Haplogroup I1a Norse Viking:
The Haplogroup I, I1, and I1a lineages are nearly completely restricted to northwestern Europe. These would most likely have been common within Viking populations. One lineage of this group extends down into central Europe. Source: FamilyTreeDNA:
The ancestors of Haplogroup I (defined by the P19 and M170 genetic markers) arrived from the Middle East 20,000 to 25,000 years ago and are associated with the Gravettian culture. Gravettian is the second subdivision of the Upper Paleolithic technological phase in western Europe (from 27,000 to 21,000 years ago). Haplogroup I is most frequent in central Eastern Europe and also occurs in Basques and Sardinians.
Haplogroup "I" is found in Central and Eastern Europe, but also accounts for almost all the HG2s in Northern Europe and the British Isles. Haplogroup "I" is thought to stem from a group (Gravettian culture) that arrived in Europe from the Middle East about 25,000 years ago. The Gravettian culture was "known for its Venus figurines, shell jewellery, and for using mammoth bones to build homes".
Source: Mike Rutledge http://home.attbi.com/~rutledgedna/haplogroups.html#I:
Gravettian culture A phase (c.28,000-23,000 ya) of the European Upper Paleolithic that is characterized by a stone-tool industry with small pointed blades used for big-game hunting (bison, horse, reindeer and mammoth). It is divided into two regional groups: the western Gravettian, mostly known from cave sites in France, and the eastern Gravettian, with open sites of specialized mammoth hunters on the plains of central Europe and Russia. Some early examples of cave art and the famous 'Venus' figurines were made by Gravettian artists.
Source: http://www.historytoday.com/index.cfm?articleid=1719 Source: http://home.comcast.net/~libpjr1/haplogroupI.htm I1a Subclade Analysis by Ken Nordtvedt
