800-year-old skeleton found in a well belonged to famous figure from ancient story

The identity of an 800-year-old skeleton found in a well has finally been revealed.

The remains were found at Sverresborg castle in Norway, and there’s a very good reason as to why there is much ado about these very old bones.

An ancient Norwegian Sverris saga written 800 years ago tells of how a dead man was thrown into a castle well. The Norse text is a record of all the things King Sverre Sigurdsson got up to when he rose to power in the second half of the 12th century AD.

One part of the text says a rival clan who attacked Sverresborg castle “took a dead man and cast him unto the well, and then filled it up with stones”.

The well was located inside the castle’s rampart, a defensive wall, and it was the only permanent water source at the time, New Scientist reports. This act is speculated to be an early example of biological warfare as it is believed the unfortunate fellow might have had a disease.

The bones belonged to Well Man. Norwegian Institute for Cultural Heritage Research

A well in the castle’s ruins was partly drained in 1938 and a skeleton was found beneath rubble, and so, the bones at the centre of this unsolved mystery became known by the eerily accurate nickname, Well Man. It is widely believed that the remains belonged to the same man mentioned in the Norse tale.

We now have even more information about the remains, as researchers from Oslo have used radiocarbon dating and DNA analysis on a tooth to shed light on if there is a connection with the saga.

As it turns out, the date range that the man was alive is consistent with the raid on the castle.

Although it is not definitive proof that the bones belonged to the same man, Anna Petersén, an archaeologist and researcher from the Norwegian Institute of Cultural Heritage Research, said the team’s discovery is, 'consistent with this conclusion'.

She added: “The research we have done has shown many details concerning both the event and the man that the saga episode doesn’t mention.”

Well Man's teeth helped scientists shed new light on who he was.Norwegian Institute for Cultural Heritage Research

The DNA suggests the man’s ancestors were from a Norwegian county in the south which is now known as Vest-Adger and that he had blond or light-brown hair and blue eyes.

There was no evidence found to suggest he had a disease when he ended up in the well, but the research team also did not find evidence to suggest he did not have a disease either, which leaves part of the Norse tale unanswered.

The mystery continues…

Sign up for our free Indy100 weekly newsletter

How to join the Indy100's free WhatsApp channel

Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the Indy100 rankings