HELSINKI, FINLAND—The University of Helsinki announced that scientists including Sanni Oversti of the Faculty of Biological and Environmental Sciences analyzed mitochondrial DNA samples obtained from the remains of more than 100 individuals who were buried in Finland between the fourth and nineteenth centuries A.D., and detected separate populations in different geographic regions that all contributed to the ancestry of modern Finns. The mitochondrial DNA lineages found in southern and southwestern Finland were typical of those found among Stone Age hunter-gatherers, while the mitochondrial DNA found in eastern Finland and Russia resembled those found in European farmer populations. Genetic material recovered from remains found in western Finland has been associated with modern Sami populations. Oversti noted that in today’s Finns, however, lineages associated with ancient farmers are more common in the east, and hunter-gatherer DNA is found more often in the west. To read about the use of viral DNA to ascertain the origins of over 100 soldiers who died during World War II, go to "A Viral Fingerprint."