Re: Asian migration to Scandinavia

Obviously the 5th century migration is too late
to explain North Germanic, let alone Germanic.
How early is the name Odin/Wodan attested?

Arnaud asked:

> Can you tell more about this "severed head" ?

From Wikipedia's page on Odin:

> Odin has a number of magical artifacts associated with him:
> the spear Gungnir ...
> a magical gold ring (Draupnir) ...
> two ravens Huginn and Muninn ...
> Sleipnir, an octopedal horse ...
> the severed head of Mímir, which foretold the future.
> ... a pair of wolves named Geri and Freki,

From Wikipedia's page on Uldin:

> Uldin first became known to the Romans in December 400,
> when he decapitated Gainas, and sent the head to Arcadius as a gift.

Was displaying severed heads a common ancient practice? :-)

Torsten asked:

> James wrote:
>> the R1a
>> Y-chromosome haplogroup present in Scandinavia
>> could be explained by immigration of originally
>> Iranian- or Hunnic-speaking warriors.
>
> I think you mean the I1 group?

No, I didn't. Ignoring N (Saami related) in the North,
Norway's males are roughly split into equal thirds
of I1, R1b and R1a. The first two are paleolithic
Western European; it is the R1a that "needs" an
Eastern European or Asian explanation.

James D. Allen