Experts: Shetland's little horses arrived on the Vikings' long ships

[Judi Lynn]

By Janet Boyle
February 20, 2023, 12:01 am

Shetland’s iconic ponies almost certainly come from little Viking horses brought to the islands by the Norse invaders, according to researchers. A report by Norwegian anthropologists suggests this the marauding invaders favoured small horses because they were easier to fit on board longships.

The scientists, who are studying what the Vikings brought to Britain’s shores, say that they likely arrived with one or two small horses on each boat. The smaller Norse horses took up much less space than modern breeds, according to professor Jan Bill, professor of Viking Age Archaeology at the Museum of Cultural History, Oslo.

Researchers found key evidence for their theory in the remains of horses discovered in Viking burial mounds on mainland Britain.

Horses are thought to have first arrived in Shetland by crossing massive ice fields at the end of the last ice age, around the same time that woolly mammoths still roamed the Earth.

More:
https://www.sundaypost.com/fp/experts-shetlands-little-horses-arrived-on-the-vikings-long-ships/