Cremated animal and human bone from the Heath Wood Viking cemetery.Image credit: Julian Richards, University of York
Cremated animal and human bone from the Heath Wood Viking cemetery.Image credit: Julian Richards, University of York
Viking kitties? FReepers knew this already!
More likely it was the guest of honor at the funeral feast.
It’s not unusual to travel with your pets. I don’t know why this would be news.
were they support animals for the emotionally fragile warriors?
IMHO, the dog of the Vikings was a close ancestor of today’s Irish Wolfhound.
Read below:
Vikings cremated their dead on an open funeral pyre, and unfortunately for their dogs, they followed their masters to Valhalla.
In the Gokstad burial mound (c. 900 AD), bones of eight large sighthounds were buried on both sides outside the ship.
The first recorded Viking raid was in 795 on Rathlin Island off the coast of Northern Ireland. Subsequent forays took the Vikings all along the western coast of the Emerald Isle. The huge dogs were taken back to the Scandinavian lands, home to the Vikings, as confiscated treasure.
There were many references in the Icelandic Sagas of these large hounds, and indeed, a memorable quote about the Wolfhound comes not from a Celt, but from a Viking lord, Olaf, in Njal’s Saga, a 13th century tale of blood feuds in the Viking era. Olaf told his friend, the doomed Gunnarr, “I want to give you three gifts: a gold bracelet, a cloak that once belonged to King Myrkjartan of Ireland, and a dog I was given in Ireland. He is big, and no worse follower than a sturdy man. Besides, it is part of his nature that he has man’s wit, and he will bay at every man whom he knows is thy foe, but never at thy friends; he can see, too, in any man’s face, whether he means thee well or ill, and he will lay down his life to be true to thee . . .”
Source: https://nationalpurebreddogday.com/the-viking-irish-wolfhound/
A dog for hunting, a horse for riding and drawing, and a pig for eating.
Not sure they all qualify as “pets”. While hunters and farmers do have a relationship with their animals, it’s nothing like contemporary pet owners.
They weren't pets. They were guard and attack dogs. "Pets" -- sheesh. Was Fluffy with them?
This was probably published back in the 1970s or early 1980s...so not sure how much DNA analysis played a part in the argument.
Cool.
Isnt the answer to the various animals obvious. Like any other adventurer or colonist, Vikings would have had needs that could have been met by animals, all of which would have been assets of wealth in the homeland.
1. Horse-transportation and war
2. Pig—Makin’ bacon, hmm, hmm, good.
3. Dog —used in war since Roman times in Europe and of course a small cuddly toy for miladies boudoir hut.
Vikings had comfort animals
“I believe “The Far Side” covered this years ago.
