Medieval Remains Unearthed on Shetland Islands

SHETLAND, SCOTLAND—The Scotsman reports that the remains of 26 people who were buried some 500 to 600 years ago have been discovered in the front yard of a home on the main island of Shetland. It’s rare for bones to survive in the island’s soil, which means the remains will give researchers a unique look at the population of the Shetland Islands during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. Archaeologist Val Turner of the Shetland Amenity Trust notes that it has long been assumed that most of the people living in the islands at that time were of Viking origin, but that the skeletons could show the picture was more complicated. “There is potentially a lot to find here on origins and where these people were born and brought up,” says Turner. To read about the Norse presence in the British Isles, go to “The Vikings in Ireland.”