The English city of Cambridge lies in a border area that was fought over between Anglo-Saxons and Vikings around 1,200 years ago. Now a mass grave discovered there bears witness to the violence of that time. Archaeologists have discovered the bones of ten young men in it, which show signs of serious injuries. At least one of the dead was beheaded, and four others apparently died tied up. Also unusual is the skeleton of a 1.95 meter tall man with a healed hole in his skull.
Until the ninth century, Anglo-Saxon kings ruled over large parts of England. Even when Vikings repeatedly visited the coasts and raided monasteries and settlements in the ninth century, the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms remained and tended to fight among themselves. But in 865 this changed: Coming from Denmark, the Vikings landed with an entire army on the east coast of England. From there they pushed further and further inland. In 869, the “great pagan army” conquered the kingdom of East Anglia and made it a vassal of Denmark. The region around Cambridge to the west now became the borderland between East Anglia and the Anglo-Saxon Kingdom of Mercia.
Mass grave in the border area
This is also the context of a discovery that archaeologists made near Cambridge. During a teaching excavation in nearby Wandlebury Country Park in the summer of 2025, the team from the University of Cambridge came across a pit in which the bones and skulls of at least ten people were lying in disarray. Initial radiocarbon dating of the bones revealed that this mass grave must date from the ninth century – the period in which this region was a contested border area.
“During this time, Anglo-Saxons and Vikings fought each other again and again for decades,” explains excavation director Oscar Aldred. “We assume that this mass grave is related to these conflicts.” Evidence for this is provided by traces of severe injuries on several bones, and the position of some skeletons also suggests that these people died tied up. Another dead man had been decapitated, as evidenced by hack marks on his neck vertebrae. The disorderly burial and injuries suggest that these dead died as a result of a fight or perhaps a mass execution. It fits that all of the dead appear to be young men.
According to the archaeologists, what is unusual is that, in addition to complete skeletons, individual body parts were also buried in this mass grave: in one corner there were some skulls without a remaining skeleton, and in another the team found a pile of leg bones. “It could be that some of the individual body parts were previously used as trophies and were then buried with those killed or executed,” Aldred speculates.
“Giant” with a trephination hole in the skull
Another special feature is the skeleton of a man between 17 and 24 years old, who was unusually tall for the time: he was 1.95 meters tall, which would have put him more than a head taller than his contemporaries, who were on average only 1.65 meters tall. The archaeologists suspect that this man suffered from a growth hormone disorder and therefore became abnormally tall. “This man may have had a tumor on his pituitary gland that caused it to secrete excessive amounts of growth hormone,” explains Trish Biers from the University of Cambridge. “We see evidence of this in the features of the long bone shafts of its leg bones and other skeletal parts.”
An oval hole around three centimeters in size in the back left area of this man’s skull also indicates an illness. The regular shape and clean, healed edges of the hole suggest that it was not an injury but the result of a medical procedure, as archaeologists explain. They interpret the skull hole as the result of a trephination. Such procedures have been performed thousands of years ago to relieve pressure on the brain and treat headaches or seizures. The “giant” from the mass grave may have undergone this procedure to relieve the pain caused by a brain tumor. “Such an illness would have led to increased pressure in the skull and caused headaches,” says Biers. “The trephination should probably alleviate this.”
The investigations into the finds have not yet been completed. The archaeologists next want to carry out DNA and isotope analyzes of the bones. This could clarify whether the dead were Vikings or Anglo-Saxons – and thus possibly shed more light on the circumstances of their deaths.
Source: Cambridge University