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Woman's grave from the Viking Age excites archaeologists

The grave contains preserved skeletal remains and jewellery. A discovery by a metal detectorist alerted researchers to the find.

The upper half of a skeleton partially in the ground. There are two scallopp shells on the jaw.
The woman lived in Bjugn during the Viking Age. She presents a mystery that archaeologists have not solved.
Steinar Brandslet journalist for Norwegian SciTech News
Presented by: Presented by: Presented by: NTNU - Norwegian University of Science and Technology
Published

In 2025, Roy Søreng was out with a metal detector in Bjugn, Central Norway. That's when he came across an oval brooch, a piece of jewellery typical of the Viking Age and the centuries before.

Archaeologists from the NTNU University Museum and Trøndelag County Council have now become involved in investigating the find. The Norwegian Directorate for Cultural Heritage has also taken an interest.

Close up of a large oval brooch in a box.
This wonderful bowl brooch is among the finds from the grave.

“The Viking Age grave contains what we believe to be a woman, buried with a typical Viking Age costume and jewellery set from the 800s. This indicates that she was a free and probably married woman, perhaps the mistress of the farm,” says Raymond Sauvage.

He is head engineer at the museum’s Department of Archaeology and Cultural History.

The archaeologists have been digging in secret because the find is so beautiful. They praise both the finder Søreng and landowner Arve Innstrand for their help.

The jewellery consists of two oval brooches that attach to the straps of a suspender dress, as well as a small ring buckle that closed the neck opening of a slip dress. It was one of these oval brooches that Roy Søreng found.

Found another skeleton in the same field

“The most remarkable thing is two scallop shells placed at the dead woman’s mouth. This is a practice that's not previously known from pre-Christian graves in Norway. We don’t yet know what the symbolism means,” says Sauvage, who is also the project leader.

Close up of the two scallop shells. A few teeth are visible between them.
Why on earth does the woman have scallop shells around her mouth?

The shells lay with the curved side facing outwards and the straight edge upwards, so that they partially covered the mouth. The researchers also found small bird bones along the grave, probably from wings.

Earlier in 2025, the researchers documented an exceptionally well-preserved skeleton in the same field as this newer find. 

That skeleton was from the 700s. But Søreng’s metal detector find encouraged them to check out the new location as well.

Could have been destroyed if it weren’t for the landowner

“During the inspection, we quickly realised that we were facing a new skeletal grave that was in acute danger of being damaged during the next ploughing,” says field supervisor Hanne Bryn from the Department of Archaeology and Cultural History.

But instead, landowner Innstrand decided to allow the researchers to continue to work on the grave.

“This new grave is probably one to three generations younger than the previously documented grave at the site,” says Bryn.

A man and women crouch by the skeleton. They use spoons to move the dirt.
Kristoffer Rantala and Hanne Bryn are both archaeologists at the NTNU University Museum. The photo shows them during the excavation of the woman in Bjugn.

The Norwegian Directorate for Cultural Heritage allocated extra money to the project to secure the find and preserve as much information as possible. This allowed the archaeologists to carry out what is known as a safeguarding excavation. 

They were thus able to document both the skeletal remains and the grave goods.

“This is an incredibly exciting finding. It's very unusual to find such a well-preserved skeleton in ancient graves. This find has great cultural heritage value and potential," says Hanna Geiran.

She is the director general of the Norwegian Directorate for Cultural Heritage.

“I would like to commend both the landowner and the finder for now being able to learn a little more about a fascinating period in our common history. The Viking Age engages many people, and now we look forward to learning more after the further investigations at the NTNU University Museum,” she says.

Aerial view of farm buildings and fields beside a coastal fjord landscape.
From the farm in Bjugn where the Viking grave was found.

DNA can show whether they were related

The archaeologists waited until late 2025 to publish the information about the skeleton and the objects in the Viking Age grave. This was partly because the work of preserving the find was difficult, but there were also other practical and professional reasons.

People at the NTNU University Museum will now analyse the Viking Age grave find.

“We will examine the skeleton, preserve the objects, and take samples for dating and DNA analysis. The goal is to learn more about the person and about possible kinship to the previous find from the same place,” says Sauvage.

The researchers will look for more information about body height, gender-determining traits, and any signs of disease.

Burials in the Viking Age

  • Viking Age burials were ritual performances in which jewellery, clothing, and grave goods expressed status and identity.
  • In the Middle Ages, scallop shells had Christian significance linked to the cult of St. James, but they occur very rarely in pre-Christian graves.
  • The deceased was displayed with clothing, bedding, and symbolic objects to create a strong memory of the person and to emphasise the family’s social position in society.
  • The rituals were also open and could incorporate new elements. Both the scallop shells and the bird bones likely carried symbolic meaning intended to be communicated to those who witnessed the burial.

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