Archaeologists Unearth Viking-Era Burial With Incredibly Rare Casket
Archaeologists from Denmark's Moesgaard Museum have uncovered 30 Viking Age graves dating from 800 to 1050 CE, just under five miles north of Aarhus. Located near the town of Lisbjerg, the burial site has yielded a number of spectacular objects hinting at ties with Danish royalty.
'The burial site is most likely connected to the Viking-era manor in Lisbjerg, which is less than a kilometer from the burial site,' Mads Ravn, an archaeologist from Moesgaard and Viking Age expert, explained in the Moesgaard statement announcing the discovery. 'The objects we have found in the graves tell us that those buried here were people of high status—it could be the extended family from the farm that is buried here.'
However, the varying grave sizes and grave goods also suggest that people of different social classes were laid to rest here, potentially nobles and the people they enslaved. According to the archaeologists, the graves are pagan and probably date to the 900s. In fact, Ravn told the AFP that the burial might include one of Harald Bluetooth's earls or stewards.
The Viking Age saw Denmark's first kings rise to power and Aarhus become one of the region's most important royal and trade centers. Harald Bluetooth was king during the second half of the 10th century. He is best known for unifying Denmark, converting the country to Christianity, and conquering Norway—as well as inspiring the name of the familiar wireless technology.
The Lisbjerg burial includes grave goods such as coins, ceramics, and a rare casket. Archaeologists left the casket within a block of soil in order to complete the excavation of the artifact in a laboratory, according to The History Blog. Nevertheless, X-ray images reveal that the wooden box is around 12.6 square inches, likely made of oak, and features fancy rivets, potentially silver-plated fittings, and a locking mechanism. It contains pearls, a pair of scissors around 5.5 inches long (14 centimeters), an intricate silver bead, a needle, gold thread, possibly a brooch and a ribbon with gold thread, as well as the teeth and bones of a deceased individual.
The researchers suggest that the casket likely belonged to an important woman. It represents a rare specimen of just a few such objects known to scholars, including one unearthed in the town of Haldum, just 7.5 miles (12 km) from Lisbjerg. As reported by The History Blog, the fittings of the newly discovered casket are also similar to those of the beautiful ninth-century Bamberg Casket, an extremely ornate Viking box with a complex locking mechanism currently housed in the Bavarian National Museum in Munich.
Overall, 'the finds in Lisbjerg are part of a series of previous fine finds in the Aarhus area,' said Kasper H. Andersen, a historian at Moesgaard also specialized in the Viking Age. 'Together, they paint the picture of an aristocratic environment that was linked to royal power, and which was part of the Vikings' vast and dynamic world.'
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Medscape
4 hours ago
- Medscape
Microaxial Flow Pump Reduces Heart Load in Post-MI Shock
TOPLINE: In patients with ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI)-induced cardiogenic shock undergoing hemodynamic monitoring with a pulmonary artery catheter, the use of a microaxial flow pump (mAFP; Impella) reduced the intrinsic mechanical work performed by the heart by reducing native cardiac output and pulmonary pressures while maintaining the power output delivered to the body. METHODOLOGY: A previous Danish-German trial showed reduced mortality with early placement of an mAFP in patients with cardiogenic shock following STEMI. In this substudy, researchers analyzed data of 223 patients monitored in the cardiac ICU with a pulmonary artery catheter to determine the effects of the device on hemodynamics in STEMI-induced cardiogenic shock. Patients had been randomly assigned to receive either standard care (n = 98; median age, 67 years; 78% men) or an mAFP plus standard care (n = 125; median age, 65 years; 82% men). Outcomes included cardiac output, mean pulmonary artery pressure, and cardiac power output during the first 48 hours after admission to the cardiac ICU; native cardiac output was defined as the patient's total cardiac output minus the estimated mAFP flow. TAKEAWAY: After the initial 6 hours in the cardiac ICU, cardiac output continued to improve in the mAFP group and remained consistently higher than in the standard care group from 12 to 48 hours (P < .001). Native cardiac output also improved after 6 hours but stayed significantly lower in the mAFP group than in the standard care group. Mean pulmonary artery pressure was initially lower in the mAFP group than in the standard care group (median, 27 vs 31 mm Hg; P < .001) and remained lower at 48 hours. Pulmonary capillary wedge pressure was also lower in the patients with an mAFP. The initial cardiac power output within 3 hours of arrival to the cardiac ICU was 0.56 W in the standard care group vs 0.68 W in the mAFP group (P = .01), which improved over the next 48 hours. The mAFP group required lesser vasoactive and inotropic support than the standard care group for the first 6 hours and had lower mortality at 180 days. IN PRACTICE: 'We consistently found lower pulmonary pressures and a PCWP [pulmonary capillary wedge pressure] during mAFP support, each of which provides confirmation of LV [left ventricular] unloading while on mAFP. Reducing these pressures helps alleviate pulmonary edema, reduce right ventricular afterload, and enhance forward flow,' the researchers wrote. 