Archaeologists Discover Rare Casket from Viking Period in Excavated Burial Site

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.”