OSLO, NORWAY—DNA analysis of horse teeth recovered from Viking graves at 17 sites in Iceland suggests nearly all of the horses were male, according to a Live Science report. “Since horses are so hard to sex morphologically unless fairly well-preserved, whole skeletons are found, we know very little about the varying roles of male and female horses in the past,” said Albína Hulda Pálsdóttir of the University of Oslo. She noted that these horses were well cared for in life and may have been chosen for burial because of their symbolic virility and aggression as stallions. Meanwhile, female horses whose remains were found outside of noblemen’s graves are likely to have been eaten, Pálsdóttir said. Further research will compare the test results for the Icelandic horses with Viking-Age horses who lived in other Northern European countries between the late ninth and early eleventh centuries. To read in-depth about horses in the archaeological record, go to “The Story of the Horse.”
DNA Suggests Iceland’s Vikings Were Buried With Male Horses
News January 7, 2019
Recommended Articles
Digs & Discoveries March/April 2019
A Ride to Valhalla
Digs & Discoveries March/April 2023
Closely Knit
Digs & Discoveries January/February 2023
Farmers and Foragers
-
Features November/December 2018
Reimagining the Crusades
A detailed picture of more than two centuries of European Christian life in the Holy Land is emerging from new excavations at monasteries, towns, cemeteries, and some of the world’s most enduring castles
(Peter Horree/Alamy Stock Photo) -
Letter from California November/December 2018
Inside a Native Stronghold
A rugged volcanic landscape was once the site of a dramatic standoff between the Modoc tribe and the U.S. Army
(Julian Smith) -
Artifacts November/December 2018
Russian Canteen
(Courtesy Copyright David Kobialka/Antiquity) -
Digs & Discoveries November/December 2018
The American Canine Family Tree
(Photo by Del Baston/Courtesy of the Center for American Archeology)