Tag: Anglo-saxons

‘Digging for Britain’ with Alice Roberts – New Archaeology Series on BBC2

Dr Alice Roberts, presenter of 'Digging for Britain', with a hoard of Roman Coins found in Somerset in 2010 - Image copyright 360 Production Photo by Mike Hogan Britain, man your TVs and iPlayers!Great Britain might be a small island but it has a huge history and, every year, hundreds of excavations bring lost treasures up to the surface. Presented by Dr Alice Roberts, ‘Digging For Britain‘ joins these excavations in a new BBC Twohistory series.

‘Digging for Britain’ is produced by 360 Production (a look behind the scenes) and follows ayear of archaeology around the country, revealing and contextualising some of the newest finds, research and social history.

Its four episodes focus onfocus on the Roman, Prehistoric, Anglo-Saxon and Tudor eras.

Digging the Romans

In the first episode of the series, ‘The Romans’, Dr Alice Roberts follows the story of the Hambleden infanticide and the discovery of 97 murdered babies buried beneath a field in Buckinghamshire. The original excavation made by Alfred Heneage Cocks in 1912 is well documented, but the human remains themselves were believed to have been lost (preview video). Their recent re-discovery has allowed skeletal biologist Dr Simon Mays and Dr Jill Eyers to examine the remains. Was the infanticide at Yweden Villa the result of a Roman brothel?

Dr Roberts is also on the trail of the Frome Hoard, one of the biggest Roman coin hoards ever to be found in Britain. In April 2010, metal detectorist Dave Crisp uncovered more than 52,000 coins dating from the 3rd century AD in a field near Frome, Somerset. Following the three-day excavation,PAS experts Dr Roger Bland and Sam Moorhead spent nine weeks on sorting the hoard, identifying the coins at a rate of 5,500 per week.Dr Robertshears their theories on the treasure trove being a votive offering to the gods and never intended to be recovered from the ground.

Preview: Habledon Villa Human Remains (360 Production)

‘The Romans’ episode also investigates the mystery of a man buried face down on a bed of meat in rural Dorset and the extensive excavation project at the Fort of Vindolanda.

Digging up Prehistory

The further back in time we go, the more rare those glimpses into our ancestors become and, with no written records, the pieces of evidence pulled from the ground are the only clues about the mysterious world of pre-historic Britain.

At Happisburgh in Norfolk, Dr Roberts follows the discovery of seventy flint flakes showing clear evidence of having been worked by humans a find that pushes back the earliest known human occupation of Britain by at least 200,000 years. The discovery of these tools challenge the conventional belief that the earliest human species would not have been able to survive in northern Europe.

Dr Robertsjoins the excavation team at Bronze Age siteForteviot in Scotland, who have discovered that Bronze Age people placed flowers meadowsweet in the graves of their dead.

Digging for Britain’sPrehistory episode also uncovers a 3,000-year-old tragedy at sea, the earliest rock art ever uncovered in Britain and what is potentially the earliest metal working site discovered in Britain.

Digging for the Anglo-Saxons

At Bamburgh, on the North East coast, skeletons excavated by the Bamburgh Research Project (blog) offer insight into the illnesses and conditions the aristocratic Anglo-Saxons suffered, and hold clues about the societies in which they lived clues that are somewhat at odds with the stereotypical, warlord Anglo Saxon people have come to know.

There are thousands of grave goods to clean and conserve at the Anglo-Saxon cemetery discovered in Sittingbourne in 2008.Dr Robertslearns about a unique way of dealing with the sheer volume of material a pioneering project in the heart of Sittingbourne that’s engaging the whole community.

The programme would not be complete without a glimpse at the richest ever Anglo Saxon find in Britain: the Staffordshire Hoard, discovered by a metal detector last year and a visit to Sutton-Hoo which is still revealing new insights more than 70 years after it was first discovered.

‘Digging for Britain’ (video preview) is a four-part series. ‘The Romans’ airs this Thursday August 19, 9pm on BBC Two. (Prehistory August 26, Anglo-Saxons September 2, Tudors September 9)

AWiL Video Series: Defending London – Richborough, Maunsell Seaforts, Thames Barrier & Tower of London

London is under attack! But don’t be alarmed, this is no April Fool: London’s always been under attack. For over two thousand years the city has been invaded, burnt, bridged and bombed. But while Boudicca, Caesar, Cnut and Hitler have been some of the city’s biggest enemies, today it’s the turn of climate change to have London scrambling her defences with the impressive Thames Barrier.

