A burial ground containing 50 “exceptionally well-preserved” skeletons from the Viking Age has been discovered in Denmark.
The 21,500sq ft site was found during a routine survey ahead of infrastructure work near the village of Aasum, close to Odense, Denmark’s third-largest city.
It holds the remains of men, women and children. As well as the skeletons, there are some cremated bodies.
The site holds the remains of men, women and children. Pic: AP
Experts said high chalk and water levels in the area’s soil helped preserve the remains so well that they hope to carry out DNA tests on the skeletons.
The DNA analysis could reveal details of their life stories as well as insights into other aspects of life during the Viking Age, such as kinship, migration patterns and more.
Michael Borre Lundo, who led the six-month dig, called it an “exciting” find because the skeletons are so “very, very well preserved”.
Typically, Mr Borre Lundo said, archaeologists would “be lucky to find a few teeth in the graves, but here we have entire skeletons”.
He said DNA analysis may show if they are related to each other and where they come from.
The site was probably a “standard settlement”, perhaps a farming community, Mr Borre Lundo said, and is located around three miles from a ring fortress, in what is now central Odense.
The site was found during a routine survey. Pic: AP
That means the remains are probably not those of the famed Norsemen, known as Vikings, who terrorised Europe during the Viking Age, from around 793 to 1066AD.
Vikings carried out large-scale raids, colonising, conquering and trading throughout the continent and even travelled as far as North America.
In one grave, a woman is buried in a wagon – the higher part of a Viking cart was used as a coffin – suggesting she was from the “upper part of society”, Mr Borre Lundo said.
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Along with the human remains, archaeologists unearthed brooches, necklace beads, knives, and even a small shard of glass that may have served as an amulet.
Mr Borre Lundo said the brooch designs suggest the dead were buried between 850 and 900AD.
Conservator Jannie Amsgaard Ebsen hopes the soil may also hold other preserved organic material on the backs of brooches or knife handles.
Conservator Jannie Amsgaard Ebsen holds a brooch from the site. Pic: AP
She said: “We’re really hoping to gain the larger picture. Who were the people that were living out there? Who did they interact with?
Archaeologists said many of the artefacts came from far beyond Denmark’s borders, shedding light on extensive Viking trade routes during the 10th century.