Medieval Skeletons Provide 'Special Understanding' of Everyday Viking Life

A set of medieval skeletons have given a fascinating glimpse into the everyday lives of people in the Viking Age.

For a study published in the journal PLOS ONE, a team of researchers examined human remains from almost 200 individuals who were buried in a huge Viking cemetery.

The investigation revealed that these people suffered from painful dental issues, and occasionally tried to treat them using a variety of methods.

"I think this study has provided a special understanding of the Vikings' everyday life, both regarding diet, habits and sufferings," Carolina Bertilsson, lead author of the study from the University of Gothenburg in Sweden, told Newsweek.

The Viking Age was a period in medieval history when the Vikings—a Scandinavian seafaring people—raided, colonized and traded widely across areas of Europe. They even made it further afield, reaching regions such as North Africa, the Middle East and North America. This period is generally considered to have begun in the late 8th century and ended in the 11th century, although several aspects of the Viking era persisted well into the 12th century and beyond.

In 2005, excavations in Varnhem, Sweden, revealed the ruins of a stone church built in the early 11th century, which is among the oldest in the region. In close proximity to the church, archaeologists found an extensive cemetery containing thousands of graves dating from the 10th to 12th centuries. Of these, around 300 have been examined.

Evidence from the site indicates that people in the Viking Age began burying their dead there according to Christian burial practices as early as the first half of the 10th century—a surprisingly early date. The first Christian monarch of Sweden was not baptized until around the beginning of the 11th century.

"The site is situated behind an abbey church in Varnhem," Bertilsson said. "What is interesting about the church that was found by archaeologists is that it is one of the earliest Christian settlements in Sweden."

In the latest study, Bertilsson and colleagues examined more than 2,300 teeth from 171 individuals who were buried at the Varnhem cemetery. Examinations were performed under a strong light source with a dental mirror and explorer tool. The researchers also took X-rays of 18 individuals to confirm their clinical diagnoses.

The findings of the study have provided a "unique understanding of life and death" in this early Christian Viking community, revealing that it was common to suffer from dental caries, tooth loss, infections of dental origin and tooth pain, the authors wrote in the study.

It showed that more than 60 percent of the examined adults had signs of tooth decay (know technically as "dental caries")—most often on the root surface. All the juveniles were free of tooth decay, however.

"This is in accordance with other populations in Europe from the same time period," Bertilsson said. "Many of the Vikings must have suffered from toothache due to caries."

In addition, the team observed other issues, including tooth infection and indications of teeth having been lost before death.

Intriguingly, the examinations also revealed several methods that the Vikings may have used to treat their dental issues.

For example, they documented a few cases where teeth had seemingly been filed, likely in an attempt to relieve tooth pain.

"I was surprised to see that in two individuals, teeth with infections had been manipulated with an opening to the pulp chamber, perhaps in an attempt to relieve the pain from these teeth," Bertilsson said. "The opening of the pulp must have been effective in relieving the acute pain, but the opening also permits bacteria to invade the pulp and root canals which can cause further infections."

The researchers also found evidence that individuals had used some form of toothpick to clean food from between their teeth.

"The 'dental treatments' [were] more sophisticated than merely tooth extractions that we knew of previously," Bertilsson said.

Trent Trombley, assistant professor of anthropology with Augustana University in South Dakota, who was not involved in the paper, told Newsweek it was a "welcome contribution" to the study of caries and dental issues more broadly in the medieval period.

"So often the medieval Period is assumed to be a time of extremely poor oral health, but the truth is, we've only begun to scratch the surface in the last few decades of how variable, and localized, oral health really is," he said. "Through studies such as this, we're getting a better picture of what caries and oral health was really like for everyday people during this period."

"I find the results compelling, both for contributing to our understanding of cavities and oral health, and for shedding light on how people managed pain in the past. I was happy to see the authors mention the ways in which these individuals may have tried to care for their mouths and alleviate discomfort. I appreciate the authors including this as it goes to show that people didn't always resort to extraction of a painful or decayed tooth, nor did they passively just idle as disease and discomfort spread."

Kathryn Marklein, researcher in the Department of Anthropology at the University of Louisville, who was also not involved in the study, told Newsweek it demonstrates how human teeth, with supporting contextual information, can be effectively used as proxies for disease, nutrition, diet and activity.

"For me, this paper demonstrates the promise and potency of interdisciplinary collaborations in archaeological research," Marklein said.

Do you have a tip on a science story that Newsweek should be covering? Do you have a question about Vikings? Let us know via science@newsweek.com.

Update 12/22/23, 1:51 p.m. ET: This article was updated with comments from Trent Trombley and Kathryn Marklein.