Thread by @CatJarman

So here's the breaking Viking news!!
*DNA evidence for first ever Viking Age father and son burial
*Brand new previously unknown Viking site discovered in England
#BritainsVikingGraveyard
[Thread!] 1/

2/ With ancient DNA analysis we have found a first degree relationship on the paternal side between Graves 511 (“The Repton Warrior”) and 295, who were buried side-by-side at the Great Army camp in Repton, Derbyshire, soon after 873 AD.

3/ Because of the ~20+ years age difference, this means they are most likely father and son. Double graves like this are common in the Viking worlds but a close family relationship has never been proven before. Exciting!!

4/ While DNA can’t in any way prove their identities, forensic details are a *very* good match to Olaf, Viking king of Dublin, (killed 874 in Scotland) and his son Eysteinn (killed 875 by Halfdan). Both w/ close links to the Great Army.

5/ And then.... In 2017, after I went on on Digging for Britain with @thealiceroberts, @JMNumismatist saw the programme and put me in touch with a metal detectorist who has been finding Viking artefacts near Repton….

6/ Turns out what he found was a MAJOR new site at Foremark, likely another Great Army camp contemporary with Repton that nobody knew about. The Scandinavian cremation cemetery at Heath Wood, excavated by @Julian62523002 is very close by.

7/…The name Foremark comes from a Scandinavian compound meaning ‘the old fortification’…. The clue was kinda in the name. As shown on #BritainsVikingGraveyard, my team and I excavated part of the site in October 2018 and found evidence of the Viking presence and….

8/…an Anglo-Saxon settlement: maybe why the site was chosen in the first place. It also seems there was an ongoing Scandinavian presence here and in Repton: the crucial missing link between the first Viking raiders and permanent settlers?

9/ For more about this check out my exclusive podcast interview with @thehistoryguy on @historyhit along with more from my previous work at Repton and an interview with Martin Biddle.

player.fm/series/dan-sno…

10/Hope you enjoyed the programme! It was great working with @windfall_films and thank you to @TerryDBlack for kick-starting the whole thing! I have a book coming out next year with @WmCollinsBooks so keep an eye out for it 😉#greatheathenhung #britainsvikinggraveyard

Thanks also to my brilliant team at Peters Fraser + Dunlop for helping make it all happen! @PFDAgents