Discovery of Two Boat Burials Changes Viking Timeline

Ancient Origins

According to accepted accounts, the Viking Age began in 793 AD off the coast of northern England when the first raid of Scandinavian warriors is recorded to have taken place. The Vikings emerged suddenly and expanded rapidly across Europe, Asia and the Americas. Although the Vikings are known to have originated in Scandinavia, there is little known about how and why they suddenly built ships and took off in search of new lands. Was it climate change, overpopulation, desire for wealth or simply a thirst for adventure? Whatever it was, the Vikings made a lasting impact on the world. But is all we know about them correct?

 The Beginning of the Viking Storm
A discovery on a Baltic Island nearly a decade ago, shed new light on how the Viking storm first began. “Two ships filled with slain warriors uncovered on the Estonian island of Saaremaa may help archaeologists and historians understand how the Vikings’ warships evolved from short-range, rowed craft to sailing ships; where the first warriors came from; and how their battle tactics developed,” reported Archaeology Magazine. “Between them, the two boats contain the remains of dozens of men. Seven lay haphazardly in the smaller of the two boats, which was found first. Nearby, in the larger vessel, 33 men were buried in a neat pile, stacked like wood, together with their weapons and animals. The site seems to be a hastily arranged mass grave, the final resting place for Scandinavian warriors killed in an ill-fated raid on Saaremaa, or perhaps waylaid on a remote beach by rivals”.

The remains of 33 men buried in the ship that brought them from Scandinavia to an Estonian island Credit: Liina Maldre, University of Tallinn

Does the Discovery Change Accepted Timelines?
The men are believed to have died in battle up to a century before the Viking Age officially started, an era that wasn’t previously known for long voyages. The ruins of the two boats display a high level of technological advancement, a transformation which had been taking place in the 8th century Baltic. They were clearly capable of open-sea travel.

The first boat, which had no sail and would have been rowed from Scandinavia, is believed to have been constructed around 650 AD. Evidence suggests it had been repaired and patched decades before its final voyage. The second boat was far more sophisticated. Although it had largely deteriorated, the discovery of a keel – a feature essential for keeping a sailing boat upright – suggests the Scandinavians were sailing in the Baltic at least a century before accepted timelines say they were.

One of the skeletons found aboard the smaller ship. Credit: Marge Konsa, University of Tartu

Evidence of Boat Burial Suggests More Gradual Emergence of the Vikings
Experts believe the two boats are the remains of a boat burial, a ritual strongly associated with the Vikings. The finding suggests that this tradition had gradually evolved over centuries and did not just emerge suddenly in the Viking Age.

The finding of the two boats is significant as it supports a new perspective of the Vikings, suggesting that the start of the Viking Age wasn’t as sudden as previously believed, but was a more gradual process. It now seems that the Scandinavian warriors developed and enhanced their ship-building skills over several centuries, eventually reaching a level that allowed them to take off in the open ocean, reaching faraway lands and leaving their traces across four continents.

Top image: Illustration of a Viking ship (public domain)

By April Holloway

Why was a Newly Discovered Irish Ringfort Surrounded by Bizarre Burials and Unfinished Jewelry?

Ancient Origins

A medieval ringfort that contained a jewelry workshop and substantial farming has been unearthed in an eye-opener archaeological discovery during a road project about a mile north of Roscommon town in Ireland. More importantly, however, 793 bodies were found during the excavation - and the archaeologists expect their analysis will reveal the whole tale of the ringfort.

The Majority of the Bodies are Intact
With no antecedent record of any occupancy on the site, it was only apparent that there were important archaeological features in the area after the testing results conducted by experienced geophysicists came back. Following an excavation that lasted for over a year and ended last October, the archaeologists exploring the site had a clearer picture of the settlement and concluded that it was inhabited between the 6th and 11th centuries. Experts are optimistic that the dating techniques that will be used during the detailed analysis of the 793 found bodies will reveal the exact period of occupation. Interestingly, nearly 75% of the bodies were completely undamaged, while the rest were obviously distorted.

