Sheep droppings reveal which group inhabited islands before the Vikings

The isolated Faroe Islands were once home to an unknown population in 500 AD, some 350 years before the arrival of the Vikings, according to new research. And the evidence comes from an unusual source: sheep poop.

The impressive Faroe Islands are a small archipelago located in the North Atlantic, halfway between the Norway and Iceland. The Vikings arrived on the islands after developing ships for long-distance navigation around 850, before moving to Iceland in 874. For a long time, researchers believed they were the first human inhabitants of the rugged Faroe Islands.

Until this century, the only evidence of the first people to set foot on the Faroe Islands before the Vikings came from mentions in medieval texts. There is no current evidence to suggest that natives ever lived there.

In 2013, researchers found burned barley grains under the floor of a Viking longhouse on the Faroese island of Sandoy. The grains were dated between 300 and 500 years before the Nordic occupation of the Faroe Islands. Barley was not native to the islands before the humans who lived there.

In order to find more evidence for this group of humans, a research team was formed to conduct the investigation of a lake on the Faroese island of Eysturoy. Although no homes or archaeological evidence has been found of this first group of explorers, the team decided to take a different approach to determining when humans arrived in the Faeroe Islands.

Organic lanes in the sediments of a lake

Specifically, the scientists wanted to collect sediment cores from lakes.

“Lakes are incredible archives of environmental information because they accumulate material from the surrounding landscape in sequential layers in their sediments,” said lead author of the study, Lorelei Curtin, associate postdoctoral fellow in the department of geology and geophysics at the University of Wyoming.

“Each member of our team uses different tools to analyze lake sediments and, working together, we get a holistic understanding of changes in the environment, including human impacts on the landscape,” she said.

When they arrived in Eysturoy, the team members departed in a small boat on a lake near the village of Eiði, which once hosted a Viking settlement.

They dropped heavy tubes to the bottom of the lake and collected cores 2.7 meters long – the equivalent of 10,000 years of environmental history.

Analysis of lake sediments revealed the sudden presence of domesticated sheep in large numbers, ranging between 492 and 512. The sheep leave distinct biomarkers in their fecal matter that have been tracked as DNA in sediments. The researchers were able to use a layer of ash, from a well-known Icelandic volcano eruption in 877, to help them establish dates.

Before the arrival of these sheep, there are no traces of mammals on the island, indicating that the sheep must have been brought by people who arrived in the Faroe Islands. Today, they are a staple of the diet there.

The appearance of sheep is also in line with the disappearance of woody plants such as willow, juniper and birch.

“After the humans arrived and brought sheep with them, the vegetation changed,” said Curtin. “We see more grass vegetation, which is consistent with the landscape modification caused by grazing animals. This is what we see in the Faroe Islands today.”

The study was published this Thursday (16) in the journal “Communications Earth & Environment”. Archaeologist Kevin Edwards, environmental researcher and professor emeritus at the University of Aberdeen and co-author of the 2013 barley study, said this new research “has produced compelling and exciting evidence on another island in the archipelago.”

In addition to receiving support from the Faroese, the researchers were helped by Símun Arge, an archaeologist at the Faroe Islands National Museum. “Símun unfortunately passed away in February 2021 and we have dedicated this study to him,” said Curtin.

Life in the Faroe Islands

Located 322 kilometers northwest of Scotland, the Faroe Islands boast characteristic high cliffs along its coastline. They have often cloudy weather and are constantly hit by strong winds. Few places would appeal to early explorers because the landscape is largely tundra.

There are some flat places near protected bays where the Vikings set up camp. The Faroe Islands probably allowed the Vikings to reach places like the Iceland and Greenland later.

Medieval writings support the idea that Irish monks were in the Faroe Islands around 500, including Irish navigator St. Brendan, who was famous for sailing the Atlantic.

Now, sheep DNA, biomarkers and scripts are all aligned, said study co-author William D’Andrea, a paleoclimatologist at Columbia University’s Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory.

Celtic explorers

But who, exactly, were the first people to arrive in the Faroe Islands?

Researchers believe they were Celts crossing the sea from the Scotland or from Ireland, based on clues that, together, suggest the distant past of the current inhabitants of the island.

For example, there are many names in the Faroe Islands that come from Celtic words, and there are undated Celtic tomb markings on the islands. DNA studies of Faroese have maternal Celtic ancestry. While it is possible that the Vikings brought Celtic brides with them, the level of maternal Celtic ancestry is so high that researchers think the Celts were present on the islands before the Vikings.

“Our data can’t really tell who were the people who arrived before the Vikings with their herds, however, there is some evidence to suggest that the Vikings didn’t use navigation technology at that time,” said Curtin. “I think this is motivation for further archaeological exploration in the Faroe Islands.”

Whoever were the first inhabitants of the Faroe Islands, crossing the ocean with cattle reveals their advances – and willpower.

“I think we often underestimate early human explorers and their ability to reach new and uncharted lands,” said Curtin. “I cannot imagine the courage and skill required to cross the North Atlantic Ocean. It really is a testament to the human spirit of exploration.”