Unraveling the Mystery of the Headless Viking Skeletons Discovered in Dorset

The archaeological community is currently in astonishment at the discovery of a mass shallow grave in the beautiful countryside of Dorset, England. The grave is stuffed to the brim with what they believe to be Vikings who were executed during the Middle Ages.

The initial discovery of the mass grave happened in an unusual and unexpected location. In 2009, the town of Weymouth in Dorset contacted archaeologists and asked them to investigate a strange finding.

The archaeologists the city called in were from Oxford Archaeology. They were able to safely and quickly begin work on the excavation. It didn’t take long before they realized they were dealing with dozens of skeletons—this was a mass grave.

The experts studying these skeletons have not yet confirmed exactly how old the skeletons are, though they are sure they were killed sometime between the 5th and 10th century, during the early Middle Ages.

A shallow mass grave of more than 50 headless male skeletons almost certainly implies that these men were killed in some way. Though, it was the expert archaeologists’ job to find out exactly how they were killed.

Instead, they noted that each skeleton showed signs of execution via blows or deep cuts to the skull, jawbone, or spine.

The archaeologists reported that many of the skeletons and skulls had several blows that make it seem as though the executioners either weren’t very experienced. Or that they were simply moving through the 54 men as fast as they could without positioning them properly for a single-blow execution.

All 54 of the skeletons they found in the shallow grave had been beheaded; the skeletons were left in one large pile while the skulls were nearby in another.

Thanks to historians’ understanding of the Middle Ages, these experts have hypothesized that the three missing heads may have belonged to the leaders of the dead men.

Because of where the skeletons were found, when they are from, and how they were killed and dismembered, archaeologists have several theories on who they were and who killed them.

Author of “Viking Weapons and Warfare,” Kim Siddorn, explained “[t]hey had left their ship, walked inland, ran into an unusually well-organized body of Saxons, and were probably forced to surrender.”

While scientific evidence has proved that the skeletons were likely Scandinavian Vikings, they don’t know for sure who killed them.

One final theory is that this mass grave is directly connected to the famous St. Brice’s Day massacre.

So far, these are just theories. But with further research and ever-evolving technology, archaeologists are hoping that they will eventually have concrete evidence to prove exactly what happened to these men.

It’s important to understand that while there is still much to be learned from these skeletons, the discovery in and of itself is wildly exciting for historians across almost every field of study.