Identification of bird species used to make a Viking Age feather pillow
Source: doi:10.14430/arctic4546 A grave containing the remains of a wooden boat was discovered in 1934 under a low mound in a bog at Øksnes in the Vesterålen islands of northern Norway. The boat grave dates to the 10th century in the Viking Age, and grave goods placed in the boat include an iron axe...
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Arctic Institute of North America
2015
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Online Access: | https://hdl.handle.net/10037/10760 https://doi.org/10.14430/arctic4546 |
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ftunivtroemsoe:oai:munin.uit.no:10037/10760 2023-05-15T14:21:22+02:00 Identification of bird species used to make a Viking Age feather pillow Dove, Carla J. Wickler, Stephen 2015-11-04 https://hdl.handle.net/10037/10760 https://doi.org/10.14430/arctic4546 eng eng Arctic Institute of North America Arctic Dove CJ, Wickler S. Identification of bird species used to make a Viking Age feather pillow. Arctic. 2016;69(1):29-36 FRIDAID 1346532 doi:10.14430/arctic4546 0004-0843 1923-1245 https://hdl.handle.net/10037/10760 openAccess VDP::Humaniora: 000::Kulturvitenskap: 060 VDP::Humanities: 000::Cultural science: 060 Journal article Tidsskriftartikkel Peer reviewed 2015 ftunivtroemsoe https://doi.org/10.14430/arctic4546 2021-06-25T17:55:12Z Source: doi:10.14430/arctic4546 A grave containing the remains of a wooden boat was discovered in 1934 under a low mound in a bog at Øksnes in the Vesterålen islands of northern Norway. The boat grave dates to the 10th century in the Viking Age, and grave goods placed in the boat include an iron axe, a cowhide in which the body was wrapped, and pillow remains consisting of feather stuffing and a wool textile cover. A microscopic analysis of the feathers from a subsample of the pillow fill identified three avian orders: Anseriformes (eider); Suliformes (cormorant), and Charadriiformes (unspecified gull). It was possible to make one species-level identification of Great Cormorant (Phalacrocorax carbo) and to narrow the gull types to the “white-headed” gull group. The sample was composed of a nearly equal mix of downy and pennaceous feather types. Downy feathers from gulls (Laridae) composed the majority of the material in this sample. While it is reported that feathers and down (assumed to be eider) were used in the Late Iron Age, this is the first successful attempt to identify bird species used in these materials and suggests that avian species identifications should be explored in other such burial items to enhance our understanding of human-wildlife interactions throughout Norse history. Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Northern Norway Vesterålen University of Tromsø: Munin Open Research Archive Norway Vesterålen ENVELOPE(14.939,14.939,68.754,68.754) Øksnes ENVELOPE(15.225,15.225,68.037,68.037) ARCTIC 69 1 29 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
University of Tromsø: Munin Open Research Archive |
op_collection_id |
ftunivtroemsoe |
language |
English |
topic |
VDP::Humaniora: 000::Kulturvitenskap: 060 VDP::Humanities: 000::Cultural science: 060 |
spellingShingle |
VDP::Humaniora: 000::Kulturvitenskap: 060 VDP::Humanities: 000::Cultural science: 060 Dove, Carla J. Wickler, Stephen Identification of bird species used to make a Viking Age feather pillow |
topic_facet |
VDP::Humaniora: 000::Kulturvitenskap: 060 VDP::Humanities: 000::Cultural science: 060 |
description |
Source: doi:10.14430/arctic4546 A grave containing the remains of a wooden boat was discovered in 1934 under a low mound in a bog at Øksnes in the Vesterålen islands of northern Norway. The boat grave dates to the 10th century in the Viking Age, and grave goods placed in the boat include an iron axe, a cowhide in which the body was wrapped, and pillow remains consisting of feather stuffing and a wool textile cover. A microscopic analysis of the feathers from a subsample of the pillow fill identified three avian orders: Anseriformes (eider); Suliformes (cormorant), and Charadriiformes (unspecified gull). It was possible to make one species-level identification of Great Cormorant (Phalacrocorax carbo) and to narrow the gull types to the “white-headed” gull group. The sample was composed of a nearly equal mix of downy and pennaceous feather types. Downy feathers from gulls (Laridae) composed the majority of the material in this sample. While it is reported that feathers and down (assumed to be eider) were used in the Late Iron Age, this is the first successful attempt to identify bird species used in these materials and suggests that avian species identifications should be explored in other such burial items to enhance our understanding of human-wildlife interactions throughout Norse history. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Dove, Carla J. Wickler, Stephen |
author_facet |
Dove, Carla J. Wickler, Stephen |
author_sort |
Dove, Carla J. |
title |
Identification of bird species used to make a Viking Age feather pillow |
title_short |
Identification of bird species used to make a Viking Age feather pillow |
title_full |
Identification of bird species used to make a Viking Age feather pillow |
title_fullStr |
Identification of bird species used to make a Viking Age feather pillow |
title_full_unstemmed |
Identification of bird species used to make a Viking Age feather pillow |
title_sort |
identification of bird species used to make a viking age feather pillow |
publisher |
Arctic Institute of North America |
publishDate |
2015 |
url |
https://hdl.handle.net/10037/10760 https://doi.org/10.14430/arctic4546 |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(14.939,14.939,68.754,68.754) ENVELOPE(15.225,15.225,68.037,68.037) |
geographic |
Norway Vesterålen Øksnes |
geographic_facet |
Norway Vesterålen Øksnes |
genre |
Arctic Northern Norway Vesterålen |
genre_facet |
Arctic Northern Norway Vesterålen |
op_relation |
Arctic Dove CJ, Wickler S. Identification of bird species used to make a Viking Age feather pillow. Arctic. 2016;69(1):29-36 FRIDAID 1346532 doi:10.14430/arctic4546 0004-0843 1923-1245 https://hdl.handle.net/10037/10760 |
op_rights |
openAccess |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.14430/arctic4546 |
container_title |
ARCTIC |
container_volume |
69 |
container_issue |
1 |
container_start_page |
29 |
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1766294051243425792 |