Full skeletal remains of “Well Man”
Age Hojem, NTNU University Museum
A Norse legend written over 800 years ago describes how the dead were thrown into a castle well. Now researchers believe they have identified this person’s remains.
The Sverris saga is a 182-voice Old Norse text that records the exploits of King Sverre Sigurdsson, who came to power in the late 12th century AD. One section states that rival tribes who attacked Sveresborg Castle near Trondheim, Norway, “dragged the corpse, threw it into a well, and filled it with stones.”
The well was located inside the city walls and was the community’s only permanent water source. It has been speculated that the man thrown into the well in the saga may have contracted a disease and that putting him there was an early act of biological warfare.
In 1938, a medieval well in the ruins of Sverresborg Castle was partially drained, and a skeleton was discovered under the rubble and rocks at the bottom. The skeleton, called the Well Man, was widely believed to be the remains of an individual mentioned in the saga, but this could not be confirmed at the time.
now, Anna Petersen Her colleagues with the Norwegian Institute of Cultural Heritage in Oslo used radiocarbon dating and DNA analysis of teeth from the corpse to show that the range of dates the man had been alive was consistent with the period during which the castle was stormed. Although it’s not definitive proof that the person is the one mentioned in the story, “circumstantial evidence is consistent with this conclusion,” Perersén says.
The Well Man skeleton was discovered in 1938.
Riksantikvaren (Norwegian Department of Cultural Heritage)
Plus, the team was able to add to the story. “The research we conducted revealed many details about the case and about characters not mentioned in the episode,” says Petersén.
For example, DNA suggests he most likely had blue eyes and blonde or light brown hair. Researchers also believe, based on comparisons with the DNA of modern and ancient Norwegians, that his ancestors were from Vest-Agder, the southernmost county in present-day Norway.
One thing they didn’t find was any evidence that the person was thrown into the well because they were sick or because drinking water was unavailable, but they also left the question open.
michael martin Researchers at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology in Trondheim say the team’s approach to matching historical documents with DNA evidence could also be applied to building family trees of long-dead royals or physically depicting and sketching life stories such as migrations. says: Anonymous people whose remains were recovered in archaeological excavations, across geographic regions.”
Researchers took DNA from one of the skeleton’s teeth.
Norwegian Institute for Cultural Heritage (NIKU)
“As far as I know, this is the oldest case in which genomic information has been recovered from a specific person, or even a specific person, mentioned in ancient texts,” says Martin.
He says that generating genomic information from ancient skeletal remains could provide new details about people. “Because these details are not in the original text, genetic data enriches the story and provides a way to separate fact from fiction,” says Martin.
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