Today the barrier’s iconic row of ‘sandals’ protect over a million Londoners from the perils of El Nio. But it’s just one of the places we visited as part of our defences tour down the Thames, a 12-hour trip from the edge of the North Sea to the heart of ancient London.

The Maunsell Sea Forts might just be the Second World War’s best-kept secret. Sprouting out of the Thames Estuary some six to 12 miles offshore, the extraterrestrial towers are among the city’s oddest sights. From 1942 until the end of the war men stationed on them shot down 22 German aircraft and over 30 doodlebug rockets, saving countless lives from the relentless terror of Blitzkrieg.

Today the forts’ future hangs in the balance, having been abandoned since the ’60s, when they were used as pirate radio stations. It’d be a tragedy to lose such a unique episode in British history, especially as the forts were pivotal in the making of modern oil rigs. You can help save the forts by visiting Project Redsand’s homepage.

If London was under attack, what would you save from destruction?

But London was defended thousands of years before the Nazis rained down on its skies. Richborough, on the Kent coast, is largely thought to be the site of Emperor Claudius’s 43AD invasion, who galvanised his new frontier as he strode toward the Thames. Roman London would take until 200AD to get its own defensive wall, a full 140 years afterBoudicca tore through the city with her Celtic rebels. Today the wall still stands in fits and starts around the capital, though the only Celts to defend from nowadays are Rangers fans and Daniel O’ Donnell.

At the end of our trip stands one of London’s most iconic landmarks. Built almost a thousand years after the Roman wall, the Tower of London still looms fiercely over the river, its central White Tower a masterpiece of Norman architecture. But as William the Conqueror took hold of England following his famous victory at Hastings in 1066, he built the Tower to fend off his own people rather than outside aggressors.

“The castle, really, is a place where the military aristocracy can protect themselves,” says expert Eljas Oksanen. “It very much secured an iconic royal presence in this potentially rebellious Anglo-Saxon city.” Makes the massive queues to get in a little ironic, don’t you think?

HD Video: Episode 9 – London’s Defences

(Transcription of this video.)

Learn more about the bloody battles and defences of London with our other great Ancient World in London videos. Get involved in bloggers’ challenges, real-world events like our pub quiz or just learn more about the city’s ancient past. Heritage Key – Unlock the Wonders.

Anglo-Saxon Aloud – Add some Old English to your iPhone

anglo-saxon sutton hoo I believe I’ve found the ideal solution to ‘what music will we play in the office’. As we never seem to be able to reach agreement on the channel (really? Brit pop? Sounds from outer-space?), for tomorrow, I suggest we tune in on ‘Anglo-Saxon Aloud’, a website by Michael Drout that contains daily* readings of the entire Anglo-Saxon Poetic Records – which includes all poems written in Old English.

Professor Michael DCDrout (an American teaching English at Wheaton College, blogs at Wormtalk and Slugspeak, and *has a dog named Lancelot that likes lfric a lot – or not at all) over the years – his first recording dates from 2007 – has build up an impressive collection of ~~sound~~ Anglo-Saxon literature samples. Consider it the must-have audiobooks for the history-geek. From the famous poem ‘Beowulf’, to the death of of Alfred (a very happy poem, as it describes how in 1036 the Atheling Alfred was captured by Godwine, blinded, and turned over to the monks at Ely 😉 and even more practical advice in Old English – charms to retrieve lost as well as stolen cattle. Be aware, the charm to retrieve lost life stock needs to be quoted as soon as you notice the cattle has gone!

But what if you don’t have internet access when you discover your daily portion of meat (or fresh milk) has ran off? No need to panic! You can subscribe to Professor’s Drout iTunes feed, or download the Anglo-Saxon sound files to your phone, so you’ll always have them handy when in dire need of some Old English. What will go on my iPhone? I considered learning Genesis in Anglo-Saxon rather than Latin (really, who would study that still nowadays?), but after listening to (almost) the entire collection, my favourites from the whole Anglo-Saxon lot must definitely be the different versions of Bede‘s Death Song. Find them all here. No iPhone yet? For the die-hard Old English fans, there’s the ultimate audio CD: ‘Anglo-Saxon Aloud:The Greatest Hits‘.

