Viking Age mass grave unearthed near Cambridge with remains of ‘extremely tall’ man who had brain surgery

Tall individual was somewhere between 17 and 24 years old, with evidence indicating he may have had a hormone-related growth condition

A group of students on a training dig have unearthed a Viking-era mass grave on the outskirts of Cambridge containing the dismembered remains of an “extremely tall” man who had seemingly undergone a brain surgery.

The remains found by the Cambridge University students are suspected to be of people executed during, or following a battle, around the 9th century AD.

The pit, measuring about 13ft by 3.2ft, contained remains of 10 individuals based on the number of skulls present. At least one of the buried individuals was decapitated.

Skeletal remains found in Viking Age mass grave near Cambridge (Cambridge Archaeological Unit/David Matzliach)

One of the buried men was 6ft 5in in stature, which is “extremely tall” for the time when average height in the region was around 5ft 6in, according to archaeologists.

This particular individual was somewhere between 17 and 24 years old, with evidence indicating he may have had a hormone-related growth condition like gigantism, researchers say.

Scientists found his skull had a large oval hole about 1in in diameter, suggesting he underwent trepanation – an ancient surgical procedure in which a hole is bored through a living human’s skull.

Skull with evidence of trepanning (Cambridge Archaeological Unit/David Matzliach)

The procedure was thought to relieve symptoms of conditions like migraines and seizures.

“The individual may have had a tumour that affected their pituitary gland and caused an excess of growth hormones,” said archaeologist Trish Biers from the University of Cambridge.

“Such a condition in the brain would have led to increased pressure in the skull, causing headaches that the trepanning may have been an attempt to alleviate,” Dr Biers said.

Researchers are also puzzled by the discovery of several dismembered remains alongside fully articulated bodies in the mass grave.

One man appears “clearly beheaded”, they say, based on chop marks near the jaw. Some of the other skeletons also show traces of trauma consistent with combat.

But archaeologists are unsure if they were victims of a battle.

Instead, the individuals with severed remains may have been victims of a “terrible violence and perhaps an execution”, scientists say. There were four complete skeletons, with some in positions suggesting they were tied up, and dismembered remains including a cluster of skulls and a stack of legs.

“Those buried could have been recipients of corporal punishment, and that may be connected to Wandlebury as a sacred or well-known meeting place,” said Oscar Aldred, director of the Cambridge Archaeological Unit (CAU).

“It may be that some of the disarticulated body parts had previously been displayed as trophies, and were then gathered up and interred with the executed or otherwise slaughtered individuals,” Dr Aldred said.

Decapitated heads found in the mass grave (Cambridge Archaeological Unit/David Matzliach)

During 870AD, the area in England was on the “frontier zone” in a conflict between the Saxon-run kingdom of Mercia and the kingdom of East Anglia, researchers say. The mass burial also offers insights into the status of the region.

While in the late 8th century AD Cambridge was under the kingdom of Mercia, in the late 9th century, a Viking army set up camp close to the area and sacked the town.

“Cambridgeshire was a frontier zone between Mercia and East Anglia, and the continual wars between Saxons and Vikings as they clashed over territory across many decades,” Dr Aldred said.

“We suspect the pit may relate to these conflicts,” he said.

The training dig was part of Cambridge University’s undergraduate degree in archaeology, in conjunction with Cambridge Archaeological Unit and local charity Cambridge Past, Present and Future, which owns Wandlebury.