TheSverris saga , a quasi - fabricated historical account from the closing of the 12th century CE , recap the reign of the gothic Norse king Sverre Sigurdsson . One of the best - known passage delineate amilitarysiege that reduced Sigurdsson ’s castling , Sverresborg , toruins — but before it was destroyed , the piranha tried to eliminate its holed - up inhabitants by dropping a bushed body down a nearby well , thereby poisoning their water provision .
While using decaying and infected cadaver as a form of biological warfare was a comparatively coarse pattern in both themedievalandancientworlds , historiographer were n’t certain this picky event actually took home . Althoughtextslike the Sverris saga form the foundation of our understanding of other Nordichistory , the contents must always be inspected with a intelligent dose of skepticism unless they ’re bet on up with archaeological evidence .
In the case of the soundbox switch down the well , researcher got lucky in that regard . Scientists from several Norse universities have describe human cadaver found in a well at the Sverresborg web site , near modern - day Trondheim , as Norwegian in descent and dating from the twelfth 100 , confirm the saga ’s news report of the castle siege .
The bones of the “ Well Man ” werediscoveredin 1938 , about the time archaeologic mining of the Sverresborg site began . World War II interrupted programme to further investigate the well and researcher lacked the technology for any testing beyond a visual description . While the Well Man ’s skeleton showed signal of trauma , investigator could not determine whether these injuries occurred before or after hisdeath , though blunt force injuries on the left side of the skull evoke the body could have been throw .
sketch conducted between 2014 and 2016 revealed that the Well Man was in fact male and had been around 30 to 40 age onetime at the time of his expiry . carbon 14 date concluded his remains were roughly 900 years old , meaning he — or , rather , his diseased body — could have been present at the raid on Sverresborg .
In the most recentstudy , published in the journaliScience , research worker labour up one of the Well Man ’s tooth to sequence his genome . DNA marker discover that he likely had downhearted eyes and blond or easy - brown hair . Comparisons of the Well Man ’s genome with the deoxyribonucleic acid profiles in a huge database of New Norwegians suggested that he come from the southernmost area of Norway , which is now the county of Vest - Agder .
To sequence the DNA of a 900 - year - old human is one affair , but to support the physical grounds with a tale in a fabled saga is quite another . “ This is the first time that a person described in these historical schoolbook has really been found , ” aged source Michael D. Martin , a professor of natural chronicle in the NTNU University Museum at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology , said in a argument .
In the future , Martin hopes to apply the technique that identified the Well Man to the remains of Saint Olaf , another knightly Norwegian big businessman , whose isthoughtto have been inter somewhere inside Trondheim Cathedral .
“ There are a wad of these mediaeval and ancient remains all around Europe , ” he sound out , “ and they ’re increasingly being studied using genomic methods . ”
learn About Other Fascinating Archaeological Finds :