Thanks to Professor Drout’s efforts to introduce the ‘illiterate’ to Old English, I’ve actually changed my opinion and am looking forward to the ‘Old Norse’ in Mel Gibson’s movie, as I’m assuming I’ll be most likely to understand some of it without subtitles. Really, Igot most of the ‘lost cattle’ one! Must be my Germanic (or Gaul, they’re still debating that, as far as Iknow) inheritance.

There’s just one Anglo-Saxon language question these sound files do not answer. How do I pronounce ‘Run!The Vikings!’ in Old English? I’m pretty sure this might come handy – some day.

Of course, I trust, if you are using iTunes, you are already subscribed to recieve our totally awesome and sublime ancient world videos as soon as they are released. Right?

Is Boudicca a Poster Girl For Intolerance and British Nationalism?

Re-invented by the Victorians, under the name of Boadicea, Boudicca (starring in this Ancient World in London video) was presented as an idol of nationalism, of British warrior tradition and, somewhat incongruently, as a figurehead of imperialism, even though this was the thing she had fought against. Her statue sits directly opposite Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament, overlooking the River Thames at the very heart of London. There she stands in her chariot looking over the city like some kind of fierce guardian angel for the British. But what is she doing there? Should we really be touting Boudicca as a hero? Or does she represent the kind of nationalism and xenophobia that we should rail against?

Rebel Woman

In 60 and 61 AD the mighty Roman empire was attacked by a coalition of British rebels, led by a woman, a Celtic Queen who had been tortured, and her daughters raped, by the Romans. Driven by anger and revenge she lead her followers on a rampage through the heartlands of Roman Britain. Her name was Boudicca – in her Celtic language it meant ‘victory’, and she subjected the Roman IX Legion to a defeat that was rare even for the most elite soldiers in the ancient world. Her goal was clear: to get the Romans out of the lands her husband had ruled, and then out of Britain all together. She came close to succeeding, according to some accounts. The Emperor Nero was shaken enough to consider withdrawing from Britain, though ultimately he chose to stay but adopt a more ‘hearts and minds’ approach, as modern terminology might put it.

Kill Boadicea!

Boudicca was an historical figure – Boadicea is a created one, and I say it is time for us to kill off Boadicea, leaving only Boudicca open to historical scrutiny.

Boadicea has corrupted how we view Boudicca, giving Boudicca a heroic sheen that I don’t think she deserves. She was a freedom fighter, we cannot doubt that. The Romans had defiled her (and her young daughters) in the worst way possible and the Roman governor had declared that her kingdom (ruled her late husband) the property of Rome, without thought for the welfare of those within it.

There was a dishonourable descent from a freedom fighting force into a looting mob

She faced a choice between slavery, rebellion, or exile. It was justified, then, to lead an army against the Roman forces in Britain.The Romans were an occupying force, with a presence of less than 20 years on the land which had brought the Britons their livelihood for many generations. Boudicca gathered together rival tribes and formed a liberation army. If the motives of this force were good at first, they did not long remain so, and soon there was a dishonourable descent from a freedom fighting force into a looting mob. This took place ostensibly under her command – we have no reason to think it was not upon her orders that this change of tactic took place.

The city of Camulodunum (Colchester) was set ablaze, but not before widespread plunder, rape and slaughter occurred. The same treatment was given to the populous centres of London and Verulamium (St. Albans). How ironic is it then that in the centre of our houses of parliament, cited as the symbol of civic freedom and welfare, that we have a statue dedicated to the woman who wanted to ‘ethnically cleanse’ the British isles and to raze the burgeoning city that now commemorates her. It is as perverse as having a statue to the leaders of the fourth crusade erected in Constantinople, now Istanbul, or to Slobodan Miloevi in Vukovar. We should also ask ourselves what benefit Boudica brought to Britain. When we weigh that against what the Romans did for us, wouldn’t it be more appropriate to have a monument to Suetonius Paulinus, the then governor of Britain, who matched Boadicea in cruelty but at least stimulated the development of civilisation on these shores?

Queen Boudicca

The Romans hated her, the Celts fought for her and now she is immortalised with a statue in Westminster. But who was Boudicca? The latest video in the Ancient World in London series looks at how her name is often misspelt, how her bloodthirsty rage was caused by the death of her husband and raping of her daughters and how the Romans beat her to within an inch of her life. The story of how she sacked three Roman cities in Britain is uncovered, and how she fell at the Battle of Watling Street.

