Domesticated Animals Accompanied Vikings to Britain

Cremated horse fragment, Durham University

"This is the first solid scientific evidence that Scandinavians almost certainly crossed the North Sea with horses, dogs and possibly other animals as early as the ninth century AD and could deepen our knowledge of the Viking Great Army."

 :They were treated more like companion animals rather than just for economic purposes."

"I find it really touching, and it suggests we underestimate just how important animals were to Vikings."

"I'm not saying that they never took animals from the English when they arrived. But in possibly rare instances, they brought animals with them. And I think it kind of reflects the importance that we think animals had in Norse mythology, and that they were kind of sometimes seen as not just status symbols, but also as kind of, companions."

Tessi Loffelmann, doctoral researcher, Durham University / Vrije Universiteit Brussels

"It shows how much Viking leaders valued their personal horses and hounds that they brought them from Scandinavia, and that the animals were sacrificed to be buried with their owners."

Professor Julian Richards, Department of Archaeology, University of York

This photo shows one of the Heath Wood barrows being excavated by archaeologists. Julian Richards, University of York.

Recently published research reflecting a surprise archaeological find is evidence that when Vikings crossed the North Sea to arrive in Britain they brought along with them their personal horses and dogs. The research, published in the scientific journal PLOS ONE, reveals a new understanding of the culture of ancient Scandinavia. In actual fact, the place that animals have in the cultural psychology of most human societies through the ages is fairly widespread.

Looking somewhat further back to Egyptian mythology and religious culture it is clear that animals of the region, many common to other parts of earth's geography such as Indigenous First Peoples of North America, where were worshipped, given anthropological as well as godly attributes. Nor was their usefulness as herders and hunters -- from birds of prey to hunting dogs undervalued.

Evidence was discovered for the first time in Britain indicating that when individual Vikings died arrangements were made to have their valued dogs and horses cremated along with them and buried together. Infamously, historically to the near present, high-caste Hindu rituals in Indian funeral custom saw women cremated along with their deceased husbands; like the Vikings' animals to be buried together as beloved possessions to accompany them in the after-life.

The discovery of the Vikings' customs was made by researchers at Durham University, carrying out excavation work at Britain's only recognized Viking cremation cemetery, at Heath Wood in Derbyshire.The cemetery has links to the Viking Great Army, a combined military force of Scandinavian warriers that in 865AD invaded Britain.

 

Icelandic horse: Shutterstock

Remains of both humans and animals were discovered on a funeral pyre, analysis of the bones showing they originated in the Baltic Shield area of Scandinavia; encompassing Finland, Sweden, part of Norway and northwest Russia. In determining the bones' origin, the team studied traces of the element strontium in the remnants of two adults, a child and three animals found at the Heath Wood site.

Strontium naturally occurs in the environment, found in rocks, soil and water prior to appearing in plants. When those plants are consumed by humans and animals, strontium replaces calcium in bones and teeth. Various versions of strontium appear in different geological areas, acting as a 'fingerprint', identifying the geographic region that people or animals came from.

 

A new study suggests that the 9th century Vikings sailed with horses, dogs, and maybe even pigs. Photo: Shutterstock