Moesgaard Museum: Surprise Viking Graves May Link to Bluetooth

In June 2025, archaeologists from Denmark’s Moesgaard Museum announced a find they never expected. It was a Viking Age burial ground at Lisbjerg, just north of Aarhus. The Moesgaard Museum Viking graves hold goods that point to people of high status. The people buried there possibly had ties to the royal court of Harald Bluetooth.

A Magnate’s Farm Near the Moesgaard Museum Viking Graves

Mads Ravn is head of local cultural heritage at the Moesgaard Museum. He has a PhD in archaeology specializing in the Viking Age. Ravn says that it’s likely the burial site is related to a noble family’s farm. The farm, Stormandsgården (Danish for “the magnate’s farm”), is about 0.6 miles (1 kilometer) from the site.

“The objects we have found in the graves tell us that the buried are people of high status – it could be the extended family from the farm that is buried here,” says Ravn in a translation of the museum’s original Danish press release.

Thirty Moesgaard Museum Viking Graves

So far, archaeologists have unearthed 30 Moesgaard Museum Viking graves. The catalog of grave contents includes beads, coins, gold wire, and scissors. The remains of the people in the graves also include teeth and other bones. Another Danish cemetery of the same century, with far better-preserved bones, is the subject of Asum Viking Graves.

Liv Stidsing Reher-Langberg is an archaeologist for the Moesgaard Museum and excavation leader. In an email to Live Science, Reher-Langberg said the find was a surprise.

“We simply had no expectations of finding graves,” says Reher-Langberg. One grave held a box with “the finest fittings, rivets, and an advanced locking mechanism,” containing jewelry, a needle, and scissors. The site may be linked to Harald Bluetooth, who united Denmark and converted to Christianity. Still, the graves themselves are pagan. Harald’s ring fortress at Trelleborg dates from the same reign.

Aarhus, the King, and the Viking Graves

Aarhus was a center for international trade during the Viking age. It also served as the king’s residence. In fact, the area has yielded many Viking artifacts.

The finds in the Aarhus area, including Lisbjerg, “paint the image of an aristocratic environment that was linked to the royal power, which was part of the Vikings’ vast and dynamic world,” says Kasper H. Andersen, historian at Moesgaard Museum specializing in the Viking Age.

Moesgaard Museum is also home to the Grauballe Man, a remarkably well-preserved 2,000-year-old bog body that draws international attention.

For more Viking archaeology, read about a Viking grave that held a boat, a woman, and a dog, or follow Harald Bluetooth’s reign on our Viking Timeline. Join our newsletter to hear about new finds as we report them.