The discovery of the Viking graves just over half a mile outside the big city of Odense was a bit of a coincidence, writes Danish Science. An electricity company planned to lay cables in the ground in the area, but before the work started, archaeologists from the city’s museum were called in to examine the soil.
It turned out to be lucky that the archaeologists made it before the excavators. The apparently unassuming field turned out to be one of the largest burial sites ever found in the region.
“Opens completely new possibilities”
As if that weren’t enough, the skeletons were also unusually well preserved, which archaeologists believe may be due to a combination of favorable soil conditions and high groundwater levels.
– It opens up completely new possibilities and discoveries. Maybe even for things we didn’t know we wanted to know, says Michael Borre Lundø to Reuters.
Among the objects found in the graves are traces that lead to Sweden. Hear more and see pictures from the excavations in the clip above.