Norwegian Cemetery Unearths Skeletons Over 750 Years Old

The churchyard in Evenes has been in use for over 750 years, and contains the only cemetery used for burials in the municipality of Nordland.

According to Norwegian law, a coffin grave can be reused after 20 years of preservation. Basically, a body must have been turned into earth during these years.

These considerations were not taken into account when several Norwegian cemeteries were built several hundred years ago.

According to Viggo Berg, deputy chairman of the church association in Evenes, the cemetery is on clay soil. This means that the soil is not able to break down the corpses in time.

– There must be a way to reuse, he says to Dagbladet.

It was Forwards who mentioned the matter first.

Found bones

Berg describes the grotesque discoveries that appear when the graves are to be replaced. Several skulls and bones have recently been dug up in connection with a burial.

– These are terrible things, says the deputy chairman.

Now the church association is working with applications to expand the cemetery to avoid more discoveries.

– You have to have burial grounds. It is necessary that the conditions are proper, says Berg.

– Mental strain

Inghild Halvorsen Økland, researcher at the Norwegian Institute for Bioeconomy (NIBIO), says, however, that coffin remains or coarse bones and skulls are not a limitation to reusing old graves.

– It becomes problematic when fat, skin and other parts of the body are preserved. Then ethical issues arise, in addition to the fact that the sight can be a psychological burden for those who dig up the bodies, says Økland.

In 2022, she presented one sensational investigation which showed that it can take more than 100 years for human bodies to turn to soil in several Norwegian burial grounds.

Økland does not know the conditions in Evenes, but says that a lack of drainage or poor soil quality is often the reason why the decomposition of corpses takes longer than estimated.

– Vacant grave sites

According to Norwegian law, each municipality must have available burial plots for at least three percent of the municipality’s population.

Church warden in Evenes, Mona Stensland Johansen, says that there is free capacity at the cemetery.

She can confirm that skulls and bones appear in connection with the replacement of the graves.

– It is relatively common in old burial grounds that have been in use for many years, says Johansen.