Why Vikings enjoyed ‘high fertility rates’ on Scottish islands

New research has shown Vikings who arrived in the Western and Northern Isles from the ninth century integrated into established communities, with a healthy population growth then following.

Archaeologists from Aberdeen University concluded Viking colonies in Orkney, Shetland and the Isle of Lewis had ‘good levels’ of fertility and greater natural population growth when compared to frontier communities in other parts of Britain, Ireland, Greenland and Iceland.

In particular, the study highlighted stronger population growth in the Orkney Islands, where farming and fishing underpinned daily existence, when compared to Viking settlements in challenging and ecologically barren Greenland.

Professor Marc Oxenham, from the University of Aberdeen, said: “The Norse met very different conditions when settling in the diaspora.

“Scandinavians who settled in Scotland and Ireland were immigrants into existing communities and had to negotiate their way into these communities, whilst colonisers of Iceland settled a previously uninhabited land and settlers in Greenland were concentrated in isolated communities with what seems little interaction with the native inhabitants of the island and in ecologically very challenging conditions.”

The study, which is part of a much larger British Academy funded project titled ‘Human Stress, Resilience and Adaptation in Ancient Ireland and Scotland’, examined these differences and the impact on population growth.

Archaeologists investigated Viking fertility rates - the average number of births per woman - and rates of population increase or decrease. Researchers found a very different demographic pattern in the Northern and Western Scottish Isles compared to other regions with a much higher proportion of children.

Prof Oxenham said: “Interestingly, we found the demographic health of Viking settlements in Greenland was relatively poor. Greenland was a challenging environment in which to seek out a living, and the Viking settlements were eventually abandoned by the 15th century AD.

“On the other hand, the research team was intrigued to find that the Viking communities that had settled in Scotland, particularly in the Orkney islands, had relatively good rates of fertility and higher rates of natural population increase.

“This suggests that a long history very effective of land management in Orkney, including the use of seaweed and manure, an increased focus on fishing, which along with evidence for good Pictish-Viking relations in the Orcadian Islands, likely contributed to a much healthier and vibrant community.

“Ultimately, the Vikings in Orkney found that the plough was mightier than the sword.”

Researchers used data from 21 Viking cemetery sites in the North Atlantic, dating to between the eighth and 14th centuries, where traditional Old Norse and Christian burial practices were found. They looked at numbers of children aged 14 and under buried at each site when compared to the numbers of adults laid to rest there.

The proportion of preadults to adults can be “very effectively used” to estimate rates of fertility rate and natural population increase, the study said.

At Newark Bay in the east of Orkney, it was found 118 young people aged 14 and under were buried there out of a total of 208 people - a total of 57 per cent. At Skail House in Orkney, 56 per cent of the graves were those of young people.