Feathers in the ship tomb in Valsgard Image source: Norwegian University of Science and Technology Museum
Feathers in the ship tomb in Valsgard Image source: Norwegian University of Science and Technology Museum Suffolk, England, a wealthy widow Edith Pretty is the owner of Sutton Hoo Manor.
In 1939, Pretty accidentally discovered some treasures in her backyard.
If this movie called "Excavations" portrays two "ordinary people" paying homage to cultural relics, then in Valsgard, Sweden, it is a group of professional archaeologists depicting history.
Birgitta Berglund, Professor Emeritus of Archaeology of Science and Technology at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, said: "It can be said that Valsgard is a replica of the story of "Excavations" from Scandinavia.
Valsgard, on the outskirts of Uppsala in central Sweden, has more than 90 tombs from the Iron Age, especially famous for the magnificent ship tombs between 600 and 700 AD.
Last voyage
Last voyage It was in the middle and late stages of the Merovingian dynasty and before the Viking Age.
The owners of these two ship tombs are senior soldiers.
"The buried warriors seem to be well equipped to row to the underground world, and they can also go ashore with the help of horses.
Surprisingly, the two fighters received all-round care, including sweet dreams—they lay on a cushion made of several layers of down.
"You might think that down bedding is a modern concept.
"The survey of feathers shows that for the ancients, birds, especially special kinds of birds, are more important than generally thought.
For example, it is believed that the use of feathers from poultry, owls and other birds of prey, pigeons, crows, and squirrels can "bind the dead.
Where does its hair come from
Where does its hair come from As a result, the researchers hope to find out which birds provide feathers for these bedding products.
For many years, Berglund has studied the history of people's use of down in Helgeland, Nordland, southern Sweden.
Identifying which animals a pile of long-buried down comes from is a difficult task.
"This is a time-consuming and challenging job.
The materials are broken down, tangled, and messy.
This means that many of the characteristics that you can easily observe in fresh materials have become blurred and you must spend more time looking for them.
These characteristics.
" Rosvold told reporters, "Although these feathers have been lying underground for more than 1,000 years, I am still surprised that they are so well preserved.
"
A recent paper published in the "Journal of Archaeological Science: Report" showed that these feathers came from geese, ducks, grouses, crows, sparrows, waders, and eagle owls.
"Only a few eider feathers in Valsgard's bedding have been identified, so we have no reason to believe that they are products from Helgeland or other northern regions.
"
However, this discovery did not disappoint Berglund.
The wide variety of birds allows researchers to gain a deeper understanding of the bird fauna in the vicinity of prehistoric times and the relationship between humans and birds.
"These feathers can not only provide information about domestic birds in the Valsgard area at that time, but also provide information about local hunting grounds and wild bird flora," they wrote.
In fact, the ancients’ love for feathers did not differ due to distance and time.
Although Valsgard’s feathers cannot be proven to come from long-distance trade, from 1100 to 1450 AD, in the Atacama Desert in South America on the other side of the earth, merchants took parrots across the mountains, through the grasslands, and came to the desert.
oasis.
José M.
Capriles, assistant professor of anthropology at Pennsylvania State University, said: "Feathers are precious throughout the Americas.
We have seen them in the tombs of people of higher status.
"
Through animal archaeological analysis, isotope diet reconstruction, radiocarbon dating and ancient DNA testing, the Capriles team classified the remains of 27 parrots from 5 oasis areas in Atacama.
The results showed that these parrots had migrated from the eastern Amazon region more than 300 miles away.
Related papers were published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States on March 29.
"It's amazing that a live bird can cross the Andes, which are more than 10,000 feet high," Capriles said.
"But these birds don't lead a happy life.
People raise it for feathers, which are plucked as soon as they grow.
"
Goodbye, forever
Goodbye, forever Back to Valsgard, Sweden.
The birds here may not have experienced this kind of "chronic suffering", but they also have a "regrettable" experience.
In fact, duvets are not the only "fun" researchers found in the tomb of the luxury ship.
There is also a headless owl in one of the graves.
Why cut off the head of this poor animal? "We believe that this has some ritual significance for the funeral.
" Berglund said.
By analyzing some modern tombs, the researchers knew that people at that time would take some measures to prevent the buried people from coming back to life.
It is easy to imagine that people did the same way earlier.
Researchers mentioned that some swords were found in tombs in the Viking era, and some were deliberately bent before being placed in the tomb.
This may be to prevent the deceased from using weapons when returning.
"It is conceivable that the owl's head was cut off to prevent it from coming back.
Maybe the down bedding used owl feathers to have a similar function," Berglund said.
"In Salme, Estonia, the ship-shaped tombs of the same period are similar to those in Valsgard.
Two birds of prey with their heads decapitated were also found there.
"
It seems that for people at that time, although the death of relatives and friends is sad, it is best to never see them again.
Related paper information: https://doi.
org/10.
1016/j.
jasrep.
2021.
102828
https://doi.
org/10.
1016/j.
jasrep.
2021.
102828 https://doi.
org/10.
1073/pnas.
2020020118
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