'By reducing myocardial work and wall stress, unloading may be protective in stunned, postischemic myocardium vulnerable to further insult,' the authors of an editorial accompanying the journal article wrote. SOURCE: This study was led by Jacob Eifer Møller, MD, DMSc, Odense University Hospital, Odense, Denmark. It was published online on June 23, 2025, in Journal of the American College of Cardiology. LIMITATIONS: Pulmonary artery catheter was used more frequently in patients randomized to the mAFP group compared with the standard care group. Data capture may not have been streamlined or complete as this study involved patients who were critically ill, unstable, and had imminent need for treatment. Hemodynamic monitoring was limited to the first 48 hours and did not account for long-term effects or changes. DISCLOSURES: The original trial was supported by the Danish Heart Foundation and Abiomed. Several authors reported receiving research, educational, and/or travel grants, speaker fees, and honoraria; serving on advisory boards; holding stock options; and having other financial ties with various pharmaceutical, healthcare, and other companies, including Abiomed, Novo Nordisk Foundation, and Boston Scientific. This article was created using several editorial tools, including AI, as part of the process. Human editors reviewed this content before publication.
Yahoo
15 hours ago
- Yahoo
Ancient Egyptian man's genome reveals his society's cross-cultural ties
By Will Dunham (Reuters) -DNA obtained from the remains of a man who lived in ancient Egypt around the time the first pyramids were built is providing evidence of the ties between two great cultures of the period, with a fifth of his genetic ancestry traced to Mesopotamia. Although based on a single genome, the findings offer unique insight into the genetic history of ancient Egyptians - a difficult task considering that Egypt's hot climate is not conducive to DNA preservation. The researchers extracted DNA from the roots of two teeth, part of the man's skeletal remains that had been interred for millennia inside a large sealed ceramic vessel within a rock-cut tomb. They then managed to sequence his whole genome, a first for any person who lived in ancient Egypt. The man lived roughly 4,500-4,800 years ago, the researchers said, around the beginning of a period of prosperity and stability called the Old Kingdom, known for the construction of immense pyramids as monumental pharaonic tombs. The ceramic vessel was excavated in 1902 at a site called Nuwayrat near the village of Beni Hassan, approximately 170 miles (270 km) south of Cairo. The researchers said the man was about 60 years old when he died, and that aspects of his skeletal remains hinted at the possibility that he had worked as a potter. The DNA showed that the man descended mostly from local populations, with about 80% of his ancestry traced to Egypt or adjacent parts of North Africa. But about 20% of his ancestry was traced to a region of the ancient Near East called the Fertile Crescent that included Mesopotamia. "This suggests substantial genetic connections between ancient Egypt and the eastern Fertile Crescent," said population geneticist Adeline Morez Jacobs of Liverpool John Moores University in England and the Francis Crick Institute in London, lead author of the study published on Wednesday in the journal Nature. The findings build on the archaeological evidence of trade and cultural exchanges between ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia, a region spanning modern-day Iraq and parts of Iran and Syria. During the third millennium BC, Egypt and Mesopotamia were at the vanguard of human civilization, with achievements in writing, architecture, art, religion and technology. Egypt showed cultural connections with Mesopotamia, based on some shared artistic motifs, architecture and imports like lapis lazuli, the blue semiprecious stone, the researchers said. The pottery wheel from Mesopotamia first appeared in Egypt at about the time the man lived, a period when the earliest pyramids began to spring up near modern-day Cairo, starting with the Step Pyramid of the pharaoh Djoser at Saqqara and later the Great Pyramid of the pharaoh Khufu at Giza. About 90% of the man's skeleton was preserved. He stood about 5-foot-3 (1.59 meters) tall, with a slender build. He also had conditions consistent with older age such as osteoporosis and osteoarthritis, as well as a large unhealed abscess from tooth infection. "Ancient DNA recovery from Egyptian remains has been exceptionally challenging due to Egypt's hot climate that accelerates DNA degradation, with high temperatures breaking down genetic material over time compared to cooler, more stable environments," Francis Crick Institute population geneticist and study co-author Pontus Skoglund said. "In this case, the individual's burial in a ceramic pot vessel within a rock-cut tomb likely contributed to the unusual DNA preservation for the region," Skoglund added. The fact that his burial occurred before mummification became standard practice in Egypt may have helped avoid DNA degradation because his remains were spared elaborate preservation techniques. Scientists have struggled to recover ancient Egyptian genomes, according to paleogeneticist and study co-author Linus Girdland Flink of the University of Aberdeen in Scotland. One previous effort yielded partial genome sequencing of three individuals who lived some 1,500 years after the Nuwayrat man. Given the track record, the researchers were surprised with their success in sequencing the man's genome. "Yeah, it was a long shot," Skoglund said. The man may have worked as a potter or in a trade with similar movements because his bones had muscle markings from sitting for long periods with outstretched limbs. "All indicators are consistent with movements and positions of a potter, as indicated in ancient Egyptian imagery," said bioarcheologist and study co-author Joel Irish. "He would have been of high status to have been buried in a rock-cut tomb. This conflicts with his hard physical life and conjecture that he was a potter, which would ordinarily have been working class. Perhaps he was an excellent potter."
