About 5,200 years ago, a man's life ended violently in a peat bog in northwestern Denmark. Now researchers have used advanced genetic analyzes to tell the unexpected story of 'Vittrup Man', the oldest known immigrant in Denmark's history.
Swamp bodies, the uniquely preserved 'accidental mummies' discovered in Northern Europe, have long intrigued researchers, but a new study claims it's the first time experts have mapped the life history of the deceased to such an extent brought.
The man's remains were discovered in a peat bog in Vittrup, Denmark, during peat mining in 1915. His right ankle bone, lower left tibia, jawbone and fragmented skull were found next to a wooden club. Researchers estimate that he died after being hit on the head with the wooden club at least eight times sometime between 3100 BC and 3300 BC.
Scientists analyzed the remains of Vittrup Man in a recent study published in the journal Nature on Denmark's genetic prehistory, which sequenced the genomes of 317 ancient skeletons. Some of the same researchers decided to conduct an individual study of the Vittrup man after his DNA showed that he was genetically different from the rest of the Stone Age Danish population. A study describing the new findings was published Wednesday in the journal PLOS One.
"I wanted to make an anonymous skull speak (and) find the person behind the bone. The initial results were 'almost too good to be true', so I applied additional and alternative methods. The result was this surprising life history," said lead study author Anders Fischer, project researcher at the department of historical studies at the University of Gothenburg in Sweden and director of Sealand Archaeology, in an email.
What the team discovered while piecing together the life of Vittrup Man sheds light on the movements and connections between different Stone Age cultures.
The story continues
A Stone Age migrant
Eager to discover as many clues as possible about Vittrup Man's life, the research team analyzed his tooth enamel, tartar and bone collagen using advanced analytical methods.
The combined detection of specific chemical elements in his enamel, such as strontium, nitrogen, carbon and oxygen, as well as a protein analysis of his teeth and bones, revealed how Vittrup Man's diet changed from that of a hunter-gatherer to a farmer. before he died between the ages of thirty and forty.
The Vittrup man was probably born and raised along the coast of the Scandinavian Peninsula, perhaps in the frigid climate of Norway or Sweden. He was genetically closest to people from those regions and had darker skin than the Stone Age communities of Denmark.
In Scandinavia, Vittrup people probably belonged to a northern hunter-gatherer community that enjoyed a diet of fish, seals, and even whales, suggesting that the gatherers had ships that allowed them to fish in the open sea.
And then something caused his life to change dramatically, and by the age of 18 or 19 Vittrup Man was in Denmark living on a farmer's diet, eating sheep and goats.
His journey to a farming community in Denmark "indicates extensive travel by boat," the study authors said. Vittrup Man's long-distance movements were unusual, "but may say something about the ongoing exchanges between Danish farmers and northern hunter-gatherers," says co-author Karl-Göran Sjögren, a researcher in the department of historical studies at the University of Gothenburg.
Why Vittrup Man made such a long journey is unknown, but researchers have a number of theories. It is possible that he was a prisoner or a slave who became part of local society in Denmark. Or Vittrup Man was a trader who settled in Denmark.
Archaeologists know that flint axes were traded from Denmark to the Arctic Circle in Norway, said co-author Lasse Sørensen, head of research into ancient cultures of Denmark and the Mediterranean at the National Museum in Copenhagen.
"The study adds a concrete flesh-and-blood human being to this finding," says Sørensen.
Studying Vittrup Man has helped researchers understand the genetics, lifestyles and ritual practices traced back to Stone Age societies, Sjögren said.
"The Vittrup man is a migrant - the first indisputable first-generation immigrant known from Denmark and the surrounding area," Fischer said. "As far as we know, it is (the) first time that scientists have been able to map the life story of a Northern European in such detail and in such a distant past."
Death in the swamp
The Vittrup man had "a remarkable lifespan before he was killed and thrown into the swamp," says Fischer, who has been researching Stone Age cultures for more than 40 years. He is particularly interested in how Denmark changed from a hunter-gatherer culture to a farmer culture about 6,000 years ago.
Why did Vittrup Man end up with a crushed skull in a peat swamp? The exact answer will never be known, but researchers believe he was killed as a sacrifice, which was common in the region at the time.
"Wetlands seem to have played a special role in religious life in Northern Europe at the time," says Fischer. "Vittrup Man was murdered in an unusually brutal manner. Other people were killed by arrow shots or strangled with a cord."
"Perhaps we should understand him as a slave who was sacrificed to the gods when he was no longer suitable for hard physical labor," said co-author Kristian Kristiansen, professor of archeology at the University of Gothenburg, in a statement.
But it's also possible that Vittrup Man was in the wrong place at the wrong time.
"It is difficult to say based on archaeological evidence alone, apart from, for example, someone who has been killed in a conflict, or robbed and murdered," says Roy van Beek, associate professor of landscape archeology at Wageningen University & Research in the Netherlands, via email. "That he may have been a 'slave' or held in captivity is quite speculative in my opinion, but the authors show some reservations about that as well."
Van Beek was not involved in this research, but co-authored research published in the journal Antiquity on the wealth of information that swamp bodies provide about prehistoric life.
"In my opinion, this is a fascinating study that shows the enormous contribution that innovative bioarchaeological methods can make to improving our knowledge of prehistoric societies, including important aspects such as population history, migration and lifestyles," said Van Beek after reading the new study.
"Our ancient research shows that the lives of thousands of prehistoric and early historic people ended in swamps across Northern Europe, and studies like this show the incredible scientific potential they have. And this is just one individual - we are just the beginning!"
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