Viking bones are from a strong, healthy man in his thirties

Hildur Gestsdóttir, archeologist at the Iceland institute of archeology has studied the bones recently found in an ancient grave in Iceland.  

She says that the bones were those of a male who was in his thirties when he died. "He was rather tall and strong." The man is believed to have measured around 172 centimetres, which is taller than the average 168 cm of men in the tenth century. 

The bone density was great which rules out the man having been sick and he was probably used to undertaking a lot of physical work.

"If people are sick for a while before they die the bones lose their density. I could see the sign of an old infection which had healed."

"We have the spear and the knife found in connection with the grave and carbon dating of the bones would add little to our conclusion," says Gestsdóttir. She is not able to confirm whether the Viking sword, found nearby was from the same grave but rather that it's not unlikely that more bones would be found in the area if it was a Viking burial site. 

"The largest part of this burial site was probably washed away in a glacial flood centuries ago. I think that's the reason we only have one femur bone. It was probably all that was left."

Archeologist Hildur Gestsdóttir. mbl.is/ Brynjar Gauti