Monuments archéologiques de l'âge Viking au Danemark

Roesdahl, Else; Boyer, Régis

doi:10.3917/autre.boyer.2005.01.0027

Cited by 2 publications

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“…However, the Norwegian migrants who settled Iceland from the 870s onwards took their cattle with them, and it is probable that the large fleets, which landed in England in the same period, included cargo ships as well as the seek and slender long ships. Indeed, archaeological evidence from excavated early Scandinavian ships indicates that amongst the ninth and early tenth century models, it was the Norwegian and Swedish examples, which appear to have had more significant loading capacity through more stabilising proportions [ 71 – 73 ]. Given that, it is less surprising that a Viking leader would also bring their prized hunting dog, another key status symbol.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sr analyses from only known Scandinavian cremation cemetery in Britain illuminate early Viking journey with horse and dog across the North Sea

et al. 2023

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The barrow cemetery at Heath Wood, Derbyshire, is the only known Viking cremation cemetery in the British Isles. It dates to the late ninth century and is associated with the over-wintering of the Viking Great Army at nearby Repton in AD 873–4. Only the cremated remains of three humans and of a few animals are still available for research. Using strontium content and isotope ratios of these three people and three animals–a horse, a dog and a possible pig–this paper investigates the individuals’ residential origins. The results demonstrate that strontium isotope ratios of one of the adults and the non-adult are compatible with a local origin, while the other adult and all three animals are not. In conjunction with the archaeological context, the strontium isotope ratios indicate that these individuals most likely originated from the area of the Baltic Shield–and that they died soon after arrival in Britain. This discovery constitutes the first solid scientific evidence that Scandinavians crossed the North Sea with horses, dogs and other animals as early as the ninth century AD.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sr analyses from only known Scandinavian cremation cemetery in Britain illuminate early Viking journey with horse and dog across the North Sea

et al. 2023

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“…One of the major characteristics of the Viking Age, the final era of the Scandinavian Late Iron Age spanning from around 800 to around 1050 CE, is extensive international trade and exchange of goods [ 1 , 2 ]. Contemporary written sources describe how fur from wild animals hunted in current day Northern Scandinavia and Russia like fox, beaver, marten, ermine and sable were amongst the pivotal commodities that were brought via the eastern trade routes to the growing Arab fur market in exchange for beads, silver, gold and silk [ 3 , 4 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Palaeoproteomics identifies beaver fur in Danish high-status Viking Age burials - direct evidence of fur trade

et al. 2022

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Fur is known from contemporary written sources to have been a key commodity in the Viking Age. Nevertheless, the fur trade has been notoriously difficult to study archaeologically as fur rarely survives in the archaeological record. In Denmark, fur finds are rare and fur in clothing has been limited to a few reports and not recorded systematically. We were therefore given access to fur from six Danish high status graves dated to the Viking Age. The fur was analysed by aDNA and palaeoproteomics methods to identify the species of origin in order to explore the Viking Age fur trade. Endogenous aDNA was not recovered, but fur proteins (keratins) were analysed by MALDI-TOF-MS and LC-MS/MS. We show that Viking Age skin clothing were often composites of several species, showing highly developed manufacturing and material knowledge. For example, fur was produced from wild animals while leather was made of domesticates. Several examples of beaver fur were identified, a species which is not native to Denmark, and therefore indicative of trade. We argue that beaver fur was a luxury commodity, limited to the elite and worn as an easily recognisable indicator of social status.

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Monuments archéologiques de l'âge Viking au Danemark

Cited by 2 publications

References 0 publications

Sr analyses from only known Scandinavian cremation cemetery in Britain illuminate early Viking journey with horse and dog across the North Sea

Sr analyses from only known Scandinavian cremation cemetery in Britain illuminate early Viking journey with horse and dog across the North Sea

Palaeoproteomics identifies beaver fur in Danish high-status Viking Age burials - direct evidence of fur trade

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