Ridgeway Hill Viking burial pit

Ridgeway Hill is an archaeological burial site in Weymouth, England, where a mass grave pit contains the remains of roughly 50 skeletons and about 50 skulls, arranged in separate piles. The finds come from a quarry pit about 5 meters wide dating to around the 10th century.

The burial site was discovered in 2009 and the remains date between 970 and 1025, a period of intense conflict between Anglo-Saxon residents and Viking raiders. The finds shed light on this turbulent phase of English history.

The site connects to Scandinavian seafarers whose remains show traces of a diet rich in fish and meat. These clues point to a life at sea and contact with distant regions.

The burial site was uncovered during road construction and is not open as an active excavation for visitors. Information about the finds is available in museums across the Weymouth region and beyond.

Chemical analysis of the bones reveals that some of the deceased came from regions as far away as the Arctic Circle. This discovery demonstrates the remarkably far-reaching network of Viking-age movements and migrations.