A Sack Too Far?

Boudica’s barbarians, as they entered London, were not the same force which stormed and liberated Camulodunum – London had never been their land. They did not make the distinction between native Briton and Roman immigrant as they looted and plundered. It seems as if we (English or British) have thrown our colours in with the Iceni tribe without stopping to consider the Atrebates or other tribal peoples victimised by Boudicca.

Ultimately Boudicca’s rebellion was brought to halt with a crash by a force of 10,000 Roman troops, even though her force was much larger and fighting ‘on home soil’. The battle is called the Battle of Watling Street, named after the Roman road somewhere along which it is thought to have taken place. Those in her command were a disorganised rabble, ill-equipped and ill-prepared for the tactics of the Romans. Boudica was suddenly out of her depth and her failure on the battlefield ended in disaster for her army. Caught between the Romans and their own wagon train, they died in a bloody, gory crush. Tragically, their families in the wagon train were not spared.

There is, then, no logical reason I can see to celebrate her so much as the English/British do (I’m English, by the way, if you hadn’t guessed). She is presented as our William Wallace, our underdog fighting against the big bad empire and doing that thing we love more than anything else – failing (‘but she ‘ad a bloody good go’).

Is Boadicea a Symbol of British Nationalism?

I suggest the word to explain the love of Boadicea is xenophobia. A red-haired, milk-skinned dame leading an army of men in tweed and woad against Jonnius Foreignus. She represents the now outdated mentality that our island is our castle and those who come here from abroad are to be repelled. She is often dragged out by ill-informed British nationalists as the poster girl for their hostility – amusing given they talk of themselves as Anglo-Saxons. How would Boudicca have reacted to the arrival of the Saxons I wonder?

The Boadicea statue in Westminster was placed in 1902, designed by Thomas Thornycroft, it is a beautiful and thrilling work of art; but it is becoming rapidly out of date against our modern sensibilities. Britain is now a country which welcomes guests from abroad and co-operation with other nations. It would be a tragedy if that statue was lost and little kids no longer asked parents Who is that?. But perhaps now it would be right to move it elsewhere, where it does not cast its shadow of violence and xenophobia onto the home of our government. Perhaps a better place would be back in Boudicca’s native Norwich or on the site of her great final battle, should we ever find it. There it could live solely as a reminder of a compelling historical figure, a wife and mother, who briefly bested the might of Rome.

Is Westminster the only location to worship Boudicca, or are there other locations in London and Britain where her image can be found? Snap a picture, submit it to our ‘Boudicca spotted in London’ photography contest and win some great Thames &Hudson Books!

Who Were the Saxons, Jutes, Angles and Vikings? Know Your Dark Age Germanic Peoples

Fellow residents of our Early-Medieval Britannia! Many of you will have become aware of strange men coming from oversees to our green and pleasant island home.

You may be wondering who these people are, what they have come for and how long they plan to stay. To we Britons, their barbarian and guttural languages all sound very much the same… but let me inform you that in fact these visitors actually come from different places and each have different cultures- though they share many traits, they will be offended if you should accidentally confuse them for one another. So how do you tell your Jute from your Angle, for example?

This ye olde Heritage-key guide should clarify all for you.

Angles – Jutes – Saxons – Vikings

If you should see them around, BEWARE, early indications are that they are not just here for a spot of sightseeing and may be dangerous!

The Angles

When might they arrive?

The Angles are scheduled to arrive in the 5^thcentury AD.

We can expect them to be very powerful, until someone else comes to knock them from their perch… perhaps the Vikings in around 867 AD, for example… (a wild stab in the dark).

Where are they from?

The Roman historian Tacitus mentioned the Anglii in his Germania, a book about Germany (obviously) written back in around 98 AD and their name is believed to derived from their homeland of Angeln, as it is called in Old English. It is situated on the narrow peninsula between the North and Baltic seas, in the central part of the peninsula which will later be called ‘Schleswig-Holstein’. This territory is so littered by marshes, rivers and inlets that even the Romans never could get to grips with it. It all sounds a bit bleak over there, so it’s not surprising they want a look at our verdant and foresty pastures.

Where are they headed?

