Did the Vikings bring animals to Britain with them?

by time news

In the year 865 after Christ, an army of Vikings began an invasion of Great Britain, with the goal of conquering all of its territory. Although the conquest attempt failed, the Vikings spent enough years in the region to leave traces of their presence. Recent research has explored whether they also brought animals from their homeland, such as horses and dogs, to Britain.

The study has been carried out by an international team including Tessi Löffelmann, from Durham University, and Julian Richards, from York University, both institutions in the UK.

Löffelmann and his colleagues have found what can be considered the first unquestionable scientific proof that the Vikings crossed the North Sea into Britain taking with them dogs and horses from their land.

The study authors examined human and animal remains from Britain’s only known Viking cremation burial ground, located at Heath Wood in Derbyshire.

The scientists analyzed the strontium isotopes contained in the remains. Strontium is a naturally occurring chemical element found in varying proportions throughout the world, thereby providing a geographic footprint of where or where a human or animal has lived for a significant amount of time.

Their analysis showed that one human adult and several animals almost certainly originated from the Baltic Shield area of ​​Scandinavia, which encompasses Norway and central and northern Sweden, and died shortly after reaching Britain.

Archaeological excavations at Heath Wood Scandinavian Cremation Cemetery in Derbyshire, UK. (Photo: Julian Richards, University of York)

The study is titled “Sr analyzes from only known Scandinavian cremation cemetery in Britain illuminate early Viking journey with horse and dog across the North Sea”. And it has been published in the academic journal PLoS ONE. (Source: NCYT de Amazings)

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