Unpopular opinion: That 'perfect' Viking ship burial dig was overhyped

Last summer I was on a dig in Norway where they found a supposedly 'spotless' burial site with no grave goods disturbed. Everyone in the field called it a huge win, but to me it felt like a bad week because we spent 6 days sifting through mud that had clearly been reworked by later floods. The soil layers were all mixed up, so any dating is sketchy at best. Why does the community keep pushing these pristine narratives when the evidence is so messy?

2 comments

2 Comments

hart.ryan1d ago

Dig into those flood deposits yourself or just relying on the site report? I've seen too many "pristine" digs fall apart when you actually check the stratigraphy in person. Curious if the team ran any micromorphology or just assumed the layers were intact.

jadeg811d ago

Yeah, "assumed the layers were intact" is the part that gets me. @hart.ryan, did they publish any thin section photos or just the field descriptions? Without micromorphology it's hard to trust that those deposits really are in their original position.