In life, the Vikings had a reputation as fearsome warriors. A reputation perhaps only partially warranted, considering their extensive trade network that spread across the entirety of Europe, but there is no denying that for hundreds of years, the prospect of Viking attack put a chill into the hearts of millions of medieval Europeans.
In death, however, the multitude of Vikings buried at Varnhem Abbey in Sweden are much the same as any other thousand-year-old skeleton: frail and brittle. This presents a challenge to scientists who wish to study the bodies, as most methods of analysis are incredibly invasive, and the methods that aren’t, such as a strictly visual analysis, are very limited. It’s difficult to tell how a thousand-year-old Viking lived and died simply by looking at their bones.
A team from the University of Gothenburg may have a middle ground — a way to look deeply into the heart of a Viking skeleton without dragging it into the lab and dissecting it. In a study published in British Dental Journal Open, the researchers examined a set of skulls from fifteen individuals buried at Varnhem using computed tomography, or CT scans. The CT machine takes a series of x-rays and forms a 3D image, allowing the researchers to dive deep into the skeletal remains without actually disturbing them in any physical way.
“While we can't study the damage in the soft tissue because it's no longer there, we can see the traces left in the skeletal structures,” study coauthor Carolina Bertilsson said in a press release.
And what did the Swedish researchers find specifically in the remains they analyzed? Quite a lot, actually. Perhaps unsurprisingly for a group of people living hundreds of years before the advent of modern medicine, the Vikings of Varnhem had quite a few medical problems. Far more than anticipated. Through CT scans, the researchers were able to identify osteoarthritis, various oral diseases, cysts, and even sinus and ear infections in almost all the individuals they examined.
Of course, while the work of archaeologists has undeniably become easier, there is a crucial downside to the new research: Somehow, Hamlet delivering his famed soliloquy to a 3D model of Yorick’s skull on a computer screen lacks the je nais se quois that Shakespeare intended. And somehow it seems unlikely that the local theater company will be able to rent out a CT machine every time they want to perform Hamlet. It’s either that or hospitals will have to start doubling as playhouses.
