5. What does the archaeology or Orkney reveal about Viking settlement?
6. They tested the residents of what country to determine Vikings ancestry?
7. What are common Viking features?
8. What was the differences between Norwegian Faces and Orkney Faces?
9. What chromosome were the geneticists examining?
10. What percentage of Orkney’s males come from Viking ancestry?
    

Face of Britain Episode 3 Answers:

1. What is helping with and often enhancing archeology? - Genetics
2. Where did Neil Oliver go to see Viking ancestry? - Orkney Islands
3. How did the Orkney Islands become part of Scotland? - They were a wedding dowry
4. What does the name Flett mean? - Farmstead
5. What does the archaeology or Orkney reveal about Viking settlement? - The houses were square instead of round
6. They tested the residents of what country to determine Vikings ancestry? - Norway
7. What are common Viking features? - Blonde hair and blue eyes
8. What was the differences between Norwegian Faces and Orkney Faces? - Thicker faces, heavy jaw
9. What chromosome were the geneticists examining? - Y
10. What percentage of Orkney’s males come from Viking ancestry? 55%