Vikings brought their own animals with them, say York archaeologists

Archaeologists have found what they say is the first solid scientific evidence suggesting that Vikings crossed the North Sea to Britain with dogs and horses.

They examined human and animal remains from Britain’s only known Viking cremation cemetery at Heath Wood in Derbyshire.

Scientists looked at strontium isotopes contained within the remains. Strontium is a natural element found in different ratios around the world and provides a geographical 'fingerprint' for human and animal movements.

The analysis showed that one human adult and several animals almost certainly came from the Norway and central and northern Sweden area, and died soon after arrival in Britain.

Britain’s only known Viking cremation cemetery at Heath Wood in Derbyshire. Picture: SWNS

The research team says it suggests that Vikings were not only stealing animals when they arrived in Britain, as accounts from the time describe, but were also transporting animals from Scandinavia too.

As the human and animal remains were found in the remnants of the same cremation pyre, the researchers believe the adult may have been someone important who was able to bring a horse and dog to Britain.

The remains are associated with the Viking Great Army, a combined force of Scandinavian warriors that invaded Britain in 865 AD.

The research team included archaeologists from the University of York, who excavated the Heath Wood cemetery between 1998 and 2000.

York University's Professor Julian Richards, who co-directed the excavations at the Heath Wood Viking cemetery, said: “The Bayeux Tapestry depicts Norman cavalry disembarking horses from their fleet before the Battle of Hastings, but this is the first scientific demonstration that Viking warriors were transporting horses to England two hundred years earlier."

Vikings at York Viking Festival

He added: “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.”

The study's lead author Tessi Löffelmann, a doctoral researcher, said: “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.

“Our most important primary source, the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, states that the Vikings were taking horses from the locals in East Anglia when they first arrived, but this was clearly not the whole story, and they most likely transported animals alongside people on ships."

Ms Löffelmann, jointly working in the Department of Archaeology at Durham University, and the Department of Chemistry at Vrije Universiteit in Belgium, added: “This also raises questions about the importance of specific animals to the Vikings.”