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Graves without bodies

‘Graves’ and ‘mortuary houses’ are often talked about in connection with the stone-packing graves. This in spite of the fact that no human bones or traces of coffins have been found associated with the features. So the interpretation of the features as burials must still be taken with some reservations. Perhaps the bones are absent because stone-packing graves mainly appear where the soil is too acidic. This means that the calcium has leached out of the bones, which are not preserved for posterity. If one looks at the way the stones lie in the ‘graves’, in some of them there seems to have been a cavity that could have accommodated a body.

Graves without bodies
The stone-packing graves at Herrup in western Jutland were emptied during the excavation in 1964.
Graves without bodies
Stone-packing graves are particularly common in western Jutland, which is known for its sandy and lime-deficient soil. Skeletons are rarely preserved in these conditions, and this might explain why most of the stone-packing graves are empty.