Skeletal remains discovered in a well at Norway's Sverresborg Castle have been linked by researchers to an ancient Norse story.
In the 800-year-old Sverris saga that follows the story of the real King Sverre Sigurdsson, the author told the story of throwing the corpse of a man – later known as 'well-man' – into a well during a Military attack in Central Norway in 1197.
According to the text, the robbers threw the body into the well to poison the main water source of a besieged castle for the local population. Although no mention was made of the man's identity.
The skeleton of the man, believed to be in his 30s or 40s, was discovered in 1938 at the castle near Trondheim in central Norway, The Telegraph UK reported. At the time, scientists could only perform a visual analysis.
With multiple analytical techniques available, including genetic sequencing and radiocarbon dating, researchers have now managed to link the skeletal remains to the saga, according to CNN.
A study in this regard was published on Friday in the Cell Press journal iScience, revealing key insights into the appearance of the 'Well-man', based on in-depth research on samples of his teeth.
The study's co-author, Michael D Martin, said in a statement that this was the first time a person “described in these historical texts has actually been found.”
Mr. Martin is a professor in the department of natural history at the University Museum of the Norwegian University of Science and Technology in Trondheim.
“There are many of these medieval and ancient remains across Europe, and they are increasingly being studied using genomic methods,” Mr Martin added.
The radiocarbon dating analysis helped the researchers determine that the skeletal remains were about 800 years old, which was in line with the timeline of the Sverris saga.
Mr Martin said they initially hoped to sequence the body's genome from the bones as they appeared to be in good condition but the DNA within them was poorly preserved. So they used samples from a tooth for genome sequencing. The result showed that the man probably had a medium skin tone, blue eyes and light brown hair.
They then compared the genome of “Well-man” with the genomes of anonymous modern Norwegians stored in reference databases at deCODE Genetics in Iceland.
As a result, it emerged that the “good man” was closely related to the inhabitants of southern Norway.