Two Viking graves that contain skeletons, bizarre jewellery and signs of a strange ritual have been discovered.
Last year, Roy Søreng was out with a metal detector when he came across an oval brooch – a piece of jewellery typical of the Viking age and the centuries before.
Alerted by Roy, archaeologists from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology University Museum (NTNU) are now investigating the grave – and have found something they rarely see left with bodies.
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“The Viking Age grave contains what we believe to be a woman, buried with a typical Viking Age costume and jewellery set from the 800s,” Raymond Sauvage, one expert from the university, told Need To Know.
“This indicates that she was a free and probably married woman, perhaps the mistress of the farm.”
Unusually, the woman also had two scallop shells placed at the sides of her mouth, a practice that has left researchers stumped.
Raymond Sauvage continued: “The most remarkable thing is two scallop shells placed at the dead woman’s mouth.
“This is a practice that is not previously known from pre-Christian graves.
“We don’t yet know what the symbolism means.”
Last year, the researchers also documented an exceptionally well-preserved skeleton, from the 700s, in the same field as the new find.
There was a risk that the graves where the bodies were found, located on farmland, would be irreparably damaged during the next harvest.
So with the help of the landowner, the team were able to perform an excavation, removing the samples from the graves and taking them to the museum for further analysis.
Raymond Sauvage said: “We will examine the skeleton, preserve the objects and take samples for dating and DNA analysis.
“The goal is to learn more about the person and about possible kinship to the previous find from the same place.”
The graves were found at Val in Bjugn, in Trøndelag County, Norway.
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