Beginning in the 8th century, the Danes began a long era of well-organized raids across the coasts and rivers of Europe. Large areas outside Scandinavia were settled by the Danes including what became know as the Danelaw in England, the Netherlands, northern France and Ireland. Two Viking warriors from the same clan separated for more than 1000 years and have finally been reunited at the Danish National Museum in Copenhagen.

Danelaw was established as an area ruled by Vikings and extended across much of England. A group of fairly young Viking warriors was found here buried in a mass grave near the church where they had been killed by orders from King Aethelred II, King of the English. The warrior hilighted here was in his 20s and died from injuries to his head. He had sustained 8 to 10 hits to the head and several stab wounds to the spine.

On Ridgeway Hill in the County of Dorset, a mass burial was found with the remains of 54 males. These individuals had all been executed in a gruesome manner with their decapitated heads dumped together in a large pit. Interestingly enough all of the sharp blade wounds had been struck from the front, meaning these individuals had faced their enemy. Radiocarbon dating showed the bodies were from 890-1030 AD. Strontium isotopes found in the bones show these individuals were originally from Scandinavia.

The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, which had been written around 890 AD, provides a year-by-year account of all the major happenings in Anlgo Saxon England. Aethelred the Unready had been king from 978-1016 AD - it is quite possible these bodies died during his reign. Initially the king had paid Viking raiders off with over 10,000 pounds to stop raiding their lands. Later they began hiring Norse mercenaries to fight off the invading Vikings - however these mercenaries would switch sides frequently and proved too risky.

In 1907, two mummies were discovered in Deir Rifeh Egypt in a tomb belonging to a governor and his sons from the 12th Dynasty (almost 4000 years ago). The tomb group is one of the best preserved and best known burials of the Egyptian Middle Kingdom. Although the mummies were heavily decayed, the skeletons were still preserved. Khnum-Nakht was about 40 years old and Nakht-Ankh about 60.

The two mummies were found to be brothers with the same mother but different fathers. This is confirmed by identical mtDNA and the detected differences in the Y chromosomes. Both suffered from osteoarthtritis and dental attrition. Khnum-Nakht had kyphoscoliosis and Nakht-Ankh had lung lesions from sand pneumoconiosis.