The Angles are coming in large numbers! So many in fact that it seems they may be abandoning their homeland and all but a few of them will be turning up on our eastern and southern coasts. There’ll be so many we may as well start calling our homeland ‘Angleland’ if we aren’t careful (but that would be a ridiculous name)! We forecast particularly strong presences in the North and East, in places they call ‘Northumberland’ and ‘East Anglia’ in their language. We may also see them as far inland as ‘Mercia’, slap bang in the middle of our fine Celtic land.

Do they worship a god?

Tacitus had them down as one of several peoples who venerated the goddess Nerthus, along with other pagan gods. Pope Gregory may have other plans for them… it is said after seeing some sweet little slave children of this people he asked Where are they from?.

When told they were from Angeln he punned Well that is well, for they have angel faces, and such people should share with the angels in heaven.

At that moment it is said he swore to convert them from their pagan ways.

Until that happens the Angles will retain their pantheon of gods, which they share with all the Germanic peoples. Most prominent among these is Woden, the leader of ‘the wild hunt‘. Secondary to him is Thunor, the thunder god. Some others from the pantheon include Ingui, Tiw and Helith (fertility, war, and marriage gods). They use these gods to identify their weekdays: Tiw’s day, Woden’s day, Thunor’s day, Frige’s day (Frige is believed to be Woden’s wife).

See Angles – Jutes – Saxons – Vikings

The Jutes

When might they arrive?

Expect them in around the 5^th and 6^th centuries AD – much like theAngles.

Where are they from?

The Jutes (or Iuti or Iutae) come from a land that will one day be called Jutland in their honour, and the venerable Bede tells me they are from the northern part of that peninsula, to be specific, further north than the Saxons or Angles.

Where are they headed?

The Jutes are headed a bit more southwards than the Angles. Their proverbial towels have been thrown in reservation over the Southern areas of our island. So get prepared if you are in Kent, Hampshire or the Isle of Wight and of Celtic descent, as we don’t expect them to leave any time soon – there is a moderate to high risk that you will be absorbed, displaced or – worse – destroyed! So pack an umbrella! (whatever an umbrella is.)

Take comfort from the fact that the same thing may well happen to them one day, once the West Saxons arrive.

Anything else?

The Jutes are a bit more suave and debonair than their Germanic cousins. They’ll probably try and adopt some aspects of Roman and Christian culture, knowing them. They will also be ahead of their peers in adopting funerary burial, instead of cremation. They use ‘Partible Inheritance’ (dividing between heirs as opposed to primogeniture), which should be helpful for people in the future to set them apart from the other German peoples whilst digging around into history.

See Angles – Jutes – Saxons – Vikings

The Saxons

When might they arrive?

It’s going to busy in the North Sea for a while – the Saxons will, like the Jutes and Angles, be heading over for much of the 5th and 6th centuries AD. East coast fishermen look out, you won’t be able to move for boat loads of colonisers. The name of this lot may be related to a type of distinctive knife they use, the Seax. Look out for those in future on the emblems of Essex and Middlesex.

Where are they from?

They are from Southern Jutland, on the Baltic coast, and as such have plenty of room to expand further southwards and westwards into Europe, though in doing so they’ll be treading on the toes of Charlemagne and his Franks, so there’s likely to be a clash there one day.

Where are they headed?

Expansive is their middle name. The Saxons are expected to lay claim to lands all along the East Coast. They’re a bit sex mad this lot, they like the word ‘Sex’ so much that they are liable to set up kingdoms with names like West Sex, East Sex, and South Sex (or Wessex, Essex and Sussex for short).

Any distinguishing features?

The languages of the Jutes, Angles and Saxons are very similar, as is that of the Fresians on the coast of the lowland European countries, so there’s not much to separate them there. You may be able to tell a Saxon from his brooch; whilst the Angles and Jutes prefer cross shaped brooches, the Saxon will often wear a round one. Look for his pottery too – the Saxons are fans of curvilinearly decorated pottery.

See Angles – Jutes – Saxons – Vikings

The Vikings

When might they arrive?

Sensibly the Vikings are going to avoid the rush in the 5^th and 6^th centuries and join us between the 9^th and 11^th centuries, by which time the other Germanic peoples will have been able to establish themselves on our shores. The Vikings have a reputation for being more warlike than the others and they will come here with no good intentions! By raiding the by then established and flourishing Anglo-Saxons they will be be able to acquire tremendous wealth to take back to Scandinavia.

Where are they from?

