The DNA of the population, the place names, the material culture, the religious practices, all bore the marks of centuries of Scandinavian presence.

A Scandinavian burial practice in this region was not exotic.

It was a local tradition persisting into the post-Conquest world.

The specific combination, oak coffin, grass pillow, chalk supports, apple wood staffs in the Scandinavian tradition, burial in a Norman knight’s private church, is what makes Conquest Man’s grave so difficult to categorize and so interesting to study.

Where Was This Man Born?

The isotope analysis of Conquest Man’s teeth is one of the most technically sophisticated parts of the study, and it produced one of the most ambiguous results.