Viking Woman's Burial Contains 'Unprecedented' Discovery

Archaeologists have made an "unprecedented" discovery within the burial of a Viking woman, Gemini.no reported.

'Unprecedented' Burial Discovered in Norway

The ninth-century burial site was excavated in Bjugn, located in the coast region of Trøndelag, Norway, by a team of experts after it was first discovered by metal detectorist Roy Søreng. Within the grave was a Viking woman who had scallop shells placed deliberately around her mouth, challenging pre-conceived notions of pre-Christian burial customs. Experts confirm that this is "a practice that is not previously known from pre-Christian graves in Norway."

The remarkably well-preserved skeleton appears to belong to a Viking woman who was interred sometime in the 800s. Senior engineer Raymond Sauvage hypothesized, due to the woman’s clothing and jewelry, that she was "a free and probably married woman, perhaps the lady of the farm." Due to the completeness of her burial, Sauvage believes that she held an important position within her community, with her jewels intended to telegraph her social standing and marital status. As for the shells encasing the woman’s mouth, "We do not yet know what the symbolism means," Sauvage admitted. He and his fellow researchers are conducting further analyses to determine what the shells’ purpose may have been.

Researchers Took Great Pains to Preserve Site

Arkeonews reported early on in the process that efforts to excavate the grave were actually endangering its contents. During a field inspection following Søreng’s initial discovery, experts quickly found out that the grave was in "acute danger of being damaged at the next plowing." As such, the excavation team had to work with extreme care to preserve each of the items within the grave before removing the burial itself. "This is an incredibly exciting find. It is extremely rare to find such a well-preserved skeleton in old graves,” said Riksantikvar Hanna Geiran, Norway’s Directorate for Culture Heritage.

Next up for researchers, "We will examine the skeleton,” Sauvage explained, “preserve the artifacts, and take samples for dating and DNA analysis. The goal is to learn more about the person and possible kinship with the earlier find from the same location."