A metal detectorist in central Norway recently discovered a Viking Age metal brooch. But when he led archaeologists to the site, they found much more: a burial with evidence of an unusual ritual they had never seen before.
"The grave contains what we believe is a woman, buried with a typical Viking Age outfit and jewelry dating to the ninth century," Raymond Sauvage, head engineer at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology's University Museum and the project leader, said in a translated statement. "The most striking feature is two scallop shells placed by the mouth of the deceased, a practice previously unknown from pre-Christian graves in Norway."
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