Archaeologists find three-paned skull during excavations in front of Ostlänken in Tystberga

Before the Ostlänken is to be built, excavations are carried out in several places where the rails will run. Tystberga, outside Nyköping, is among the places where this is noticeable.

And it was precisely in the town that archaeologists made the odd find. A trepanned head of a human skull, that is, a head in which there are traces of having performed a surgical procedure where a hole has been made in the skull.

- It is not common, says archaeologist Tove Stjärna about the find.

The archaeologist: Other original grave

According to Tove Stjärna, there were two other things that were strange: That it was only part of a skull and that it was placed in a grave that is not the original grave.

- The grave has been opened and the skull has been laid down later.

Hear what conclusions have been drawn from the find so far in the video above.

The age of the skull must be analyzed

The skull is probably from the Iron Age, says Stjärna, but exactly how old it is is not yet known. However, this must be investigated further through a 14C analysis, also called the carbon-14 method.

- It is quite certain that it is from the Iron Age, but the Iron Age is a very long period.

Exactly how long it will take to find out the age is unclear, but according to Stjärna it can take around six months.