Ancient DNA analysis of 142 individuals from late Viking Age and medieval Scandinavian cemeteries reveals that adults and children sharing a grave were frequently not close biological relatives, challenging longstanding archaeological assumptions about family burials. Published in Science Advances by researchers from Stockholm University, the study examined remains from Sigtuna, Västerhus, and Fjälkinge to show that shared graves were often structured by social, religious, or community factors rather than nuclear family ties.
Ancient DNA Challenges Assumptions About Medieval Family Graves
For generations, archaeologists assumed that adults and children interred together were parents, offspring, or other close kin. Genomic screening of 116 individuals from 50 multiple burials across Sigtuna near Stockholm, Västerhus in Jämtland, and Fjälkinge in Skåne dismantled that premise. “We often assume that adults and children sharing a grave were parents and children or other close family members. In most cases, that was not what we found,” says Maja Krzewińska of the Centre for Palaeogenetics at Stockholm University and lead author of the study.
Out of 51 multiple burials analyzed for age and sex, 28 contained both adults and children, while 12 held only children and 11 held only adults. Yet genetic tests showed that sharing a burial plot rarely meant sharing direct ancestry. At Västerhus, only 12 percent of multiple burials with sufficient genomic data contained first-degree relatives, which amounted to just three graves: two sisters, a father and son, and two probable siblings. No second-degree relatives shared a grave there, though such ties existed between people in separate graves. Anna Kjellström, a researcher at the same Stockholm University department, notes that ancient DNA has finally provided the tool needed to test long-debated archaeological interpretations directly.
How Boys and Girls Followed Adult Burial Customs
Extracting genomic data allowed scientists to identify the biological sex of children too young for reliable skeletal sexing. The resulting burial maps demonstrated that boys and girls followed the same cemetery customs as adult men and women. At the Västerhus site, where men and women rested on opposite sides of the churchyard, boys and girls were placed according to that same spatial pattern.
“The children were not treated as a separate category. In death, they appear to have been treated according to the same social and religious principles as adult men and women,” says Anders Götherström, Professor of Molecular Archaeology at Stockholm University’s Centre for Palaeogenetics. This indicates that early Christian Scandinavian communities recognized gender identity early in life and reinforced those roles within death rituals.
Did you know? Genetic diversity among individuals in multiple graves matched or exceeded that of people buried in single plots at the same sites, confirming that shared graves did not primarily contain close relatives.
Reconstructing the Life and Journey of Medieval Lady 56
While nuclear families rarely shared a single grave, researchers successfully reconstructed a broader medieval family tree at Västerhus. A woman designated as Lady 56 connected genetically to parents, a brother, and two daughters scattered across different parts of the churchyard.
Lady 56 died before turning 30, but her grave contained an object suggesting a life far more traveled than her Jämtland neighbors. Archaeologists recovered a scallop shell from her burial—a widely recognized symbol of the pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela in northwestern Spain. Its presence suggests she may have traveled thousands of kilometers across Christian Europe before she returned home to Scandinavia.
Frequently Asked Questions
Were adults and children in medieval double graves usually parents and kids?
Which archaeological sites were included in the research?
The study analyzed 142 individuals from Sigtuna near Stockholm, Västerhus in Jämtland, and Fjälkinge in Skåne.
Did medieval children follow different burial rules than adults?
DNA sexing revealed that boys and girls followed the same cemetery layout rules as adult men and women, reflecting early recognition of gender identity.
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