CNN
19 hours ago
- CNN
The first genome sequenced from ancient Egypt reveals surprising ancestry, scientists say
In a long-sought first, researchers have sequenced the entire genome of an ancient Egyptian person, revealing unprecedented insight about the ancestry of a man who lived during the time when the first pyramids were built. The man, whose remains were found buried in a sealed clay pot in Nuwayrat, a village south of Cairo, lived sometime between 4,500 and 4,800 years ago, which makes his DNA the oldest ancient Egyptian sample yet extracted. The researchers concluded that 80% of his genetic material came from ancient people in North Africa while 20% traced back to people in West Asia and the Mesopotamia region. Their findings, published Wednesday in the journal Nature, offer new clues to suggest there were ancient cultural connections between ancient Egypt and societies within the Fertile Crescent, an area that includes modern-day Iraq (once known as Mesopotamia), Iran and Jordan. While scientists have suspected these connections, before now the only evidence for them was archaeological, rather than genetic. The scientists also studied the man's skeleton to determine more about his identity and found extensive evidence of hard labor over the course of a long life. 'Piecing together all the clues from this individual's DNA, bones and teeth have allowed us to build a comprehensive picture,' said lead study author Dr. Adeline Morez Jacobs, visiting research fellow at England's Liverpool John Moores University, in a statement. 'We hope that future DNA samples from ancient Egypt can expand on when precisely this movement from West Asia started.' Pottery and other artifacts have suggested that Egyptians may have traded goods and knowledge across neighboring regions, but genetic evidence of just how closely different ancient civilizations mingled has been harder to pin down because conditions such as heat and humidity quickly degrade DNA, according to the study authors. This man's remains, however, were unusually well-preserved in their burial container, and the scientists were able to extract DNA from one of the skeleton's teeth. While the findings only capture the genetic background of one person, experts said additional work could help answer an enduring question about the ancestry of the first Egyptians who lived at the beginning of the longest-lasting known civilization. Swedish geneticist Svante Pääbo, who won the Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine in 2022 for sequencing the first Neanderthal genome, made pioneering attempts 40 years ago to extract and study DNA from ancient Egyptian remains, but he was unable to sequence a genome. Poor DNA preservation consistently posed an obstacle. Since then, the genomes of three ancient Egyptian people have been only partially sequenced by researchers using 'target-enriched sequencing' to focus on specific markers of interest in the specimens' DNA. The remains used in that work date back to a more recent time in Egyptian history, from 787 BC to AD 23. It was ultimately improvements in technology over the past decade that paved the way for the authors of the new study to finally sequence an entire ancient Egyptian genome. 'The technique we used for this study is generally referred to as 'shotgun sequencing,' which means we sequence all DNA molecules isolated from the teeth, giving us coverage across the whole genome,' wrote study coauthor Dr. Linus Girdland-Flink, a lecturer in biomolecular archaeology at the University of Aberdeen in Scotland, in an email. 'Our approach means that any future researcher can access the whole genome we published to find additional information. This also means there is no need to return to this individual for additional sampling of bone or tooth material.' The man, who died during a time of transition between Egypt's Early Dynastic and Old Kingdom periods, was not mummified before burial because it was not yet standard practice — and that likely preserved his DNA, the researchers said. 'It may have been a lucky circumstance — perhaps we found the needle in the haystack,' Girdland-Flink said. 