Viking Age mass grave holds mysterious mix of dismembered human remains and complete skeletons, including a ‘giant’ who’d had brain surgery

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Viking Age mass grave holds mysterious mix of dismembered human remains and complete skeletons, including a ‘giant’ who’d had brain surgery

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Archaeologists have unearthed a Viking Age pit filled with the dismembered remains of 10 people in the outskirts of Cambridge, England. The unusual mass grave, which also contained the skeleton of an extremely tall man who had undergone brain surgery, may be related to ninth-century conflicts among the Saxons and the Vikings.

In the summer of 2025, a team of professional and student archaeologists excavated a pit during a training dig in Wandlebury Country Park, about 3 miles (5 kilometers) south of Cambridge. Previous archaeological excavation in the area revealed an Iron Age hillfort that was used in the second century. It was just outside the hillfort that the archaeologists discovered the 13-by-3.3-foot (4 by 1 meter) pit.

There, archaeologists discovered four complete human skeletons, a cluster of skulls without their bodies, and a stack of leg bones, all from young men, according to a Feb. 4 statement from the University of Cambridge. The combination of severed heads and limbs, along with evidence that some of the people had been tied up, suggests these people met violent ends, Oscar Aldred, an archaeologist in the Cambridge Archaeological Unit, said in the statement. But the pit is also highly unusual in having both complete and dismembered remains.

five human skulls and scattered bones lie in an archaeological excavation

Five of the disarticulated heads that were discovered in the pit. (Image credit: David Matzliach, Cambridge Archaeological Unit / © University of Cambridge)

“It may be that some of the disarticulated body parts had previously been displayed as trophies and then were gathered up and interred with the executed or otherwise slaughtered individuals,” Aldred said. The individual body parts “may have been in a state of decomposition and literally falling apart when they went into the pit,” he added.

During the ninth century, the area that is now Cambridge was a kind of “frontier zone” in the wars between the Saxons and the Vikings, according to Aldred. One skeleton has been carbon-dated to between 772 and 891, so “we suspect the pit may relate to those conflicts,” Aldred said.

But the lack of injuries associated with medieval combat means the men in the pit were likely not killed in battle. “Those buried could have been recipients of corporal punishment, and that may be connected to Wandlebury as a sacred or well-known meeting place,” Aldred said.

“It was a sobering experience to identify ever more disarticulated bones and realise the extent of the suffering that had taken place,” Grace Grandfield, a Cambridge undergraduate student who took part in the dig, said in the statement.

left side view of a human skull with a large oval hole in the parietal bone

One of the skulls showed evidence of trepanation, an old form of cranial surgery. (Image credit: David Matzliach, Cambridge Archaeological Unit / © University of Cambridge)

A giant with a hole in his head

One particular skeleton discovered face down in the pit has given researchers insight into the individual’s health issues.

The body of a man who was between 17 and 24 years old when he died revealed he may have stood around 6 feet, 5 inches (1.95 meters) — a massive height at a time when men averaged 5 feet, 6 inches (1.68 m). He also had a 1.2-inch (3 cm) oval hole in his skull, which may have been connected to his towering stature.

“The individual may have had a tumour that affected their pituitary gland and caused an excess of growth hormones,” Trish Biers, an osteologist at the University of Cambridge, said in the statement.

Pituitary gigantism is a condition characterized by the overproduction of growth hormone during adolescence and is usually caused by a benign tumor called an adenoma. The extra growth hormone causes children to grow extremely tall. This condition can strain the circulatory and skeletal systems, which must maintain a large, heavy body.

“Such a condition in the brain would have led to increased pressure in the skull, causing headaches,” Biers said. This may have necessitated a form of brain surgery called trepanation, when a hole is drilled into or scraped out of the skull, exposing the brain’s protective membranes.

The hole in the man’s skull may have been an attempt to alleviate pressure on his brain, Biers said, which is “not uncommon with head trauma today.”

The University of Cambridge Department of Archaeology and the Cambridge Archaeological Unit have conducted student training digs at Wandlebury for several years, but this is the first time human remains have turned up since 1976, according to the statement. The discovery was featured in a recent episode of BBC Two’s “Digging for Britain.”

Further scientific analysis is planned for the 10 skeletons. Experts aim to use DNA and chemical analysis techniques to investigate the people’s health and ancestry. These results should also determine whether the deceased individuals were Vikings.