Sandby borg was the site of a massacre 1,500 years ago in Sweden, according to researchers excavating the area.
The excavations within the once-prosperous fifth century ring fort settlement, which started in 2011, have revealed 26 skeletons of adult men, adolescent boys and babies who were killed by being hit with blunt objects, CNN reported.
No women were found, and researchers do not know what happened to the women who would have lived in this location, whether they were removed before the killings or what happened to them, CNN reported. The presence of the babies and of jewelry shows that women did live at Sandby borg shortly before the killings.
The positioning of the bodies showed that some were killed where they stood, while some tried to flee the area but were caught and killed, History.com reported. The killers left beads, silver jewelry and gold coins at the site and allowed live animals to starve in their pens. Only weapons were taken from the site, and some houses were set on fire.
Only three homes have been excavated so far, so there may be more bodies, even female ones, to be discovered, Science Alert reported. The fact that residents of that area normally cremated their dead suggested that everyone in the settlement had been killed, been removed, or fled the area and never returned.
Some of the bodies were burned in ways that indicated they might have fallen into the fire when they were struck, or that fires were set after the residents were killed, The Guardian reported.
There are no known historical accounts of a massacre at the site, but it was generally regarded as a dangerous place by the locals for a long period of time, The Guardian reported, suggesting that oral accounts of the massacre may have faded into non-specific taboos about the site.
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