More than 2,000 years ago, thousands of soldiers were slaughtered as part of a bizarre sacrificial ritual, then chucked in the small basin of a lake.
Today, that basin is a bog in northeastern Denmark called Alken Enge. In April, researchers from Skanderborg Museum and Aarhus University unearthed the skeletal remains of more than 200 warriors there.
See the skeletal remains >
But after a recently completed summer dig, archaeologists believe the fragments of more than 1,000 individuals could be scattered across the 99-acre site, Irene Berg Sørensen of ScienceNordic reports.
"Finds of damaged human bones along with axes, spears, clubs and shields confirm that the bog at Alken Enge was the site of violent conflict," according to a statement from Aarhus University.
Alken Enge first caught the attention of researchers when human remains were discovered there in the 1950s. The bog was regularly used as a place of sacrifice during the Iron Age, according to Skanderborg Museum.
A mass grave at Alken reveals fractured skulls and hacked bones
Source: ScienceNordic
A summer excavation found many more human bones than expected, excavation Field Director Ejvinf Hertz told ScienceNordic
Source: ScienceNordic
The hole in this skull is believed to have been caused by a spear or arrow
Source: ScienceNordic
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