Viking-age skeleton found under Norway couple's house
The Local Norway - [email protected]
Published: 1 Jun, 2020 CET.
Updated: Mon 1 Jun 2020 11:35 CET
Archeologists have now found a skeleton in the suspected Viking-era tomb a Norwegian couple discovered last week under their house -- but the bones have been broken into pieces.
"We have found several bones, and bones from a human," archaeologist Jørn Erik Henriksen from Tromsø University told Norway's state TV station NRK.
"The big bones have been affected by some sort of violence, and we can't say what it is. A disturbance, or event has taken place after the body was buried."
Mariann Kristiansen from Seivåg near Bodø was pulling up the floor of her house with her husband to install insulation last week when they couple found a glass bead, and then a Viking axe.
When they contacted the local county archeologist, he concluded it was a Viking-age grave, after which a team from Tromsø University came to inspect the discovery.
Henriksen said his team had yet to carry out carbon dating which could confirm the age of the tomb, and had yet to ascertain the gender of the person buried, but said they still believed the grave was Viking era.
All of the skeleton's larger bones were broken, he said. "We are excited to find out if there are any cut marks on them."
"We do not know when the grave was given this treatment, but everything indicates that it must have happened long before the house was built in 1914."
As well as the skeleton, archeologists have also found a knife.
From the grave, Henriksen, it did not seem as if the person buried was from the upper echelons of society.
"It may have been a free person, but hardly anyone who belonged to the aristocracy.
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"We have found several bones, and bones from a human," archaeologist Jørn Erik Henriksen from Tromsø University told Norway's state TV station NRK.
"The big bones have been affected by some sort of violence, and we can't say what it is. A disturbance, or event has taken place after the body was buried."
Mariann Kristiansen from Seivåg near Bodø was pulling up the floor of her house with her husband to install insulation last week when they couple found a glass bead, and then a Viking axe.
When they contacted the local county archeologist, he concluded it was a Viking-age grave, after which a team from Tromsø University came to inspect the discovery.
Henriksen said his team had yet to carry out carbon dating which could confirm the age of the tomb, and had yet to ascertain the gender of the person buried, but said they still believed the grave was Viking era.
All of the skeleton's larger bones were broken, he said. "We are excited to find out if there are any cut marks on them."
"We do not know when the grave was given this treatment, but everything indicates that it must have happened long before the house was built in 1914."
As well as the skeleton, archeologists have also found a knife.
From the grave, Henriksen, it did not seem as if the person buried was from the upper echelons of society.
"It may have been a free person, but hardly anyone who belonged to the aristocracy.
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