Archaeologists found Viking skeletons over 1,000 years old buried with a crystal and other treasures. They're improving our understanding of how wealthy Vikings once lived.

Wed, 10/16/2024 - 12:28

An overhead shot of archaeologists excavating a Viking-era grave in Denmark — A drone view of archaeologists excavating a Viking-era burial site in Denmark.
Reuters/Tom Little

Archaeologists found 50 Viking-era skeletons in Åsum, Denmark.
Dating back to the 9th or 10th century, the graves are evidence of international trade.
The area's growth was influenced by these trade routes and its proximity to the sea.

Near the village of Åsum in Denmark, people have been finding bits of metal from the Iron Age for years. They had no idea they were standing on the well-preserved graves of 50 Viking-era skeletons.

Archaeologists happened upon the graves during a routine survey last year in preparation for a construction project.

"Normally, we would be lucky to find a few teeth in the graves, but here we have entire skeletons," Michael Borre Lundø, who has led the site excavation for the last six months, told the Associated Press.

Borre Lundø and his colleagues at the Museum Odense have dated the burial site back to the 9th or 10th century, more than 1,000 years ago.

In addition to the skeletons, the archeologists have uncovered rare trinkets and treasures buried with the bodies that help shine a light on their lives and socioeconomic status. For example, some of the jewelry did not originate in Denmark.

"As we suspected, the graves tell us a story of people connected to the international trade routes," Borre Lundø told Business Insider via email.

These routes opened new avenues for exchanging goods, allowing the wealthy to acquire rare and prized items from other communities in distant lands and helped establish nearby Odense, the third-largest city in Denmark.

Researchers found a brooch that originated on a nearby island.

Blue-gloved hands hold a three-lobed brooch from the Viking Age — A conservator from Museum Odense holds a brooch from a Viking-age grave.
Reuters/Tom Little

Vikings were avid travelers, using boats to voyage around the coast of Europe and to Canada, Greenland, Iceland, and Russia. They used seafaring for both colonization and trade.

A brooch shaped like an animal head that researchers found illustrates this type of international exchange. The style is unique to Gotland, now a Swedish island hundreds of miles away from Åsum.

"It is very rare and must have been precious to the owner for her to be buried with it," Borre Lundø said.

The villagers may have also traded with people as far away as Norway.

A side-by-side image of an Iron Age knife that's rusted and blue-gloved hands holding a small round artifact — An iron knife and another artifact from the Viking-era burial site at the laboratory at Museum Odense, Denmark.
Reuters/Tom Little

Another trinket, a tiny piece of rock crystal, also originated from another region, likely Norway. This suggests the community traded with people across the Kattegat strait.

The small yet valuable shard may have served as a kind of amulet for the woman who owned it.

Several other items belonging to the woman indicate she was of high status, including a glass bead worn as a necklace and an iron knife. These items were dated to between 850 and 970, Reuters reported.

However, the main piece of evidence indicating her class was the fact that she was buried in a cart.

A high-status woman was buried with her cart.

A wooden Viking-era cart on display in a museum — The Oseberg cart, from the Oseberg Viking ship, on display in Oslo, Norway. It was found in a burial mound in Tønsberg, Norway and belonged to an elite Viking-era woman.
Mel Longhurst/VW Pics/Universal Images Group via Getty Images

Being buried with a cart or wagon signified the person was very important or wealthy.

"This type of burial is reserved for high-status women in Viking Age society," Borre Lundø said.

Excavators also found ornamental nails from a decayed wooden chest that was buried at the foot of the woman's grave. Archaeologists are still studying its contents.

The woman's presence at this burial site indicates the village was an important destination or stop for the wealthy who may have been looking to trade goods, Borre Lundø said.

Researchers found the graves before a development project.

An overhead image of an excavator cleaning off a skeleton in a large square hole — An archaeologist excavating a Viking-era skeleton in Denmark.
Museum Odense

The government was set to bury some aerial power lines when the archaeologists were called in to do a standard survey.

"We were fairly certain that the ground held prehistoric relics, but we did not know it was going to be a burial site," Borre Lundø said.

The graves cover an area of about 21,000 square feet, roughly the size of a sprawling mansion.

Not only were the archaeologists surprised to find so many human remains, they were shocked by how well-preserved they were.

The area's chalky soil and groundwater helped keep the remains, which are over 1,000 years old, in good condition.

The archaeologists want to know how the villagers were related.

Two archaeologists hold tools near a Viking-era skeleton — Archaeologists excavate skeletons at a Viking-era burial site in Denmark.
Reuters/Tom Little

Because the soil helped preserve the bones so well, the archaeologists hope to learn more about the skeletons' age, sex, health, and, especially their heritage.

Typically, DNA analysis is only performed on a small number of remains in similar burial sites, Borre Lundø said, but the researchers want to extract DNA from all the skeletons in these graves.

"It will be incredibly exciting to learn where these people came from and whether the same families were buried here across multiple generations," Sarah Croix, an associate professor at Aarhus University, said in a statement.

The skeletons’ DNA could also reveal more about the Vikings’ health and diets.

A brownish Viking-era skeleton in dirt — A skeleton in a grave at an excavation site of a 10th-century Viking burial ground in Aasum, Denmark.
AP Photo/James Brooks

In addition to their family ties, the skeletons' DNA could reveal more about their diets and whether they differed from communities farther from the coast.

Borre Lundø is also curious about whether the cart woman's DNA will reveal that she's from Gotland, like her brooch. However, this would raise more questions about whether she was a visitor or permanent member of the community and when and how she arrived.

Other tests could also uncover information about the skeletons. For example, the soil may contain pollen that indicates the season in which they were buried.

Every bit of information gives archaeologists a clearer picture of this ancient population.

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Science, Archaeology, vikings, burials, graves, middle-ages

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Archaeologists found Viking skeletons over 1,000 years old buried with a crysta…