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Those who have a family tradition of "Black Viking" descent but have been
told this group is nothing but a myth may want to take another look.

Historians, anthropologists, medical and forensic scientists and linguists are combining
their discplines to shed new light on the elusive origins of the so-called Black Vikings of the
Atlantic coastal areas of the U.S. and Canada. The growing awareness of this once
little-known cultural/ethnic group has prompted an explosion of research in recent years.
These efforts will likely be of great importance to a large number of genealogists who
have a family tradition of "Black Viking Heritage" but haven't been able to make a connection.

A 1997 study (see "The Black Vikings: Myth or Reality?" in Scientific
Historian, Oct.-Dec., 1997) by Harvard-trained historian Henctor Andre-Jones
is credited with reviving interest in the Black Vikings, long-thought to have inhabited
a large portion of the areas surrounding the border between the U.S. and Canada but
whose origins and existence have been shrouded in mystery.

Dr. Andre-Jones spent five years studying the early Norse Sagas and, based
on clues within those documents, the works of 10th Century Roman scholars.
Here is the scenario his effort has painted.

An illegitimate child named Aben Arou was born about 962 A.D. to the
Senegalese Prince Aben Amir (ca. 930-993), a diplomatic representative to Egypt,
and the Egyptian noblewoman Isis Rhamu (946-?), a double first cousin to the reigning
pharaoh. At an early age, The child apparently was sent to Rome at an early age,
both to be educated and to avoid embarrassment to the families of both of his parents.
The child was an especially difficult circumstance for the pharaoh, who was planning
to make Isis his wife.

Accompanying Aben Arou were a large entourage, consisting of a dozen or more
Egyptian tutors and servants and a Senegalese guard of perhaps 30 warriors. The presence of
this entourage in Rome and the nearby spas was unusual enough to have attracted comments
in the writings of the day. About 980, it was noted by the Roman historian Litergus Litmus
that Aben Arou and his entourage accompanied Roman General Barnabus Maximus on a
campaign to Northern Europe and the British Isles. Although Maximus and most of his
legions returned safely, Aben Arou and his attendants appaently did not.

European historians have long speculated about the sudden and total disappearance of
the Sengalese-Egyptian prince. Dr. Andre-Jones concludes that Arou and his attendants were
captured by Viking raiders while camping away from the Roman army. Based on clues in the
Norse Sagas, he believes the entire party was eventually enslaved by the Vikings and Aben
Arou and his guard likely were enchained oarsmen during a Viking colonization expidition to
Greenland about 982 A.D., when Aben Arou was about age 20. The Norse Sagas recount
that the large fleet carrying the party, under the command of the noted Viking chieftan Rolf
Tollefson, was lost at sea. However, Dr. Andre-Jones speculates that instead of the fleet
being destroyed at sea, most of the ships were blown off course and eventually wrecked on
the coast of northern Maine.

For the story after the landing in North America, Dr. Andre-Jones has drawn on the
work of Norwegian Anthropologist Bjarni Herjulfsson, a former professor at the University
for Social Studies at Oslo (see The Journal of Medeval Anthropology, Vol.
XIV, No. 2, 37-82: "An Analysis of Some Aspects of Exterior Cultural Influences Upon the
Maliseet Tribe of North American Aborigines" and "Further Thoughts on the Maliseet
Indians," Vol. XVII, No. 1, 3-32).

Herjulfsson's work, in turn, relies not only on diggings in the area of the Maliseet
homeland, the Meduxnekeag River Valley in Maine and Nova Scotia, but on extensive
interviews with descendants of early tribal oral historians and the journal of an early
exporers.

Anthropological diggings at what is believed to have been the site of the largest
Maliseet village in the 11th and 12th Centuries A.D. have unearthed some remarkable
artifacts. These, claims Herjulfsson, all support the theory that a large number of
survivors of the Viking fleet were assimilated into the Maliseet Tribe. These artifacts
include what almost surely is a portion of the prow of a Viking ship as well as a large
collection of fragments of inscribed tablets.

These - as discussed later - are yet to be deciphered, but linguists say they are a
remarkable combination of Norse symbols, Latin alphabetic characters, Egyptian
hieroglyphics and early Senegalese "picture words."

The most revealing of Herjulfsson's interviews with the descendants of the Maliseet
oral historians was with Charlie Smith, the nominal chief of scattered remnants of the
Mariseet Tribe. In addition to being the present-day oral historian of the triibe, Smith owns
most of the surviving papers of Ezra Titus Smith, a 17th Century Maliseet chief who was
educated in English colonial schools and who set on paper many of the oral traditions of the
tribe. Charlie Smith is but one of an estimated 20,000 to 40,000 living descendants of the
prolific Ezra T. Smith.

The elder Smith's chronicles, as related by Herjulfsson, tell of "a great black warrior,"
tall of stature and "wise in the ways of the Gods" who arrived at the Maliseet village along
with "several score" prisoners. This warrior was almost without doubt Aben Abou, for it is
known from the Roman scribes that he was remarkably tall for his day and that he had
been educated in most of the arts and sciences of the day, including a solid grounding
in Roman dieties and Egyptian and Senegalese religous beliefs. And, most likely, the
fundamentals of Judaism, Christianity and Islam.

The Maliseets were soon in awe of both Aben Abou's stature and knowledge and he
quickly rose to the highest councils of tribal leadership. The Smith chronicles say
that, as a chief, Aben Abou had many wives not only from among the tribe but from
among the surviving Viking and Egyptian female colonists. Among these, it is
claimed, was Olga Sorensdotter, the widow of Rolf Tollefson, who apparently was
killed either when the ships ran aground or later by the Indians. She is described as
having had flaming red hair and was said to have been the mother of perhaps a dozen
of Aben Abou's many children.

