Home › Archaeology › Swedish archaeologists unearth the victims of a brutal 5th century massacre

Swedish archaeologists unearth the victims of a brutal 5th century massacre

By strangeremains on October 6, 2013 • ( 0 )

Photo via the DailyMail of osteologist Helene Wilhelmson excavating the remains of one of the victims.

Archeologists have uncovered the remains of a savage massacre that took place 1500 years ago on the remote island fort of Öland in Sweden. The victims fell were they lay and remained untouched for centuries. Helene Wilhelmson, an osteologist at Sweden’s Lund University, told the Daily Mail, ‘It’s more of a frozen moment than you normally see in archaeology. It’s like Pompeii: Something terrible happened, and everything just stopped.’

Swedish archaeologists are now in the process of reassembling the human remains and creating 3-D models of the site, like a modern day crime scene, in an effort to find out what happened. So far five bodies have been excavated from one of the huts. Two were found lying next to the door suggesting they were killed in an ambush as they attempted to escape. In a news release, Lund University said they have found more human bones in other parts of the fort, suggesting there may be scores or hundreds of bodies yet to be discovered.

Archaeologists are now investigating why the fort was left untouched for 1,500 years. One theory is that the fort became taboo after the massacre, and people were too scared to return.