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Medieval Graves Unearthed in Norway

Tuesday, August 26, 2014

OSLO, NORWAY—Some 100 burials dating from 1100 to 1400 have been uncovered by archaeologists working ahead of a public railway expansion project into the oldest area of Oslo. Views and News from Norway reports that the medieval skeletons will provide scientists with information about what early Oslo residents ate, what illnesses they had, how old they were when they died, and where the city’s cemeteries were located. “That can also tell us what rank they held in society,” said lead archaeologist Egil Bauer of the Norwegian Institute for Cultural Heritage Research (NIKU). The cemetery was known from historical sources, but was thought to be lost when a railway line was built in the area during the nineteenth century. To read about artifacts from this period being discovered in Norway's melting glaciers, see "Letter From Norway: The Big Melt."

 

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