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

Abstract

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.

Isotopic biographies reveal horse rearing and trading networks in medieval London

“…Geologies that could impart such highly radiogenic signatures above 0.714 are rare within the mainland U.K., where the total 87 Sr/ 86 Sr range falls mostly between 0.707 and 0.715 ( 15 , 19 ). Biosphere ratios between 0.7115 and 0.7130 can be found only in southwest England, discrete parts of the Midlands, and parts of Wales and Scotland ( 12 , 20 ). Biosphere ratios above 0.7132 are observed even more rarely in restricted areas of the landscape such as the Malvern Hills (0.714), other areas close to the English-Welsh border (~0.716), and in the Lake District ( 15 , 21 , 22 ), with some isolated patches of highly radiogenic geologies producing ratios of up to 0.7165 in Wales ( 23 ), between 0.7165 and 0.7182 in Scotland ( 19 , 22 ) and, exceptionally, up to 0.7287 on parts of Dartmoor centered on rubidium-rich granites ( 24 ).…”

“…southwest England, discrete parts of the Midlands, and parts of Wales and Scotland (12,20). Biosphere ratios above 0.7132 are observed even more rarely in restricted areas of the landscape such as the Malvern Hills (0.714), other areas close to the English-Welsh border (~0.716), and in the Lake District (15,21,22), with some isolated patches of highly radiogenic geologies producing ratios of up to 0.7165 in Wales (23), between 0.7165 and 0.7182 in Scotland (19,22) and, exceptionally, up to 0.7287 on parts of Dartmoor centered on rubidium-rich granites (24).…”

Biomolecular evidence reveals mares and long-distance imported horses sacrificed by the last pagans in temperate Europe

“…Sampled horses were not buried associated with specific graves, so it is beyond the interpretive potential of this study to determine whether imported horses traveled with an owner or were acquired by an indigenous Balt. There is isotopic evidence that individuals traveled across the North Sea and were buried with Scandinavian-raised horses in the Early Viking Age ( 78 ).…”