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Archaeologists recently discovered the remains of more than 50 Vikings, as well as the artifacts they were buried with, in a Danish village.
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The ground in which the bodies were found had soil conditions and water levels amenable to excellent preservation, meaning that researchers can study the ancient DNA.
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Items uncovered at the site include a wagon, a decorated wooden chest and rock quartz, but further analyses and discoveries will paint an even more detailed picture of this specific Viking society.
The remains of more than 50 Vikings were uncovered recently in Åsum, a village in Denmark, and their remarkable condition could offer incredible insight into the lives they led.
As reported in Archaeology Magazine, a team of archaeologists from Museum Odense were conducting an excavation of the area ahead of a planned upgrade of the local electrical grid. During their dig, they uncovered a burial ground, measuring roughly 2,000 square meters, which held “more than 50 exceptionally well-preserved skeletons,” along with five cremation graves. The site has been dated back to the 9th and 10th centuries.
“Normally when we excavate Viking graves,” said Michael Borre Lundø, an archaeologist and curator at Museum Odense, “we’d be lucky if there were two teeth left in the grave besides the grave goods…but here we have the skeletons fully preserved. This opens up a whole new set of possibilities for discoveries.”
The remarkable preservation of these skeletons, which is attributed to “favorable soil conditions and high water levels” at the site, means it may be possible to conduct ancient DNA (referred to as “aDNA”) analyses on the remains. “This discovery offers extraordinary opportunities to perform a wide range of scientific analyses,” noted Lundø, “which can reveal more about the general health, diet, and origins of those buried.”
But some information can be gleaned, even before aDNA testing, just from what else was found at the burial site. The most striking example might be the remains of a woman who was buried in a wagon, likely one she used within her lifetime. Some of the artifacts she was buried with suggest this woman was of high status in her lifetime.
“Her grave goods included a glass bead necklace, an iron key, a knife with a handle wrapped in silver thread, and a small shard of glass that may have served as an amulet,” Archaeology Magazine noted of the artifacts found with the body. Even more enticing is a “finely decorated wooden chest” found at the foot of her grave, the contents of which have yet to be uncovered.
Other artifacts found at the site include a piece of rock crystal, a transparent form of quartz not native to Denmark, indicating trade between these Danish Vikings and people other regions, like Norway. Further analysis, of both the deceased and the items buried with them, will likely paint an even more detailed picture of the lives they and their people lived.
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