Vikings Didn’t Just Battle Their Enemies, Their Skulls Reveal They Fought Disease And Infections Too
During the Viking Age, Vikings didn’t just battle their enemies—they also fought disease and infections. Researchers from the University of Gothenburg in Sweden used CT scans to examine Viking teeth and skulls.
The remains were excavated from Varnhem Abbey in Sweden, which was home to an early Christian community around the 10th to 12th centuries in the Viking era.
After analyzing 15 remains, the researchers found that each one suffered from various diseases. Some even had pathological bone growths.
They had expected to find evidence of battle wounds, but instead, they discovered that Vikings endured many of the same health problems that modern humans face, just without pain relievers, antibiotics, and other beneficial medicines we have now.
“There was much to look at. We found many signs of disease in these individuals. Exactly why we don’t know. 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,” said Carolina Bertilsson, the lead study author and an assistant researcher at the University of Gothenburg.
Several remains showed signs of sinus and ear infections, dental diseases, and a bone disease known as osteoarthritis.
The skulls belonged to individuals who were between 20 and 60 years old at the time of death, so these conditions were not necessarily due to old age.
Dental problems included cavities, gum disease, and tooth infections that had eaten through the jawbone, which would have caused significant pain and difficulty with eating. Approximately 80 percent of the individuals had these tooth infections, called periapical inflammatory disease.
One individual had a cyst-like lesion around a lower left molar and signs of hardening of the mastoid process, a part of the skull behind the ear.
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This finding is linked to acute or chronic middle ear infections. They can become fatal if antibiotics are not administered.
The researchers were also careful about determining the difference between damage that had occurred during life and after death. They only reported conditions that would have happened while the person was still alive.
“The results of the study provide greater understanding of these people’s health and wellbeing. Everyone knows what it’s like to have pain somewhere, you can get quite desperate for help,” Bertilsson said.
“But back then, they didn’t have the medical and dental care we do, or the kind of pain relief—and antibiotics—we now have. If you developed an infection, it could stick around for a long time.”
Without modern medical imaging technology, it would be impossible to detect certain health conditions in archaeological remains, allowing researchers to preserve specimens while learning valuable information.
The details of the full study were published in BDJ Open.
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