Norse Saga Character Identified Through DNA?

Archaeologists identify a man dumped in a well during a castle raid 800 years ago

A running theme of DNA studies since 2015 is the confirmation of historical tales and oral history, the type of evidence which was looked down upon until recently. Another such example was just published at the end of October, confirming one of the stories in the Norse Sagas.

The Sverris Saga chronicles the reign of King Sverre Sigurdsson of Norway (AD 1177–1202). This text has remained important to historians as the primary source of information about early medieval Norway and the various power struggles that were undertaken, including an attack on the Birkebeiner stronghold at Sverresborg Castle (built by King Sverre) in AD 1197. The ‘Baglers’, the King’s enemies, raided the castle at Trondheim through a secret door and caused havoc within. One of their departing gestures was to dump a body down a drinking-water well and seal it with stones. The man in the well was already dead when he was dropped inside, and the whole affair is described within the saga.

A partial skeleton was recovered from the well at the castle site in 1938, but nothing came from this discovery. However, fresh excavations uncovered the remainder of the man, and his teeth were used for DNA extraction.

Excavation and sampling of skeletal remains from the Sverresborg Well-man

The left arm was missing, but phalanges belonging to the left hand were found ex situ. The skull was also found ex situ, to the right of the upper part of the torso, and was not connected to the body. The skeleton displays several traumas, but due to the conditions, it has been difficult to differentiate which of these are antemortem or postmortem. A blunt force injury to the rear left part of the skull in addition to two sharp force cuts in the skull are not likely postmortem events

Despite the double excavation it seems likely that the individual was killed by several blows and slices to the head, before being dumped and sealed in. The DNA evidence which came back showed:

• Male

• Mitochondrial haplogroup - H2a2a1

• Y-chromosome haplogroup - I1a1a3a1

• Related to modern Norwegian people

• Likely had blue eyes and blond/light-brown hair

The Sverresborg Well-man is highly related to ancient and present-day Norwegians

More interestingly, our results show that his ancestry can be traced to the southernmost counties of Norway, most probably Vest-Agder. The defeated holders of the castle were King Sverre’s Birkebeiners, who are thought to have been mainly from central Norway. Conversely, it is the Baglers, the invading victors from the south of Norway, who are described as having thrown the man into the well. Accordingly, previous reports had assumed that the Well-man was a central Norwegian, from the losing side of Birkebeiners. Our results unequivocally show that the Well-man’s ancestry was typical of the present-day population of the southern Agder counties, but of course cannot tell us whether the Well-man belonged to the Birkebeiner or the Bagler army. We note that the passage in Sverris Saga states that the Well-man was dead before the Baglers threw him into the well. Perhaps the Baglers threw one of their own dead into the well.

This level of ancestral detail is truly incredible, and older archaeologists could only dream of being able to match up skeletal remains to regions within countries with such accuracy. The story the DNA can tell, especially when put alongside the historical texts is wonderful, and in many ways bypasses or leap-frogs over the 20th century’s complex interpretative methods.

The radiocarbon analysis returned a date of 940 ± 30 years, and the bone isotopic results showed he ate a diet of about 20% sea foods. Calibrating for that marine diet, the radiocarbon date was re-estimated at 1153–1277 (92.9%) cal AD, which accorded with the date for the saga. Altogether the forensic work, like a murder mystery, showed that even throwaway details in the sagas may be highly accurate.

The sagas and other older textual sources have been attacked many times as almost worthless for those looking for actual hard data, but as genetics continues to prove, the old stories are true more often than not!