Archaeologists shocked to find 1,000-year-old Viking burial site in Denmark: “A huge surprise”

Archaeologists in Denmark have made a startling discovery, uncovering 30 Viking graves dating back to the 10th century, with a series of grave goods to boot.

An excavation carried out for Moesgaard Museum at a burial site near Aarhus in the east of the country found what archaeologists believe are graves belonging to an elite family, who may have served under Harald Bluetooth. He ruled as the King of Denmark between 958 and 986, and also served as the King of Norway for a few years in the 970s.

The findings are remarkable for different reasons, Liv Stidsing Reher-Langberg, an archaeologist at the museum and excavation leader, explained to Live Science.

When was the Viking Age?

Not only is it very rare to uncover burials from the Viking Age, which spanned roughly between the years 800 and 1050, it is also highly unusual to find graves with many goods in them.

On this occasion, the excavation team came across a number of coins, pearls and ceramics, considered high-end items at the time, which allowed them to hypothesize about the identities of some of the people buried inside.

The burial site is located close to a large farm believed to have belonged to a local chieftain and is thought to be associated with the nobleman, who would have sat just below King Bluetooth in rank.

While some of the graves discovered were extravagant and large in size, others were considerably less so, which led to the excavation team speculating some of the chieftain’s slaves may also have been buried at the site.

From jewelry and scissors, to teeth and bones

According to Naja Kjærgård Laursen, who also works at Moesgaard Museum, the “most exceptional” grave was a woman’s casket with an “advanced locking mechanism”. Inside, x-ray imaging was used to uncover personal belongings including jewelry, a needle and an elegant pair of scissors. In other graves, teeth and bones of some of the buried individuals were found, along with other goods.

Reher-Langberg spoke of her “huge surprise” at finding the graves and her hope that “all this will lead to even more studies” in order to learn more about life during the Viking Age.

Was bluetooth technology named after Harald Bluetooth?

In case you were wondering, bluetooth technology was indeed named after Harald Bluetooth. The former Danish and Norwegian king was said to be extremely influential in the way he joined the tribes of Denmark together to form one kingdom, and his name was used by inventors of the technology in the hope it would unite devices in the same way.

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