An archaeological excavation of a Viking burial ground in Gotland, a Swedish island in the Baltic Sea, revealed three adult women who had a feature not seen in Viking graves- skulls that had been shaped to produce a long cranium. Elongated skulls are shaped by binding the head in infancy, when the bones are soft, and have been found in many places around the world, but not in Sweden, and not in other Viking settlements. Why did it happen to these three women?
Vikings were no strangers to body modification, and sometimes sharpened their teeth to look more intimidating. But these Viking women were outliers. DNA tests showed they were from the Baltic Sea area. Could they have been born during their parents' travel to the Black Sea, were skull deformation was common? The burial sites indicate that they were accepted in the Gotland culture, and the misshapened skulls could have even been seen as a status symbol. Read about the mystery of the Viking women with long heads at Atlas Obscura.
(Image credit: Mirosław Kuźma/Matthias Toplak; ATA/Riksantikvarieämbetet)
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