Would a maid necessarily, as claimed in the article, have eaten  
different food? Or would she have eaten the same, albeit maybe a bit  
less, or even leftovers? If the later, part of the premise for the  
DNA analysis is not going to work. But does anyone know that much  
about 9th century Norwegian household organization, or are the  
archaeologists making an assumption based on more modern practice.  
How big would a household have been 1200 years ago in Norway? I have  
seen both organizations in medieval households, but cannot recall  
anything specifically about the customs and foodways of 9th century  
Norway (suspect that what there is is only available in Norwegian).  
Even if my sister is named after Kristin Lavransdatter (set a bit  
later) by Sigrid Undset. While it netted her the Nobel I prefer the  
Master of Hestviken.

James Brothers
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On Sep 12, 2007, at 2:52, geoff carver wrote:

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