2nd February 2012

DORCHESTER: Experts examine burial pit bodies in TV documentary

By Trevor Bevins

Bodies found in a mass grave near Dorchester may have been a gang of Viking mercenaries, according to researchers.

The hypothesis is being put forward in a documentary, Viking Apocalypse, which has been shown on the National Geographic UK TV channel

The burial pit was found on the Ridgeway in 2009 during the construction of the Dorchester-Weymouth road. In it were the decapitated bodies of 54 young men, all of them dumped in a shallow grave with their heads on one side.

Cambridge University researchers believe the group could have been the victims of a mass execution around the turn of the 11th century.

Radiocarbon dating revealed that the remains belonged to men murdered at some point around the year 1000. This suggested a connection with the Vikings, because the Anglo-Saxons along the south coast at that time lived under constant threat of Viking raids.

Isotope testing on the men’s teeth later revealed that they had come from Scandinavia. But exactly who they were has remained a mystery.

In the documentary a TV crew follow archaeologist Doctor Britt Baillie as she examined the remains, as well as documents from the period and other evidence, to reopen the file on what happened in Dorset a 1,000-years-ago.

Baillie’s analysis draws her to the conclusion that they may have been Viking mercenaries who modelled themselves on, or behaved in a similar way to the legendary Jomsvikings – a brotherhood of elite killers whose strict military code involved never showing fear, and never fleeing in the face of the enemy unless totally outnumbered.

“The legends and stories of the Jomsvikings travelled around the medieval world and would almost certainly have been indicative of some of the practices of other bands of mercenaries or may even have been imitated by other groups,” Doctor Baillie said.

The documentary places the deaths in the context of the early 11th century and the troubled rule of Aethelred II – better known to history as “Aethelred the Unready”.

It is believed that following a series of Viking raids and threats to his own life, Aethelred decided, in 1002, to have all the Danish men living in England murdered on St Brice’s Day, November 13th – an event which became known as the St Brice’s Day massacre.

Historians differ about how many people were actually killed and whether those who were murdered were residents of the Danelaw (the Viking-occupied part of England at the time), or just mercenaries based elsewhere.

The bodies found in Dorset are quite possibly the victims of a similar act of butchery. Aethelred was known for playing divide and conquer with bands of Scandinavian mercenaries who worked for him, and it may be that these Vikings had fallen out of favour with the king.

The number of bodies corresponds to the number that would have been required to man a Viking longship of the period.

The Ridgeway Hill individuals were systematically executed. They were beheaded from the front – just like the warriors in the Jomsviking saga.

In the saga, one captured Viking says: “I am content to die as are all our comrades.

“But I will not let myself be slaughtered like a sheep.

“I would rather face the blow. Strike straight at my face and watch carefully if I pale at all.”

PICTURE: One of the remains found at the Ridgeway. Photo courtesy of University of Cambridge