Feathers, an owl head and oars suggest the people in this Iron Age grave were prepared for a long journey.

The burial field in Valsgarde outside Uppsala in central Sweden contains more than 90 graves from the Iron Age.

«On a light note, we could say that Valsgarde is Scandinavia’s answer to Sutton Hoo in England as portrayed in the film The Dig on Netflix,» says Birgitta Berglund, professor emeritus of archaeology at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology’s NTNU University Museum.

Valsgarde is especially known for its spectacular boat graves from the 600s and 700s CE. This timeframe is in the middle of what Norway calls the Merovingian period, the era just before the Viking Age.

Two of these spectacular boat graves are at the centre of this story — or more specifically, the story is really about the down bedding that was found in the graves.

When researchers from NTNU investigated which birds contributed their feathers to the bedding, they made a surprising discovery that provides new insight into Iron Age society.

Story Source:
Materials provided by Norwegian University of Science and Technology. Original written by Frid Kvalpskarmo Hansen. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.