An 800-year-old saga briefly mentions a dead man thrown into a well after an attack on a castle in Norway. The unfortunate man doesn't even have the right to a name. But scientists who now believe they have found his remains could (re)name him. According to an article published in the journal iSciencethey used carbon-14 dating, analysis of ancient DNA and a careful study of a skeleton discovered decades ago at the bottom of a well outside Sverresborg Castle, near Trondheim in Norway. And came to this conclusion: this “man from the well” is the same one briefly mentioned in the Sverris storya story published 8 centuries ago about a 12th century Norwegian king.
Let us point out that the man thrown into the well was not a major character in medieval Norwegian history. He is only allowed one line: “They threw a dead man into a well, then filled it with stones.» But the Sverris story is considered by historians to be a rather reliable source on events in medieval Norway, says Armann Jakobsson, professor of ancient Icelandic literature at the University of Iceland. Even if this saga was written in collaboration with King Sverre Sigurdsson, which also makes it a work of propaganda, with obvious biases.
The discovery of the Well Man corroborates and fleshes out a tiny fragment of this story. Radiocarbon dating of the skeleton indicates that he died around 1197, during the invasion of Sverresborg Castle. The researchers also gave him a physique and a background: “the man from the well” was between 30 and 40 years old, blue eyes, fair skin and light brown or blond hair, he was from the southernmost region of Norway, illustrating the potential of modern scientific techniques to fill in some gaps in history, including those of people whose names were never recorded in books.
«This man is a marginal character. The very term of “character” is exaggerated to describe his brief mention in the saga“, explains Michael D. Martin, professor of evolutionary genomics at the University Museum of the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, and one of the leaders of this project. “With this sophisticated analysis, new details can be added to his story. He really becomes a character.»
Rediscover the man from the well
The Well Man was first discovered in 1938, during a restoration project at Sverresborg Castle. When the well was emptied, a body was revealed. But the skeleton was never properly excavated, and World War II broke out the following year. For decades the remains were forgotten.
The castle ruins are now part of a museum, and to make the area more accessible to the public, the well had to be secured. Archaeologists were called in for an excavation in 2014. During the war, the well had served as a dumping ground for German soldiers, filled with wine bottles, old ammunition and stones, says Anna Petersen, an archaeologist at the Norwegian Institute of cultural heritage research, who led the excavations in 2014 and 2016.
«We thought there was no chance that there would be anything left of the bones. That they had to be crushed” Petersen said. To his great surprise, they were able to recover more than 90% of the skeleton.
Carbon-14 dating, calibrated to take into account that the individual had probably consumed a lot of fish, which can make a sample appear older than it really is, made it possible to date the remains of the time of the battle.
It is not possible to say with certainty how this man died. Researchers believe he was probably already dead before being thrown into the well, due to injuries to his skull – which also fits the saga's narrative.
Finally, DNA extracted from one of his teeth confirmed that he was indeed a man and allowed researchers to determine his likely appearance. By comparing his genome to a database of contemporary Norwegians, they concluded that he came from the Vest-Agder region in the south of the country.
Martin Sikora, associate professor of ancient genomics at the University of Copenhagen, praised the rigor of the analysis and highlighted the interest in seeing that some genetic differences still observed today in southern Norway date back to the medieval period. .
Several outside researchers said the study made a compelling case, although it could not definitively prove that this man is the one mentioned in the saga. Armann Jakobsson applauded efforts to study ancient remains and compare them to historical texts.
“I would not be surprised if a modern DNA study could confirm certain events in the “Sverris saga”, although there are obviously limits to what can be verified», Wrote the literature professor in an email.
Bagler contre Birkebeiner
The Sverris story describes a pivotal period in Norwegian history and is the result of a collaboration between Icelandic Abbot Karl Jonsson and King Sverre Sigurdsson.
«The descriptions of battles in the “Sverris story” are numerous, quite detailed and very political, because they oppose rival factions fighting for power in Norway», continues Armann Jakobsson.
In the battle scene which precedes the appearance of the man from the well, an army of Baglers, a faction loyal to the Catholic Church, sneaks through a secret door to attack a castle defended by Birkebeiner loyal to the king. The Baglers looted, ransacked and burned. Then they throw the corpse into the well, presumably to poison the water.
It can be assumed that the dead man was a Birkebeiner, one of the slain enemies. But this faction was based in central Norway, while the invaders came from the southwest. Did the Baglers throw one of their own into the well after the battle?
«This seems unlikely to me. In general, the dead of the winning side are treated with respect. We do not desecrate the bodies of our friendssays John Sexton, an English professor at Bridgewater State University who co-hosts “Saga Thing,” a podcast about Norse sagas. Another hypothesis is that the well man was a Birkebeiner from the south, who ended up in the wrong camp.
Sexton imagined other scenarios: the saga indicates that the invaders were able to enter the castle thanks to a traitor from within. Maybe the man in the well was a renegade. Or perhaps, in the confusion of battle, it was human error, leading to the body of a man from their own side being thrown into the watering hole.
Researchers can now debate the issue based on these revelations.
“Reality is always more complex than sagas or stories, concluded archaeologist Anna Petersen. It is already remarkable to be able to determine that this man, whatever the reason for his end in a well, was from this region of Norway.»
Original article by Carolyn Johnson, published October 25, 2024 in the “Washington Post”
This article published in the “Washington Post” was selected by “Libération”. It was translated with the help of artificial intelligence tools, under the supervision of our journalists, then edited by the editorial staff.