The Smith papers relate that for more than five centuries, the Maliseet lived and
prospered in their northern domain, apparently thriving on the unusual racial composite
which included Senegalese, Egyptian, Viking and North American Indian.
The Maliseets also were noted for their cultural and scientific advancements, no doubt
learned from the teachings of their revered chief, Aben Abou.

In 1607, the noted explorer Henry Hudson made an excursion into the area
inhabited by the Maliseets and the first contemporarily recorded description of the
tribe appears in the logs of that voyage. They speak of a council Hudson and his
officers held with the chief of the Maliseet, a man described as being of an
"unusual bronze complexion" who stood a "head and a half above other men" and
who possessed "hair the colour of the breast of a robin." This man, according to
the Smith papers, was called Ah-ben-Ah by the Indians and later was known to
English colonists as Red Lion. He no doubt was a descendant of Aben Arou and
Olga Sorensdotter, says Herjulfsson, who also says the Smith papers contain
"an accurate genealogy from Aben Abou to Red Lion and down to Ezra T. Smith."

An interesting footnote to this adventure is the belief by some Hudson family
researchers that Edward Hudson, one of Henry's younger sons, was so fascinated
by his father's account of the pow-wow with the majestic Red Lion that he journeyed
to North America in a vain attempt to find the tribal chiefton and was either captured
or killed by other tribes in the area.

Fr. Francois Deriere, a Jesuit priest believed to be the first European to
venture into this portion of Maine and Nova Scotia after Hudson's brief visit, noted in
his journal (published in 1697 in Paris under the title
Mon Journie Sacre Dans Le Monde Nouveaux)
that the inhabitants of the area not only bore a strong resemblance to
"representatifs du Afrique" but some of their language resembled "dans un mode petitf"
scholarly Latin.

Fr. Deriere speculated, incorrectly, that the natives were descendants of the famous
"Lost Legion," which disappeared from the coast of Wales some years before the Norman
invasion of England. The Jesuit's journal also comments on the fact that that there are "parmi ces
peuples ceux avec cheveux rouge brillant et, quelquefois, barbe rouge" (there are "among these
people those with bright red hair and, sometimes, red beards") amd that these appeared to be
"primordal" (of primary importance).

But most noteworthy to Fr. Deriere were sights and sounds he attributed to
"Providence Divine":
Many of the cabins contain in a place of honor a rough approximation of the crucifix,
"symbolic of our Lord's death and Resurrection." Equally impressive to the clergyman was the
"Miricle" manifested in some of the tribal chants, which - because of their Divine Origin"
contained within them Latin text from the Bible.

Dr. Andre-Jones postulates that while Aben Arour may have retained some Latin
phrases learned in Rome, the language is strikingly similar to to Senegalese.

Recent anthropological diggings, under the direction of Dr. Heigh Hamarschull of the
Institue of Anthropology in Berlin, have been made in the area of the the Meduxnekeag
River Valley. A main target of these efforts were a series of prominent mounds of
prominent mounds on a bluff above the river. These mounds are sacred to the Malimeet and
the diggings were allowed to proceed only after considerable negotiation with Indian leaders
and state and federal officials.

The results have been astounding. The "High Burial Hills" have yielded a number of
well-preserved artifacts and skeletons, one of which Hamarschull says is "almost surely" that
of either Aben Abou himself or his descendant Red Lion. Forensic scientists at Oxford
University are still examining the well preserved skeleton, but they say preliminary DNA
testing shows the presence of the extremely rare "n-y" chromosome. The scientists
also said these remains were "definitely" those of a male afflicted with Dupuytren's
contracture, an unusual inherited disease closely identified with some areas of West
Africa, including Senegal.

Dupuytren's contracture is not always easily detected and exhibits a variety of
symptoms. It is generally non-life threatening and is believed to be a factor in other
ailments, such as trauma, diabetes, alcoholism, epilepsy and liver disease, but there is
no clear relationship. The disease is most common in older men (above age 40),
affecting 10 times as many non-white males as Northern European females.

Linguists at the Language Insitute in Cairo are still studying the fragments of tablets
unearthed at the Maliseet village site. A spokesman there said that there would be
no statements until the completion of studies, expected some time next year.
She declined to speculate on what the tablets might say, but did confirm that it
appears that a number of different languages appear on the stones.

Meanwhile, genealogists who suspect they have a Black Viking connection appear to be
on the verge of a major breakthrough. A noted New England genealogist,
Jeremy Donaldson, said in an interview that if the on-going research confirms
preliminary findings, "those who have Black Viking ancestry will be able to make a
giant leap up their family tree." Donaldson said that if it is established that the skeleton
is indeed that of Aben Amour, "it opens up an immense new area of research."
Those who now must content with hand-me-down stories alluding to Black Vikings
will, for instance, "be able to take a simple test to determine if,
indeed, they are descendants of this exotic Maine group." If the test proves a linkage, then
"there are the Ezra Titus Smith Papers. Anyone who can trace his ancestry to Smith or one
of hundreds of his contemporary cousins will have the table set. And not only will they be
able to trace their ancestry on this continent for several centuries more than those who have a
Mayflower ancestor, but they will be able to establish connections to Egyptian and Senegal
royalty."

Donaldson added that the new discoveries about the Black Vikings will have an impact
far beyond New England, "The influence of the Black Vikings is probably much broader
than anyone has suspected," he said.

For example, Donalson said, the Smith Papers tell of numerous raids by rival tribes
upon the Maliseet. "In just one of these raids," he says, more than 100 Maliseet
tribesmen were captured and carried away. A few young men who later escaped and
returned home said they had lived in a village called Sanasopet. Sanasopet has been
identified as being near the far southeastern corner of Virginia."