They’re frrom the Danish Peninsula and the coastal areas of Sweden and Norway. The word ‘Viking‘ is from the word ‘wicing’, our own Old English word meaning pirate. In their homelands the Vikings use primogeniture to determine inheritance (the eldest son is bequeathed everything), and when birth rates are high that means there are many men who do not inherit. Those men must choose between working on their brothers’ land or joining one of the many raiding parties which set off across the known world and even into the unknown world. When they see the riches with which their countrymen return from such expeditions, it is not surprising they find so many men to join their raiding parties, if only on a season-on, season-off basis for many.

What do they look like?

There is no particularly obvious look to set them apart from the other northern Germanic peoples. When raiding they may wear round leather skull caps and the successful soldier may even have a round metal helmet with a nose guard, but this is rare. Leather body armour is a possibility, but many raiders are just on expeditions during the summer – they are not career raiders who have acquired all the most modern accoutrements of armour. Look out for their distinctive large round shields. These Vikings have a curious custom: they bathe as often as once a week and comb their hair regularly; most unusual behaviour and most unhealthy!

Where are they headed?

Everywhere. If it has a coast, the Vikings will raid it eventually, from Scandinavia, round Europe, to as far as Constantinople, to the interior of the black sea and even down the rivers of Russia to the Caspian, they have no limits to their range. It is even said they have stumbled across a whole new landmass far, far away across the Western Ocean. Nowhere in Britain is to be safe from their raiding, though settlement will be confined to some extent. Northumbria can expect settlement from the ninth century onwards, but it will come as late as the 11^th for much of southern and central zones. If you live in those areas then you’d best lock up your daughters.

Given half a chance they’ll try and establish their own settlements, with names ending in things like ‘-by’ (homestead), -thorpe (an outlying settlement), ‘-borg’ (castle) or ‘-wick’ (bay). Once these settlements are in place, they will instate their laws and create a separate Scandinavian territory. The ‘Danelaw’ would be a nice name for this Viking state on our island. If this should happen, it would take a great leader to unite the Saxons and rid us of the Vikings!

See Angles – Jutes – Saxons – Vikings

Now you know how to differentiate these newcomers, find out who were London’s most influential invaders (you might be surprised!) or follow us following the Vikings in our ‘Ancient World in London‘ video series. Feel like dressing up as a Viking? Take up one of the challenges to join us at the live event and win the Grand Prize:a lovely one-week break in Turkey.

Headless ‘Vikings’ found in Burial Pit

Archaeologists in the sleepy seaside town of Weymouth made a gruesome discovery this month – as the bodies of 51 headless men were found dumped in a thousand-year-old burial pit. The twisted bodies were found without any traces of clothing or valuable items, as good as confirming they had been killed in a mass execution. Radio-carbon dating has placed the grisly find between 890 and 1034 AD, around the time Vikings and Anglo-Saxons were waging a bloody conflict for control of Britain. The feared Norsemen had invaded and taken over the north and east of the island, whereas the Germanic Anglo-Saxons had settled the south and east many years before. Other than deep cuts to the skull, jaw and neck, there are very few other injuries – aside from one man who appears to have had his fingers cut off as he shielded his face. The heads were neatly arranged on an opposite side of the pit; perhaps a deliberate show of victory.

Their heads were neatly arranged on an opposite side of the pit – one man appears to have had his fingers cut off as he shielded his face.

All the evidence gathered thus far points to the dead having been Viking war captives, according to David Score, of Oxford Archaeology: “They look like a healthy, robust, very strong, very masculine group of young males. It’s your classic sort of warrior.” Score also notes the style of execution as proof of the men’s provenance: “Locations like this are classic sites for executions in late Saxon and medieval times,” he says. “If you’re a Viking raider, you’re much more likely to leave people where you killed them in the town or on the beach.” Kit Siddorn, author of Viking Weapons and Warfare, agrees: “I would say this was a Viking raiding party which had been trapped,” he said. “They had left their ship, walked inland, ran into an unusually well-organized body of Saxons, and were probably forced to surrender.” The find’s archaeological team is hoping that further chemical analysis of the bodies can determine once and for all what side they were on. Score points to teeth and arms as the biggest indicators – Vikings were known to file deep grooves in their teeth; and their arms are invariably more developed than those of other tribes, thanks to miles of longboat rowing.

Image by Henri Bergius.