Chanes of some form of viking heritage?

Question

All my family was born and lived their lives around West Midlands in England, going as far as back as i can.

Answer 1

There were some genetic studies carried out a few years ago in which people in England were identified as being of Viking descent - not surprising since they occupied this island for a few hundred years.

It may have been connected with the Sorenson project or through "Family Tree" - you can probably find details on the web somewhere.

Without genetic testing or having a name which is obviously from Viking origins, you can only make a guess perhaps from skeletal tendencies (the anglo-saxons were inclined to be smaller with sloping shoulders - the Vikings tended to be taller with straight shoulders).  Another hint might be blood grouping - Group A is more likely to be from Northern extraction, for example, but the Vikings certainly "put themselves about" venturing into the Middle East and the Americas, as well as the mainland of Northern Europe.