supply network is likely.
The new study shows that the early Vikings from Norway had access to large quantities of reindeer antlers and sold them to craftworkers in Southern Scandinavia.
Dr Ashby explained, “This shows us that merchants and other travellers from the north were visiting Ribe long before the start of the Viking Age as we know it. Even in its early stages, the town was attracting visitors from afar. We have long wondered whether Ribe, and places like it, kickstarted the Viking expansion in trade, travel and warfare, but it has been difficult to prove. Now for the first time, we can confidently say that people in the more remote parts of Scandinavia were visiting places like Ribe, presumably for commercial gain, from a very early stage. It’s a vital contribution to the question of what caused the Viking Age: it looks as though towns and maritime trade may have been the engine driving all this change.”
The study drew on a biomolecular technique called ZooMS (Zooarchaeology by mass spectrometry), pioneered by Professor Matthew Collins at York’s BioArCh laboratory. This rapid, reliable, and minimally destructive technique characterises the proteins in the collagen component of organic material, allowing identification of animal species. Previously, a team led by Dr Ashby identified the absence of reindeer antler in pre-Viking combs from Scotland, thus discounting suggestions of contact between the British Isles and Scandinavia before AD 793. The application of the technique to Danish material by Ashley Coutu at York, demonstrates that though there is no evidence of voyages across the North Sea at this early date, Norwegians do seem to have undertaken long-distance maritime journeys.
Co-author Professor Søren Sindbæk, of Aarhus University, added, “The Viking Age becomes a phenomenon in Western Europe because the Vikings learned to use maritime mobility to their advantage. They learned to master sailing to such an extent that they get to the coast of England where the locals don’t expect anything. They come quickly, plunder the unprepared victims, and leave again — a sort of hit and run.”
According to the researchers, the new-found proof of the commercial journeys to Ribe changes the popular narrative of Vikings as violent aggressors.
Professor Sindbæk said: “The peaceful exchanges — trading — will take up more of the story, and the military voyages, which are also important, must now share the space.”
The article, ‘Urban Networks and Arctic Outlands: Craft Specialists and Reindeer Antler in Viking Towns” by Steven P Ashby, Ashley Coutu, and Søren SIndbaek is published in the European Journal of Archaeology.
Click here to access it from Maney Online.