For Brits in the eighth and former ninth centuries , Viking raids were just part of biography . There you ’d be , hoeing your turnip , when along total a rampaging horde toransack the local monasteryandsteal the king ’s girl . It usually did n’t last long – they were smash and grabs rather than invasion . That is , until about 865 CE , when a young Viking Great Army landed in East Anglia … and stayed .

For the next X , this ground forces moved W across England , fighting and overpowering the Anglo - Saxon kingdoms that put up in their way . By 873 CE , they had got as far as Repton , in Derbyshire – and it reckon like they plan on flummox around .

As anybody would when they propel across the ocean look for a newfangled life , these Viking encroacher bestow along theirpets . That ’s according to a unexampled psychoanalysis of a barrow cemetery at Heath Wood , Derbyshire – the only known Vikingcremationcemetery in the British Isles , go steady back to on the nose this menstruation of overwintering in the heart of England .

“ This research gift the very first direct grounds that not only people made their direction across the North Sea in the ninth C , but also creature , ” the researchers write in their new paper , bring out today . sample pocket-sized sherd from the site , the researchers identify the cremate remains of three humanity ( two grownup and a child ) and three animals ( a buck , a dog , and what they think to be a pig ) .

How do we know these creature came over to Britain with their man ? It all comes down to an element call strontium : a suggestion metal present in rocks , soil , pee , industrial plant , and creature . The team break down the storey of this chemical element in each of the remains and compared it to the surrounding area – if they were interchangeable , then the rest likely came from a local , and if they were different , the squad was probably looking at a Viking .

Not only did all the animals ’ strontium levels stand out as dissimilar from the local Derbyshire levels , but so too did one of the grownup humans ’ – propose not only that the brute were import from Norway or Sweden , but also that the so - call in “ Great Viking Army ” actually consisted of citizenry from many different population .

As interesting as that is , it ’s the animals that are sincerely remarkable . After all , it ’s not well-fixed to get a sawhorse onto a boat , and it ’s not like England did n’t have horses of its own . So why did the Vikings bring their own ?

Perhaps the response is just sentimentality . “ Given the difficulty of transporting horses across the North Sea in open boats one might assume that the army more often than not seized its horses in England , ” the research worker write . “ However , it is not impossible that its loss leader impart their personal mount with them [ … ] it is less surprising that a Viking leader would also bring their prized hunting dog , [ a ] key status symbol [ … ] and the pig might have been intended as initial livestock . ”

If that ’s the face , however , the Vikings would soon confront calamity . Not in warfare – in fact , Viking rule in England went from strength to strength , and by the destruction of the 9th century , they ruled a vast swathe of the country known as theDanelaw . However , their trustworthy steeds and hounds were sadly not long for the world , pass away ( or perhaps being sacrifice ) soon after their arriver in the new rural area – and it seems their human owners find their loss deeply .

“ At Heath Wood , we observe a rite strongly symbolical in character , ” the authors write . “ Through the burial rite , and the inclusion body of ‘ companions ’ from Scandinavia , the knoll at Heath Wood provide a verbatim connexion , a proxy , to the ‘ homelands ’ of those buried here . ”

The enquiry can be found in the journalPLOS ONE .