Corroborating written history with ancient DNA: The case of the Well-man described in an Old Norse saga
The potential of ancient DNA analyses to provide independent sources of information about events in the historical record remains to be demonstrated. Here we apply palaeogenomic analysis to human remains excavated from a medieval well at the ruins of Sverresborg Castle in central Norway. In <i>Sverris Saga</i>, the Old Norse <i>saga</i> of King Sverre Sigurdsson, one passage details a 1197-CE raid on the castle and mentions a dead man thrown into the well. Radiocarbon dating supports that these are that individual's remains. We sequenced the Well-man's nuclear genome to 3.4× and compared it to Scandinavian populations, revealing he was closely related to inhabitants of southern Norway. This was surprising because King Sverre's defeated army was assumed to be recruited from parts of central Norway, whereas the raiders were from the south. The findings also indicate that the unique genetic drift seen in present-day southern Norwegians already existed 800 years ago.
Authors
- Thomas Folkmann Hansen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6703-7762)
- Adeline Petersen
- Tomas Olsson (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2938-1877)
- Åshild J. Vågene (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7478-8297)
- Kāri Stefánsson (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1676-864X)
- Agnar Helgason (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8545-3767)
- Sean Dexter Denham (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6364-428X)
- Gianpiero L. Cavalleri (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9802-0506)
- Martin R. Ellegaard (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5777-091X)
- Thomas Werge (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1829-0766)
- Marcus Thomas P. Gilbert (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5805-7195)
- Edmund Gilbert (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5574-4520)
- S. Sunna Ebenesersdóttir (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5912-4401)
- Vanessa C. Bieker (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2061-9041)
- Hans K. Stenøien (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2191-332X)
- Michael D. Martin (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2010-5139)
- Ingrid Skelton Kockum (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0867-4726)
- Lars S. Alfredsson (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1688-6697)
- Eivind J. Hovig (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9103-1077)
- Kristjan H. S. Moore (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9579-4362)
Institutions
- University of Copenhagen (DK)
- Oslo University Hospital (NO)
- deCODE Genetics (Iceland) (IS)
- Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (IE)
- University of Iceland (IS)
- University of Oslo (NO)
- Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NO)
- Mental Health Services (DK)
- Novo Nordisk Foundation (DK)
- Glostrup Hospital (DK)
- Rigshospitalet (DK)
- Karolinska Institutet (SE)
- Norwegian Institute for Cultural Heritage Research (NO)
- Stavanger Museum (NO)
- Lundbeck Foundation (DK)
- University of Stavanger (NO)
Publication Details
- Journal
- iScience
- Published
- 2024-10-25
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1016/j.isci.2024.111076
- Primary Topic
- Historical and Archaeological Studies
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00
Funders
- Carlsbergfondet
- Norges Forskningsråd