1400-year-old warrior burial ground reveals German fighters came from near and far
By Michael PriceSep. 5, 2018 , 2:00 PM
In 1962, German construction workers stumbled on a rare site: a 1400-year-old burial ground, filled with ornate grave goods and the bodies of 13 warriors and children. But despite decades of study, no one knew how they died or where they came from. Now, a new analysis of their DNA and other chemical traces in their bones reveals that the medieval warriors were surprisingly cosmopolitan, with some born locally and others hailing from far-off parts of Europe. One possibility, though unproven, is that some of these outsiders were child hostages.
“It is a convincing [study],†says Alexander Mörseburg, a biological anthropologist at the University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom who wasn’t involved in the work. But he stresses that because the dead were clearly nobles, their lifestyle might not be a good stand-in for the rest of the local population.
http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2018/09/1400-year-old-warrior-burial-ground-reveals-german-fighters-came-near-and-far
