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Fifty-one decapitated skeletons found in a burial pit in
Dorset were those of Scandinavian Vikings, scientists say.
BBC,
Mystery
has surrounded the identity of the group since they were discovered at
Ridgeway Hill, near Weymouth, in June.
Analysis
of teeth from 10 of the men revealed they had grown up in countries with a
colder climate than Britain's.
Archaeologists
from Oxford believe the men were probably executed by local Anglo Saxons in
front of an audience sometime between AD 910 and AD 1030.
The
Anglo Saxons were increasingly falling victim to Viking raids and eventually
the country was ruled by a Danish king.
The
mass grave is one of the largest examples of executed foreigners buried in
one spot.
It
was discovered during investigative excavation work before construction
started on a controversial £87m relief road through the ridgeway.
Samples
of 10 remains were identified as Scandinavian by Dr Jane Evans and Carolyn
Chenery, of NERC Isotope Geosciences Laboratory, part of the British
Geological Survey, based in Nottingham.
Their
work has revealed that the men had scattered Scandinavian origins, with one
even thought to be from north of the Arctic Circle.
Isotopes
in the men's teeth also show they had eaten a high protein diet, comparable
with known sites in Sweden.
Initially,
it was thought the burial site dated from the Iron Age (from 800 BC) to early
Roman times (from AD 43) after examining pottery in the pit, later identified
as a Roman quarry.
Radiocarbon
dating later revealed they were from the Saxon period.
Oxford
Archaeology removed the 51 skulls from the ground and are continuing to
examine the remains to try to link the find to historical events.
Project
manager David Score said: "To find out that the young men executed were
Vikings is a thrilling development.
"Any
mass grave is a relatively rare find, but to find one on this scale, from
this period of history, is extremely unusual."
He
added that without analysing all the bodies it was impossible to know for
certain that all the skeletons were those of Vikings, but it was possible to
make a "strong inference".
The
archaeologists believe the men were stripped naked either before being
killed, or before being buried, because there was no evidence of clothing,
such as pins or toggles.
Most
of them were in their late teens to early 20s, with a handful in their 30s.
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