OWEN JARUS, LIVE SCIENCE
6 JULY 2021
Seven Viking tombs holding well-preserved skeletons, including possible twin infants, have been discovered in the Swedish town of Sigtuna.
The archaeologists discovered the 1,000-year-old remains of eight people - four adults and four children - inside the tombs; they were likely Vikings who had converted to Christianity.
"The Christian character of the now-excavated graves is obvious because of how the tombs were laid out," said Johan Runer, a project manager with Uppdrag arkeologi, a cultural resource management company, which led excavations of the site.
Most of the people had been buried flat on their back in an east-west position, whereas people who followed traditional Viking beliefs in this area of Sweden at this time tended to be cremated, Runer said.