Archaeologists’ most exciting finds: In a box in the basement lay four girls who died in the 1300s, still wearing red mittens on their hands
The discovery in the basement of the Museum of Cultural History shaped Marianne Vedeler’s entire career. It even went on to inspire a well-known work of literature, she says.
One of the girls who was buried beneath the floor of Uvdal Stave Church is on display at the Museum of Cultural History.(Photo: Ida Irene Bergstrøm)
Summer is peak season for archaeological excavations, and this is when many significant discoveries are made.
Sometimes, years of planning and digging are required before something spectacular is uncovered; other times, they stumble upon treasures by sheer chance. Both types of discoveries are invaluable for our understanding of the past.
Marianne Vedeler had recently graduated and had just moved back home to Oslo from Bergen.
She sent an open application to the Museum of Cultural History, asking whether there might be a job for her there.
There was. The museum needed someone to catalogue textiles that lay in the basement of the Historical Museum.
Down there were shelves lined with objects the museum had acquired through various collections but had never fully catalogued.
There was not much light in the basement, Vedeler recalls. The working conditions were far from ideal.
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"The standards were a little different in the early 1990s," she says. "So there I was, sitting in the basement. Then I noticed some enormous boxes on top of the shelves."
I have to see what's inside, the newly qualified archaeologist thought.
Inside the boxes she found something that would shape the rest of her career.
Four girls who, at some point in the 1300s, had been buried together in the same shallow grave, directly beneath the floor of the old stave church in Uvdal.
But now they were lying in a box on a shelf in the basement of the Historical Museum.
The four girls were buried beneath the floor inside Uvdal Stave Church.(Photo: Marit Irene Skaug, CC 3.0)
They are a kind of natural mummy
It was in 1978 that archaeologists investigated what lay beneath the floor of the old stave church and discovered layer upon layer of graves.
Some of the dead had been laid to rest on pillows filled with flowers.
The girls had been placed directly into the ground beneath the church floor, without coffins. There was nothing beneath them and nothing covering them.
"The remarkable thing was that the dry air had preserved them as a kind of natural mummy," Vedeler says. "They had remained beneath the church floor since the 1300s. They still had hair, skin, fingernails, and clothing."
The four girls were so well preserved, and their clothing and belongings were in such good condition, that they were brought to the museum en bloc, Vedeler explains.
This means that the entire skeleton, together with the soil it rested on, was carefully lifted out and transported to the museum intact.
"We probably wouldn't do it that way today. And we certainly wouldn't leave them forgotten in the basement like that," says Vedeler.
Could this be what they looked like in life?(Image: Eva Gjerde)
Carefully dressed for burial
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Despite the poor lighting in the dim basement of the Historical Museum, Vedeler could clearly see that all four girls had been dressed in very elaborate clothing. Garments that had once been worn in life had been transformed into burial attire.
Marianne Vedeler, professor of archaeology at the Museum of Cultural History.(Photo: Nina Kristiansen)
In fact, their entire bodies were covered, including their faces, hands, and feet.
"I could see that all four had red mittens on their hands," she says.
The youngest girl was between 2 and 4 years old when she died.
"The oldest girl, who was between 15 and 17 years old when she died, was dressed in a linen shift, a pleated dress, and a beautiful blue hood. She was also wearing the same red mittens, which had been sewn onto the sleeves of her dress," Vedeler says.
The girls who were not given hoods had their heads carefully wrapped in linen bands, arranged with artful pleats around the temples.
"It was like a frozen moment from the past," the archaeologist says.
Status in being buried inside the church
Vedeler received a doctoral research fellowship and began studying clothing from the Middle Ages.
"These graves became very important because they were so well preserved," she says.
The clothing itself was also unusual.
"The garments have a very elaborate and quite complex cut," she explains.
The girls had been buried inside the church chancel. During the Middle Ages, those buried here were typically wealthy people with high local status. It was more expensive and considered more prestigious than being buried in the churchyard.
"So these girls were most likely of high status. You can tell from the fine wool fabrics as well," says Vedeler.
There were lengthy discussions before it was decided that one of the Uvdal girls would be displayed at the Historical Museum.(Photo: Ida Irene Bergstrøm)
There are no written records from this period that reveal who these four girls were or what happened to them.
Vedeler has wondered whether they were covered up in an attempt to protect their bodies.
"During this period, people believed that if a body remained well preserved, it was a sign that the deceased had been blessed. The dead were displayed at regular intervals to show how well their bodies had been preserved," the archaeologist explains.
The girls were buried during the period when the plague reached Norway.
"They could, of course, have been victims of the plague. But if so, it's strange that they were prepared with such great care," says Vedeler. "They spent so much time dressing these four dead girls. You would not normally expect that to have been done during a plague outbreak."
An inspiration for archaeologists and authors
What happened to these four young girls? Why did they die at the same time? And why were all of them buried with red woollen mittens sewn onto their sleeves?
"It's incredibly mysterious and thought-provoking," says Vedeler. "Those graves always seem to come back to me with new questions."
Vedeler has recently received permission to carry out DNA testing on the girls. If she can secure the funding and the time, we may, for example, find out whether they were sisters.
Over the years, she has also told many people about these remarkable graves.
"Many have drawn inspiration from them," Vedeler says. "When you read about the two girls buried at Butangen in Lars Mytting’s novel The Night of the Scourge, he was thinking of the girls from Uvdal Stave Church."
