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

Woof! Not To Worry

"I get so many questions about this issue."

"Will there be a vaccine? When will there be a vaccine?"

Dr.Elizabeth Lennon, veterinarian, University of Pennsylvania 

"It doesn't look like cats or dogs would ever be a reservoir for this virus."

"We believe that if there weren't sick people around them, they would not be able to continue spreading it from animal to animal -- it would not continue to exist in their population."

"The best way to prevent SARS-CoV-2 in our pets is to prevent the disease in people."

"So please get vaccinated."

Dr.Jeanette O'Quin, veterinarian, Ohio State University

Science

 

Jaguars are being inoculated against COVID-19, so are bonobos, orangutans and otters, ferrets and fruit bars, at various zoos in the past year, as cases have erupted among them. Billions of people worldwide are now vaccinated against COVID-19, with billions more yet to go. The global medical community and government agencies are working around the clock to ensure that as many populations become inoculated against infections by the coronavirus as possible to present a united front against a frequently-deadly pathogen.

Cat or dog vaccines have been developed; those initial vaccines were then deployed to vaccinate zoo animals. But the issue of having a vaccine against COVID available for household pets appears for the time being and perhaps for the foreseeable future, a dead issue, so to speak. Not so much to ignore a need, or to leave the impression that dearly beloved household companion pets are no one's concern, but because experience has shown that though cats (more so than dogs) and dogs can acquire the infection, they readily rise above it.

Simply put: not a priority. Household pets display few symptoms of COVID, some, like their human counterparts, are asymptomatic and most cases are very mild. When at first it was imagined that a pet pandemic could arise, the possibility of developing a dog/cat-specific vaccine appealed to Zoetis, a veterinary pharmaceutical company in New Jersey, and work began on producing a vaccine candidate. There were, in fact, four promising candidates by fall of 2020.

And then it became obvious to researchers that after all, the issue of pets being infected would not be likely to pose a serious threat to either animals or people. One study of 76 pets living with people who had developed COVID saw 17.6 percent of cats and 1.7 percent of dogs testing positive for COVID and 82.4 percent of the infected pets showed no symptoms.

The most common effect on pets infected with the virus are fairly mild symptoms including lethargy, coughing, sneezing, runny noses or diarrhea. Typically the infected pet makes a full recovery without the need of any treatment. Nor is there strong evidence that cats or dogs may spread the virus to humans. All these factors convinced experts a vaccine for pets was unnecessary.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture which regulates veterinary medicine in the US, announced in November of 2020 that it would not accept applications for cat or dog vaccines "because data do not indicate such a vaccine would have value". At the same time the possibility is not discounted that at some future date it is possible that changes in the virus could mandate that a pet vaccine be given wide use.