Skull from Mosfellsdalur — Blood and brain lesions
In 1995-2015, an extensive excavation of antiquities from the 10th and 11th centuries took place in Mosfellsdal. The study aimed to explore the community of people during the colonial period and shortly after it. Buried were a church and a cemetery on Kirkjuhól and a hut on Hrisbrú.
In the cemetery were well-preserved human remains from 21 graves. Of these, nine men, four women and three children could be identified. The preservation of other bones was such a bad thing that they could not be distinguished by gender.
Studies of the skeletons gave good information about the health, culture and living conditions of the times of the first settlers. Analyses have shown that this group of people largely survived on meat and seafood. These findings are very consistent with studies of human remains from other church gardens in Iceland from the same period. Strontium analysis of most of the skeletons showed that they were born in Iceland and were probably the children or grandchildren of those who inhabited the country in the 9th century. On some of the skeletons, signs of diseases such as tuberculosis and rheumatism could be seen.
Was the man hurt?
On one of the skulls in the cemetery there was a prominent bump left by an egg weapon indicating that the individual was murdered or killed in battle. Despite the grim descriptions of murders and battles in Icelandic history, it is extremely rare to find skeletons from that time with such conspicuous impacts. By the nature of the case, such bones are very sensitive. In order to facilitate the dissemination of information about such relics to interested parties, a three-dimensional model of the skull was made. The model allows the viewer to view the skull from all sides without the need to manipulate it and it will be subjected to kneeling. It takes considerably longer to make such models than to take ordinary single images, because they are composed of 100-200 images taken by the museum photographer (Ívar Brynjólfsson). If you look closely, you can see the bump in the upper part of the skull on the right.
Skull in 3D
Click to view in 3D. Once clicked, you can select “full screen” in the lower right corner.
Radiocarbon measurements and osteological analyses
Radiocarbon measurements indicate that this individual was born between 805-970 and killed in the period 890-990. Osteological analyses of his skull and pelvis suggest that this was a male. Skull and dental examinations indicate that he was about 40-50 years old when he died. Stripes on his teeth indicate that he lived with a shortage as a child. One consequence of this could be that he was shorter than most of the other men found in the cemetery. Bone isotope analyses have also shown that man got about 30% of his protein intake from seafood.
It can be seen on the man's skull that he had been attacked twice with some kind of egg weapon and a very small part of the skull was struck off. However, he was not hit in the shoulder, but close to it. A large part of the skull on the right has gone off, showing that the blow has been considerable. A wound of this kind draws a person to death in a matter of minutes. It has been a devastating sight. Blood has spewed in all directions and the brain has leaked out. Wounds of this kind can best be associated with applied and heavy weapons such as axes, which were probably the most common weapons at that time. The makeup of the skull after the weapon is uneven, suggesting that the weapon was widely used and became somewhat destroyed. The axe used may be similar to the one found in Þjörsárdal and delivered to the museum in 1928 (vol. 10204). That axe is on the National Museum's primary exhibition. However, the skull from Kirkjuhóli is preserved in the museum's conservation centre.
Farmers or bloodthirsty Vikings?
It is interesting that according to the testimony of the archaeological finds, the man from Mosfellsdal is one of the few sure examples that someone was killed with a weapon in the Viking Age in Iceland, despite numerous descriptions of this in Icelandic history. There could be a number of reasons behind it. The choice of research sites could have a say there, as well as the preservation conditions for bones in the ground, as well as the variety of potentially life-threatening injuries not visible on the bones. Then there are various injuries to the bones of herbicidal causes that could be formed after a fall from a horse, an accident in the home or an accident at work. The antiquities are therefore not a testimony that the first inhabitants of the country were bloodthirsty Vikings who fought and killed each other, but they were probably most of the peasants and ranchers who suffered osteoarthritis from physical hard work.
Sources and details
Authors:
Hronn Konradsdóttir and Joe W. Walser
Sources
Walker PL, Byock J, Erlandson JE, Holck P, Eng JT, Schwarcz H and Zori D. 2012. The Axed Man of Mosfell: Skeletal evidence of a Viking Age Homicide and the Icelandic Sagas. In ALW Stodder and AM Palkovick (Eds.), The Bioarchaeology of Individuals. Gainesville, FL, USA: University Press of Florida.
Zori D and Byock J (Eds.). 2014. Viking Archaeology in Iceland: Mosfell Archaeological Project. Turnhout Belgium: Brepols Publishing.