'But I think we will see additional genomes published from ancient Egypt over the coming years, possibly from individuals buried in ceramic pots.' While Egypt's overall climate is hot, the region has relatively stable temperatures, a key factor for long-term genetic preservation, Girdland-Flink said. That climate, the clay pot used for burial and the rock tomb it was placed in all played a role in preventing the man's DNA from deteriorating, he said. For their analysis, the researchers took small samples of the root tips of one of the man's teeth. They analyzed the cementum, a dental tissue that locks the teeth into the jaw, because it is an excellent tool for DNA preservation, Girdland-Flink said. Of the seven DNA extracts taken from the tooth, two were preserved enough to be sequenced. Then, the scientists compared the ancient Egyptian genome with those of more than 3,000 modern people and 805 ancient individuals, according to the study authors. Chemical signals called isotopes in the man's tooth recorded information about the environment where he grew up and the diet he consumed as a child as his teeth grew. The results were consistent with a childhood spent in the hot, dry climate of the Nile Valley, consuming wheat, barley, animal protein and plants associated with Egypt. But 20% of the man's ancestry best matches older genomes from Mesopotamia, suggesting that the movement of people into Egypt at some point may have been fairly substantial, Girdland-Flink. Dental anthropologist and study coauthor Joel Irish also took forensic measurements of the man's teeth and cranium, which matched best with a Western Asian individual. Irish is a professor in the School of Biological and Environmental Sciences at Liverpool John Moores University. The study provides a glimpse into a crucial time and place for which there haven't been samples before, according to Iosif Lazaridis, a research associate in the department of human evolutionary biology at Harvard University. Lazaridis was not involved with the new study but has done research on ancient DNA samples from Mesopotamia and the Levant, the eastern Mediterranean area that includes modern-day Syria, Lebanon, Israel, the Palestinian territories, Jordan and parts of Turkey. Researchers have long questioned whether the Egyptians from the beginnings of the Dynastic civilization were indigenous North Africans or Levantine, Lazaridis said. 'What this sample does tell us is that at such an early date there were people in Egypt that were mostly North African in ancestry, but with some contribution of ancestry from Mesopotamia,' Lazaridis said. 'This makes perfect sense geographically.' Lazaridis said he hopes it's the beginning of more research on Egypt, acknowledging that while mummification helped preserve soft tissue in mummies, the chemical treatments used in the mummification process were not ideal for ancient DNA preservation. 'I think it is now shown that it is feasible to extract DNA from people from the beginnings of Egyptian civilization and the genetic history of Egypt can now begin to be written,' he said. By studying the man's skeleton, the team was able to determine that he was just over 5 feet tall and between 44 and 64 years old, likely closer to the end of that range — 'which is incredibly old for that time period, probably like 80s would be today,' Irish said. Genetic analysis suggests he had brown eyes and hair and dark skin. And his bones told another tale: just how hard he labored in life, which seems at odds with the ceremonial way he was buried within the ceramic vessel. Indications of arthritis and osteoporosis were evident in his bones, while features within the back of his skull and vertebra showed he was looking down and leaning forward for much of his lifetime, Irish said. Muscle markings show he was holding his arms out in front of him for extended periods of time and carrying heavy materials. The sit bones of his pelvis were also incredibly inflated, which occurs when someone sits on a hard surface over decades. There were also signs of substantial arthritis within his right foot. Irish looked over ancient Egyptian imagery of different occupations, including pottery making, masonry, soldering, farming and weaving, to figure out how the man might have spent his time. 'Though circumstantial these clues point towards pottery, including use of a pottery wheel, which arrived in Egypt around the same time,' Irish said. 'That said, his higher-class burial is not expected for a potter, who would not normally receive such treatment. Perhaps he was exceptionally skilled or successful to advance his social status.' Before the pottery wheel and writing systems were shared between cultures, domesticated plants and animals spread across the Fertile Crescent and Egypt in the sixth millennium BC, as societies transitioned from being hunter-gatherers to living in permanent settlements. Now, the study team wonders whether human migrations were also part of that shift. Additional ancient genomes from Egypt, Africa and the Fertile Crescent could supply answers about who lived where and when. 'This is just one piece of the puzzle that is human genetic variation: each person who ever lived — and their genome — represents a unique piece in that puzzle,' Girdland-Flink said in an email. 'While we will never be able to sequence everyone's genome, my hope is that we can gather enough diverse samples from around the world to accurately reconstruct the key events in human history that have shaped who we are today.'
