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In this paper, we provide a brief overview of the status of forensic anthropology and forensic archeology in Denmark, as well as related information about education, research, and skeletal collections. Forensic anthropologists mainly deal with the examination of unidentified skeletal remains. Some special tasks include cranial trauma analysis of the recently deceased, advanced 3D visualization from CT scanning of homicide cases, and stature estimation of perpetrators using surveillance videos. Forensic anthropologists are employed at one of Denmark’s three departments of forensic medicine (in Copenhagen, Odense, and Aarhus) and have access to advanced imaging equipment (e.g., CT and MR scanning, surface scanners, and 3D printers) for use in both their requisitioned work and their research. Extensive research is conducted on different topics, such as the health and diseases of past populations, age estimation, and human morphology. Research is based on skeletal material from the archeological collections housed in Copenhagen and Odense or on CT data from the recently deceased. There is no full degree in forensic anthropology in Denmark, but elective courses and lectures are offered to students at different levels and to people from different professional backgrounds. Forensic archaeology is a relatively new field of expertise in Denmark, and relevant cases are rare, with only one or two cases per year. No forensic archeologists are officially employed in any of the departments of forensic medicine. Until recently, the Special Crime Unit of the police handled crime scene investigations involving excavations, but with the option of enlisting the help of outside specialists, such as archaeologists, anthropologists, and pathologists. An official excavation work group was established in 2015 under the lead of the Special Crime Unit of the police with the aim of refining the methods and procedures used in relevant criminal investigations. The group is represented by five police officers from the Special Crime Scene Unit, a police officer from the National Police Dog Training center, the two archaeologists from Moesgaard Museum, a forensic anthropologist from the Department of Forensic Medicine (University of Copenhagen), and a forensic pathologist from the Department of Forensic Medicine (University of Aarhus).

The human remains recovered from the famous Bjerringhøj Viking Age burial in Denmark have been missing for more than 100 years. Recently, an assemblage of bones resembling those recorded at Bjerringhøj—some with adherent textiles—were discovered in a misplaced box in the National Museum of Denmark. Here, the authors use new skeletal and comparative textile analyses, along with radiocarbon dating, to confirm that the bones are indeed those from the Bjerringhøj burial. This rediscovery offers new data for interpreting Viking Age clothing, including the presence of long trousers, and emphasises the importance of reinvestigating old archaeological collections housed within museums and archives.

Changes in funerary practices are key to the understanding of social transformations of past societies. Over the course of the Nordic Bronze Age, funerary practices changed from inhumation to cremation. The aim of this study is to shed light on this fundamental change through a cross-examination of archaeometric provenance data and archaeological discussions of the context and layouts of early cremation graves. To this end, we conducted 19 new provenance analyses of strontium isotopes from Early Nordic Bronze age contexts in Thisted County and Zealand and Late Bronze Age contexts from Thisted County and Vesthimmerland (Denmark). These data are subsequently compared with data from other extant relevant studies, including those from Late Bronze Age Fraugde on the Danish island of Fyn. Overall, the variations within our provenience data suggest that the integration and establishment of cremation may not have had a one-to-one relationship with in-migration to Nordic Bronze Age Denmark. Moreover, there seems to be no single blanket scenario which dictated the uptake of cremation as a practice within this part of Southern Scandinavia. By addressinghabitusin relation to the deposition of cremations as juxtaposed with these provenance data¸we hypothesize several potential pathways for the uptake of cremation as a new cultural practice within the Danish Nordic Bronze Age and suggest that this may have been a highly individual process, whose tempo may have been dictated by the specificities of the region(s) concerned.

The Viking maritime expansion from Scandinavia (Denmark, Norway, and Sweden) marks one of the swiftest and most far-flung cultural transformations in global history. During this time (c. 750 to 1050 CE), the Vikings reached most of western Eurasia, Greenland, and North America, and left a cultural legacy that persists till today. To understand the genetic structure and influence of the Viking expansion, we sequenced the genomes of 442 ancient humans from across Europe and Greenland ranging from the Bronze Age (c. 2400 BC) to the early Modern period (c. 1600 CE), with particular emphasis on the Viking Age. We find that the period preceding the Viking Age was accompanied by foreign gene flow into Scandinavia from the south and east: spreading from Denmark and eastern Sweden to the rest of Scandinavia. Despite the close linguistic similarities of modern Scandinavian languages, we observe genetic structure within Scandinavia, suggesting that regional population differences were already present 1,000 years ago. We find evidence for a majority of Danish Viking presence in England, Swedish Viking presence in the Baltic, and Norwegian Viking presence in Ireland, Iceland, and Greenland. Additionally, we see substantial foreign European ancestry entering Scandinavia during the Viking Age. We also find that several of the members of the only archaeologically well-attested Viking expedition were close family members. By comparing Viking Scandinavian genomes with present-day Scandinavian genomes, we find that pigmentation-associated loci have undergone strong population differentiation during the last millennia. Finally, we are able to trace the allele frequency dynamics of positively selected loci with unprecedented detail, including the lactase persistence allele and various alleles associated with the immune response. We conclude that the Viking diaspora was characterized by substantial foreign engagement: distinct Viking populations influenced the genomic makeup of different regions of Europe, while Scandinavia also experienced increased contact with the rest of the continent.

