Oslo, Norway - Archaeologists opened a Viking burial mound on Monday, seeking to learn more about two women - possibly a queen and a princess - laid to rest there 1,173 years ago.
In 1904, the mound in southeastern Norway's Vestfold County surrendered one of the country's greatest archaeological treasures, the Oseberg Viking longboat, which is now on display at the Viking Ship Museum in Oslo.
The 65-foot vessel was buried in 834 in the enormous mound as the grave ship for a rich and powerful Viking woman.
The remains of the two women, one believed to have been in her 60s and the other in her 30s, were first exhumed during the ship excavation. They were reburied in the mound in 1948 - in a modern aluminum casket placed inside a five-ton stone sarcophagus - in hopes that future scientific methods might reveal their secrets.
When experts opened the sarcophagus Monday, it was filled with water, although the casket itself may not have been flooded. The casket was transported back to the Viking Ship Museum and will be opened under controlled conditions on Tuesday.
An earlier study of a few fragments of the remains that were not reburied, suggested the older woman was the powerful Viking Queen Aasa, while the younger one could have been her daughter. Another theory is that the second woman was a slave, killed to accompany her master into the afterlife.
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Full Version: Bodies exhumed from Viking burial mound
QUOTE(owlscrying @ Sep 10 2007, 05:03 PM) 
Oslo, Norway - Archaeologists opened a Viking burial mound on Monday, seeking to learn more about two women - possibly a queen and a princess - laid to rest there 1,173 years ago.
In 1904, the mound in southeastern Norway's Vestfold County surrendered one of the country's greatest archaeological treasures, the Oseberg Viking longboat, which is now on display at the Viking Ship Museum in Oslo.
The 65-foot vessel was buried in 834 in the enormous mound as the grave ship for a rich and powerful Viking woman.
The remains of the two women, one believed to have been in her 60s and the other in her 30s, were first exhumed during the ship excavation. They were reburied in the mound in 1948 - in a modern aluminum casket placed inside a five-ton stone sarcophagus - in hopes that future scientific methods might reveal their secrets.
When experts opened the sarcophagus Monday, it was filled with water, although the casket itself may not have been flooded. The casket was transported back to the Viking Ship Museum and will be opened under controlled conditions on Tuesday.
An earlier study of a few fragments of the remains that were not reburied, suggested the older woman was the powerful Viking Queen Aasa, while the younger one could have been her daughter. Another theory is that the second woman was a slave, killed to accompany her master into the afterlife.
go
In 1904, the mound in southeastern Norway's Vestfold County surrendered one of the country's greatest archaeological treasures, the Oseberg Viking longboat, which is now on display at the Viking Ship Museum in Oslo.
The 65-foot vessel was buried in 834 in the enormous mound as the grave ship for a rich and powerful Viking woman.
The remains of the two women, one believed to have been in her 60s and the other in her 30s, were first exhumed during the ship excavation. They were reburied in the mound in 1948 - in a modern aluminum casket placed inside a five-ton stone sarcophagus - in hopes that future scientific methods might reveal their secrets.
When experts opened the sarcophagus Monday, it was filled with water, although the casket itself may not have been flooded. The casket was transported back to the Viking Ship Museum and will be opened under controlled conditions on Tuesday.
An earlier study of a few fragments of the remains that were not reburied, suggested the older woman was the powerful Viking Queen Aasa, while the younger one could have been her daughter. Another theory is that the second woman was a slave, killed to accompany her master into the afterlife.
go
That is cool! Iw onder what they will find out about them?
QUOTE(owlscrying @ Sep 10 2007, 09:33 PM)
The remains of the two women, one believed to have been in her 60s and the other in her 30s, were first exhumed during the ship excavation. They were reburied in the mound in 1948 - in a modern aluminum casket placed inside a five-ton stone sarcophagus - in hopes that future scientific methods might reveal their secrets.
Wow, that's pretty old for Viking women.......I'm pretty interested to see more.
I wonder when they are planning on exsamining the remains? We,ve got a lot more science knowhow now, i wonder if it,ll be anytime soon? It sure would be interesting!
I wonder sometimes if it would not be better to leave remains where they are. Remember they were once people after all. Who would like their remains digged up and examined?
QUOTE(Star_girl @ Sep 11 2007, 06:39 AM)
I wonder sometimes if it would not be better to leave remains where they are. Remember they were once people after all. Who would like their remains digged up and examined?
I know I wouldn't want to be dug up, but I'm not a part of history...
if your dead your dead, i think this stuff is cool its like having a polaroid picture thats twelve hundred years old, to see how people lived back then is neat
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