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

Loeffelmann, Tessi; Janet Montgomery, Janet; Richards, Julian D.; Johnson, Lucie J.; Claeys, Philippe; Snoeck, Christophe

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


Authors

Julian D. Richards

Lucie J. Johnson

Philippe Claeys

Christophe Snoeck



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.

Citation

Loeffelmann, T., Janet Montgomery, J., Richards, J. D., Johnson, L. J., Claeys, P., & Snoeck, C. (2023). Sr analyses from only known Scandinavian cremation cemetery in Britain illuminate early Viking journey with horse and dog across the North Sea. PLoS ONE, 18(2), https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0280589

Journal Article Type Article
Acceptance Date Jan 7, 2023
Online Publication Date Feb 1, 2023
Publication Date 2023
Deposit Date Jan 11, 2023
Publicly Available Date Mar 28, 2024
Journal PLoS ONE
Publisher Public Library of Science
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 18
Issue 2
DOI https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0280589
Public URL https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1183158

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Publisher Licence URL
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Copyright Statement
© 2023 Löffelmann et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.




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