An archaeologist examining a skeleton found at the ringfort at Ranelagh, Co. Roscommon, Ireland. (Irish Archaeological Consultancy)

More Ringforts are “Hiding” Not Far Away
The excavation, led by archaeologist Shane Delaney, has already showed that the site was not likely inhabited during its later period of use, but instead it served as an administrative and industrial center for the civilians who lived in the surrounding areas.

The earliest ringfort enclosure at the site was around 40 meters (131.23 ft.) in diameter, but there was no confirmation on any maps to propose any significance before the site was tested by archaeologists. According to Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII) project archaeologist Martin Jones, supervising the excavation, there are at least three more ringforts within a 500-meter (1640.42 ft.) distance, “The working theory is that this was originally inhabited by a family that rose to some relative prominence in the area. They may have then constructed a number of other ringforts around this one, which became a centre for industrial activity,” he said, as Irish Examiner reports.

Aerial photograph of the Multivallate Ringfort at Rathrá, Co Roscommon, Ireland. (West Lothian Archaeological Trust (Jim Knowles, Frank Scott and John Wells)/CC BY SA 4.0)

 A Large Amount of Unfinished Jewelry Was Found as Well as More Burials
A respectable amount of unfinished jewelry was found by the archaeologists, which indicates that they were designed in a workshop at the site, most likely for commercial purposes. The jewelry objects and fragments found, some of them associated with the burials, include amber and jet beads, a lignite bracelet, and a brooch panel with an enamel stud. A fragment of a copper alloy bracelet has been dated by its decoration to around 350 to 550 AD.

 A few crouched burials were also found, with their knees pushed up to their chest, probably suggesting that these were strangers who were buried according to their own traditions. Some of the bodies have clear signs of punishment, including two in which feet and hands may have been bound, one of them buried face down. Additionally, two other buried bodies were decapitated, and several children, or adolescents, were positioned in the ground in embracing positions.

 With the excavation work now finished, the analysis of the artifacts and DNA testing of the human remains will provide a clearer picture of the site’s history. Some tests which are scheduled to launch soon will use the latest techniques in order to provide further evidence, such as the diets of the people buried at Ranelagh, and their geographical origins. “When we have the results of radiocarbon dating and all the other analysis, we will have a huge amount of additional information. That’s when the real detective work begins,” Mr. Jones told Irish Examiner, implying that there’s much more work to do before they can make any solid conclusions about the ringfort’s background.

Aerial view of excavations at the site of a medieval ringfort found at Ranelagh in Ireland. (Irish Archaeological Consultancy Ltd.)

Top Image: Reconstruction of a ringfort at Curraheen, Co Cork, Ireland - the kind of enclosure that would have been built first at the ringfort in Ranelagh, Co Roscommon. Source: Transport Infrastructure Ireland

By Theodoros Karasavvas

Bronze Age Britons Mummified the Dead: Smoked over Fires, Preserved in Bogs

Ancient Origins

Mummification may have been more common in Bronze Age Britain than previously believed, and the ancient Britons may have purposefully mummified their dead with unknown funerary rituals—but why and how still eludes archaeologists.
According to science news site Phys.org, researchers studying Bronze Age skeletons from various sites across the UK found that mummification may have been a wide-spread funerary practice in ancient Britain.
A team comprised of researchers from University of Sheffield, University of Manchester and University College London, compared 301 skeletal remains from prehistoric Europe with preserved mummies from northern Yemen and Ireland.
Dr. Thomas Booth, bioarchaeologist of the Department of Earth Sciences at London's Natural History Museum said that microscopic bone studies indicated that some bodies buried at sites throughout Britain were intentionally mummified between 4,200 and 2,750 years ago, reports ScienceNews magazine.

