Borgund’s chickens are among the oldest in Norway

Saturday chicken, eggs, or fighting cocks?

By: Gitte Hansen

Published: (Updated: )

Sam studerer større
Sam Walker is an osteoarchaeologist. Here, he is studying bird bones found during the excavations in Borgund. Over the many years of archaeological excavations at Borgundgavlen, thousands of bones from fish, mammals, and birds have been collected. This fantastic archaeological/ osteological material is stored for present and future research in the collections of the Natural History Department at the University Museum of Bergen. Photo: HJM Meijer

Sam Walker and colleagues have studied archaeological finds of chickens from the Viking Age and the Middle Ages in Borgund.

It turns out that the Borgund-chickens are among the very oldest found in Norway!

An intriguing question is why chickens were kept in Borgund. Was it for eggs, meat – or perhaps for sport?

Chickenbones
Chicken bones (<em>Gallus gallus domesticus</em>). The darker ones are archaeological finds, while the lighter ones are modern bones. &nbsp;Osteoarchaeologists compare the archaeological bones with those in a modern reference collection to identify bird species. Other aspects, such as the age of the bird, marks from butchering, or even the ‘amputation’ of a rooster’s spur, can also be studied. Photo: S. Walker

 

You can read more about this here: The Introduction of Chickens Into Norway and Their Early Use: New Evidence From the Borgund Kaupang Walker, Samuel J; Meijer, Hanneke Johanna Maria; Best, Julia; Hansen, Gitte (external link)