Life

50 Skeletons From the Viking Age Unearthed in Denmark

Archaeologists discovered skeletons dating back to the 9th and 10th centuries, which will shed light on many aspects of the Viking era.

skeleton
Photo by PHAS/Universal Images Group via Getty Images

A centuries-old discovery has been made in Denmark. Over the past six months, archaeologists from Museum Odense have been conducting a dig in a 21,500-square-foot area in Åsum, Denmark. In doing so, they unearthed 50 well-preserved skeletons that are believed to date back to the 9th and 10th centuries.

“It is truly unusual to find so many well-preserved skeletons at once, like those discovered in Åsum,” archaeologist and curator Michael Borre Lundø said in a press release.

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As for how everything at the site was so well-preserved, Lundø told CNN that the location’s conditions played a role.

“At this particular site, there’s a lot of chalk in the ground, which helps preserve the bones, and there’s a lot of natural water in the ground as well,” he said. “For long periods of time, the bodies of the Vikings were covered in water, which slows down the decomposition of the bones.”

What the Discovery Could Reveal

The find, Lundø said in the press release, will allow for “a wide range of scientific analyses.” Those tests may reveal information about the health, diet, and origins of the deceased.

Professor Sarah Croix noted that the discovery may reveal if the skeletons are from the same family.

“The graves in Åsum are so well-preserved that it may be possible, for the first time, to conduct special aDNA analyses on most of the skeletons—meaning DNA analyses on ancient material,” she said. “It will be incredibly exciting to learn where these people came from and whether the same families were buried here across multiple generations.”

Some of those buried, Lundø said, are high-status individuals. That became clear after discovering that one woman was buried in a wagon. Others had brooches, necklaces, knives, and crystals with them in their graves.

The discovery of crystals is of particular note, as the item does not naturally occur in Denmark. This means it had to be imported, likely from Norway, shedding light on Vikings’ international trading networks at the time.

In a statement to Newsweek, Conservator Jannie Amsgaard Ebsen expressed excitement about all that can be learned from the discovery.

“We’re really hoping to gain the larger picture,” Ebsen said. “Who were the people that were living out there? Who did they interact with? It’s a little bit like a jigsaw puzzle: all the various puzzle parts will be placed together.”