• Bronze Age steam room may have been used by select Orkney settlers for rites
• Walk Like An Egyptian… Scientists Preserve Modern Human Leg using Ancient Egyptian Methods
• Body of 4,000-year-old teenager near Stonehenge may give clues about Bronze Age lives

The Bocksten Man is the remains of an ancient male body found in a bog in Sweden. His remains were partially preserved in a bog. (CC BY 2.0)

Gut Reactions

Gut bacteria was the key to unlocking which bodies had been intentionally preserved, and which were simply buried at death to decompose naturally.

“After you die and your cells start to break down, the kind of internal gates that keep your bacteria within their locales break down as well,” Booth told LiveScience.
"Your bacteria — they have no loyalty. They start to attack your soft tissues in the first few hours after death,” he said.

Microscopic tunnels and holes are created in the bones by the bacteria—a process called bacterial bioerosion. If a body has been purposefully mummified with either man-made methods or through natural preservation (such as lying in a peat bog, or dying in icy or arid conditions), the bones tend to have few to no discernable holes.

Ötzi the Iceman, a man from about 3300 BC, famously a naturally preserved body, was found in a glacier in the Alps. (© South Tyrol Museum of Archaeology, Fair Use)

The team’s work has been detailed this week in the archaeology journal, Antiquity. It reveals that bones from 16 out of 34 Bronze Age Britons had little to no bacterial damage. This strongly suggests that either artificial or natural preservation blocked rapid decomposition of the flesh.

Making Mummies in the Bronze Age

This evidence says to researchers the ancient Britons purposefully mummified their dead, although without the elaborate rituals and chemicals of the ancient Egyptians. Instead of using plant resins or wrappings, it’s thought the Britons may have smoked dead bodies over a fire, or brined them in peat bogs. If bodies were mummified or preserved intentionally in other ways in prehistoric times, the wet climate conditions of Britain would have long ago destroyed evidence of the burials.
Scientists from Zurich, Switzerland demonstrated this earlier this year as they attempted to mummify human legs from a recently deceased donor using both Ancient Egyptian and natural mummification methods. The naturally mummified leg succumbed to decomposition after a single week in the cool and damp Zurich lab and without the traditional preservative salts and arid conditions of Egypt.
According to Phys.org, Dr. Booth noted, “Our research shows that smoking over a fire and purposeful burial within a peat bog are among some of the techniques ancient Britons may have used to mummify their dead. Other techniques could have included evisceration, in which organs were removed shortly after death.

“The idea that British and potentially European Bronze Age communities invested resources in mummifying and curating a proportion of their dead fundamentally alters our perceptions of funerary ritual and belief in this period.”

• The practice of sacrifice in Iron Age Britain
• Stone Age Britons traded with European farmers 8,000 years ago
• Fire Mummies - The Smoked Human Remains of the Kabayan Caves

Cultural Motivations Remain Mysterious

It has not yet been determined why the prehistoric Britons might have practiced mummification of their dead. Intentional mummification is widespread in societies around the world, and can be seen in the artifacts and remains of various ancient cultures.
Science magazine Smithsonian writes, “Inca, for instance, mummified their rulers to allow them to remain at their posts, while some Buddhist monks may even self-mummify to achieve the ultimate state of enlightenment. But with a lack of associated burial artifacts, it's unclear what would have motivated Bronze Age Britons to mummify their dead.”

The naturally mummified bog body of the Man of Rendswühren from Germany, dated to the Roman Iron Age of the 1st or 2nd century AD. (CC BY-SA 3.0)

Continuing studies at other prehistoric sites throughout Europe may reveal why Bronze Age Britons sought to preserve their dead, why they selected the people they did, and exactly how they went about it. This and other work is hoped to provide insight into the ancient beliefs and funerary practices of the European ancestors.
Featured Image: Bronze Age skeleton found at Stragglethorpe, during archaeological work on the Highways Agency scheme, England. Representational image only.  (CC BY 2.0)
By Liz Leafloor