Finding Vikings with Isotope Analysis: The View from Wet and Windy Islands

Janet Montgomery; Vaughan Grimes; Jo Buckberry; Jane A. Evans; Michael P. Richards; James H. Barrett

doi:10.3721/037.002.sp705

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1 November 2014 Finding Vikings with Isotope Analysis: The View from Wet and Windy Islands

Janet Montgomery, Vaughan Grimes, Jo Buckberry, Jane A. Evans, Michael P. Richards, James H. Barrett

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J. of the North Atlantic, 2014(sp7):54-70 (2014). https://doi.org/10.3721/037.002.sp705

Abstract

Identifying people of exotic origins with isotopes depends upon finding isotopic attributes that are inconsistent with the indigenous population. This task is seldom straightforward and may vary with physical geography, through time, and with cultural practices. Isotopes and trace elements were measured in four Viking Age (8^th to 10^th centuries A.D.) skeletons from Dublin, Ireland, and three from Westness, Orkney. These were compared with other data from these locations and contemporaneous skeletons from Britain. We conclude that the male skeletons from Dublin have disparate origins, two originating beyond the shores of Ireland, and that the female and two male skeletons from Westness are not indigenous to Orkney. However, the homeland of the female, in contrast to the males, is unlikely to be in Scandinavia.

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Janet Montgomery, Vaughan Grimes, Jo Buckberry, Jane A. Evans, Michael P. Richards, and James H. Barrett "Finding Vikings with Isotope Analysis: The View from Wet and Windy Islands," Journal of the North Atlantic 2014(sp7), 54-70, (1 November 2014). https://doi.org/10.3721/037.002.sp705

Published: 1 November 2014

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