7th century boat burials included feather beds

[Eldorado]

The warriors in the well-equipped, high-rank 7th–8th century boat burials at Valsgärde in Central Sweden were lying in feather stuffed beds.

Feathers, especially from Common Eider, are known as trade commodities from the coast of North Norway from the 15th century onwards, but written sources indicate that it started much earlier.

The main goal of this investigation was thus to see if the feathers from two of the boat burials, Valsgärde 7 and 8, showed any indications of such specialized long-distance trade of certain bird species.

Science Direct

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