Scandinavians hunted whales as early as the 6th century

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Published 28 January 2023 at 13.14

Domestic. A well-developed hunt for some particular whale species began in Scandinavia as early as the 6th century. This can be confirmed by researchers after analyzing archaeological findings with game tiles made of whale bone.

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A few years ago, a research group from Uppsala and York found that a large amount of game tiles found in graves in eastern Central Sweden were made of whale bone.

Now further chemical analyzes have shown that the game tiles are exclusively made from the bones of northern capercaillie or possibly the closely related bowhead whale.

The Basque hunt for northern privateers in the Bay of Biscay and the sale of whale oil on the continent is already known during the 6th and 8th centuries. But when did large-scale whaling begin in Scandinavia? Most researchers have assumed that the hunt may have originated in the Viking Age, but clear evidence only exists in the Middle Ages.

A research group has analyzed the bone material of 68 different game pieces from Sweden, Denmark and Estonia and determined their species using a method called ZooMS (Zooarchaeology by Mass Spectrometry). The researchers come from Uppsala University, the universities of York and Tallinn, the National Museum in Copenhagen and RG Analysis on Åland.

The results of the analyzes show that the game tiles are almost exclusively made of bones from northern killer whales or possibly the closely related bowhead whale. Both whales can be close to 20 meters long and weigh between 50 and 80 tonnes. In English, the northern caper is called the Right Whale, because it was seen as the right whale to hunt. It swam slowly near the shores and contained so much blubber that it floated when killed.

If bones from stranded whales had been used, several different species should be represented. The uniform results therefore signal that a hunt for large coastal whales began as early as the 6th century. The hunting probably took place in northern Norway.

How did the Scandinavians have the opportunities and interest in hunting these enormous animals? Through comparisons with historical hunting of northern pirates in other parts of the world, it is concluded that it was quite possible to hunt whales in the small open boats of the Viking Age.

Manufacturing game pieces was not the main reason for whaling. The hunt for the whales yielded meat and baleen, but also large amounts of cod liver oil and whale oil. An early large-scale whaling therefore also tells us something about trade and economy at this time, say the researchers.

Hunting for northern caper whales was historically so intense that today the species is one of the most threatened, with a population of only a few hundred individuals off the east coast of North America. This can thus be seen as the result of close to 1,500 years of intensive hunting.