Snubbekorsgård burial ground

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Location of Høje-Taastrup

The burial ground of Snubbekorsgård in Høje-Taastrup , between Roskilde and Copenhagen on the Danish island of Zealand , was discovered in 2006 and excavated in the following years. It consists of 45 cremation graves and 30 body burials from the Viking Age (800-1050 AD). The grave field was only partially excavated. Measured against the findings in the adjacent fields, it is three to four times larger. In this case it would be the largest Viking burial ground on Zealand. However, there is no known settlement from the Viking Age in the immediate vicinity. Therefore, archaeologists assume that it was a central site for a larger catchment area.

The burials

The skeletons were preserved in about half of the body burials. The grave goods usually consisted of iron knives, but there were also bronze jewelry , glass beads , animal sacrifices and an iron-studded wooden box. An "animal head buckle" was found in a woman's grave, which is very rare in Denmark and probably comes from Gotland . In another woman's grave, two bronze brooches, two glass beads, a piece of bent silver wire, a silver coin and bone fragments that may have come from a child were found in the chest area. An iron key lay in the lumbar region. Iron fittings and two spindle whorls were found on the left hand . In the woman's mouth was a piece of silver wire and a coin that was presumably to be paid to the ferryman for the trip to Hades. A young dog, which was a little smaller than today's German Shepherd, was buried in a man's grave. Only his jaws were preserved.

The old grave

The biggest surprise was burial number 260. It turned out to be several hundred years older than the graves of the Viking Age. There were no traces of the buried woman. However, the grave contained a necklace made of 48 disc-shaped and curl -shaped amber beads , two white and three small brown glass beads and a vessel.

Diseases

In a grave, the skeleton of which was completely preserved, there were ideal conditions for an anthropological study. Clear signs of disease were found on several bones. The person buried was 16 to 20 years old and had a severe inflammation of the bone. It was not possible to tell if it was a man or a woman.

The Giant

It is a legend that the Vikings were almost as big as people today. So it was a surprise that the Viking discovered in 2011 was about 190 cm tall and thus a giant compared to other Vikings, who usually only measured just over 170 cm.

Web links and sources

Coordinates: 55 ° 40 ′ 27.3 "  N , 12 ° 17 ′ 47"  E