Humans have a notable capacity to withstand the ravages of infectious diseases. Smallpox killed millions of people but drove Jenner's invention of vaccination, which eventually led to the annihilation of this virus, declared in 1980. To investigate the history of smallpox, Mühlemann et al. obtained high-throughput shotgun sequencing data from 1867 human remains ranging from >31,000 to 150 years ago (see the Perspective by Alcamí). Thirteen positive samples emerged, 11 of which were northern European Viking Age people (6th to 7th century CE). Although the sequences were patchy and incomplete, four could be used to infer a phylogenetic tree. This showed distinct Viking Age lineages with multiple gene inactivations. The analysis pushes back the date of the earliest variola infection in humans by ∼1000 years and reveals the existence of a previously unknown virus clade. This is the author’s version of the work. It is posted here by permission of the AAAS for personal use, not for redistribution.

The Viking maritime expansion from Scandinavia (Denmark, Norway, and Sweden) marks one of the swiftest and most far-flung cultural transformations in global history. During this time (c. 750 to 1050 CE), the Vikings reached most of western Eurasia, Greenland, and North America, and left a cultural legacy that persists till today. To understand the genetic structure and influence of the Viking expansion, we sequenced the genomes of 442 ancient humans from across Europe and Greenland ranging from the Bronze Age (c. 2400 BC) to the early Modern period (c. 1600 CE), with particular emphasis on the Viking Age. We find that the period preceding the Viking Age was accompanied by foreign gene flow into Scandinavia from the south and east: spreading from Denmark and eastern Sweden to the rest of Scandinavia. Despite the close linguistic similarities of modern Scandinavian languages, we observe genetic structure within Scandinavia, suggesting that regional population differences were already present 1,000 years ago. We find evidence for a majority of Danish Viking presence in England, Swedish Viking presence in the Baltic, and Norwegian Viking presence in Ireland, Iceland, and Greenland. Additionally, we see substantial foreign European ancestry entering Scandinavia during the Viking Age. We also find that several of the members of the only archaeologically well-attested Viking expedition were close family members. By comparing Viking Scandinavian genomes with present-day Scandinavian genomes, we find that pigmentation-associated loci have undergone strong population differentiation during the last millennia. Finally, we are able to trace the allele frequency dynamics of positively selected loci with unprecedented detail, including the lactase persistence allele and various alleles associated with the immune response. We conclude that the Viking diaspora was characterized by substantial foreign engagement: distinct Viking populations influenced the genomic makeup of different regions of Europe, while Scandinavia also experienced increased contact with the rest of the continent.

Battle-related mass burials are considered the most unequivocal evidence of past violence. However, most published studies involve only macroscopic analysis of skeletal remains, commonly arriving only at broad conclusions regarding trauma interpretation. The current study considers a possible avenue for achieving both greater detail and accuracy through digital microscopy. Patterns of injury were investigated among 45 individuals from a Medieval Danish mass grave (Sandbjerget, AD 1300–1350). Injuries were recorded on every anatomical element, except hand and foot bones. Each was photographed and cast, facilitating remote evaluations. Macroscopic analysis was compared with digital microscopy in order to test the relative utility of the latter in characterizing skeletal injuries (mechanism, weapon class, direction, timing of injury). The location of 201 observed injuries, mainly sharp force defects, suggested that many lesions were probably not inflicted by face-to-face opponents. Some microscopic features were indicative of a specific lesion type and weapon class. Digital microscopy was therefore demonstrated to be a complementary tool to macroscopic assessment, enhancing feature observation and quantification and serving to compensate for many of the limitations of macroscopic assessment.

Intraskeletal variation in the composition of carbon (delta(13)C) and nitrogen (delta(15)N) stable isotopes measured in collagen is tested from various human bones and dentine. Samples were taken from the femur, rib, and petrous part of the temporal bone from well-preserved skeletons of both adults (n = 34) and subadults (n = 24). Additional samples of dentine from the root of 1st molars were taken from 16 individuals. The skeletal material is from a medieval cemetery (AD 1200-1573) in Holbaek, Denmark. Our results indicate that the petrous bone has an isotopic signal that differs significantly from that of femur and rib within the single skeleton (P < 0.001 and P < 0.001, respectively), with only minor variation seen between femur and rib. On the other hand, there was no significant difference between the petrous bone and the 1st molar. The intraskeletal variation may reflect differences in turnover rate among skeletal elements. The inner periosteal layer of the petrous bone is formed in uterus and does not undergo any further remodelling after the age of 2 years, whereas the rib and femur have a continuous turnover rate of approximately 5 and 10-20 years, respectively. From the results of this study it is believed the petrous bone may be a new useful bone element and a supplement or a proxy for teeth in the analysis of early dietary patterns as it may reflect diet in fetal stages and early years of life.