Downy feathers10/12/2023 The other was stuffed with down from an eclectic mix of birds: geese, ducks, sparrows, crows, grouse, and chickens-and even eagle-owls, a large species of horned owl. It turned out that one of the dead warrior's cushions was stuffed mostly with duck and goose down. The material is decomposed, tangled, and dirty.” Advertisement Even so, he said, “It was a time-consuming and challenging job for several reasons. “I’m still surprised at how well the feathers were preserved, despite the fact that they’d been lying in the ground for over 1,000 years,” said Rosvold. The barbs (hairlike strands that make up most of the feather) and barbules (smaller, shorter structures that branch off the barbs) have different sizes, shapes, structures, and colors, and a trained eye can use those traits to identify which family, genus, or even species of bird supplied the down. Each bird’s downy feathers have unique characteristics. The fragments were all that remained of pillows and bolsters (long cushions that lay under the pillows to prop them up) stuffed with down-the fluffy, soft, fine inner layer of feathers that helps keep birds warm.īiologist Jorgen Rosvold, of the Norwegian Institute for Nature Research, examined 11 samples of down from both graves under a microscope. Archaeologists found brittle, tangled clumps of down beneath the shields that once covered the two warriors’ remains, and tattered bits of fabric lay above and below the feathers. Three shields had been laid out to cover one corpse, and the other had two shields laid across his legs.īut even the ancestors of the Vikings had a softer side. Each man once wore an elaborately decorated helmet. Inside each 10-meter-long oarship, the deceased lay surrounded by tools for hunting and weapons for battle. And the high-ranking warriors buried in two separate boat graves at Valsgärde probably had plenty of both. When you think of Iron Age warriors, you think of-well, you think of iron, both literal and metaphorical. Down from the pillows suggests locally sourced stuffing that may have had a symbolic meaning to the people preparing the burial. Both warriors were buried in large boats, along with weapons, food, and horses. Berglund and Rosvald 2021 reader comments 57 withĪrchaeologists have found the remains of downy pillows in the graves of two high-ranking Iron Age warriors in Sweden, dating to the 600s and 700s CE.
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