Lost and found: Viking Age human bones and textiles from Bjerringhoj, Denmark

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The human remains recovered from the famous Bjerringhoj Viking Age burial in Denmark have been missing for more than 100 years. Recently, an assemblage of bones resembling those recorded at Bjerringhoj - some with adherent textiles - were discovered in a misplaced box in the National Museum of Denmark. Here, the authors use new skeletal and comparative textile analyses, along with radiocarbon dating, to confirm that the bones are indeed those from the Bjerringhoj burial. This rediscovery offers new data for interpreting Viking Age clothing, including the presence of long trousers, and emphasises the importance of reinvestigating old archaeological collections housed within museums and archives.

Original languageEnglish
JournalAntiquity
Volume95
Issue number381
Pages (from-to)735-752
ISSN0003-598X
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2021

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
Copyright © The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of Antiquity Publications Ltd.

    Research areas

  • Bjerringhoj, Denmark, human bone, museum collections, textiles, Viking Age

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