A Man Who Lived Through the Norman Conquest Gets a New Face
Scientists have reconstructed the visage of an individual who died in England around 1079, after the Norman Conquest, with clues suggesting he may have originated from Scandinavia.
Researchers have reconstructed the face of a man who lived through one of England’s most tumultuous times: the Norman Conquest of 1066. The digital reconstruction, the scientists say, gives a "human face" to the conquest—possibly the most pivotal event in English history.
The individual, dubbed “Conquest Man,” died in 1079 and was buried in an oak tree casket with three staffs made of apple wood. He was excavated from the graveyard of St. Peter’s Church in the Northumbrian port town of Barton-upon-Humber more than 30 years ago. The facial reconstruction, based on the skull from his grave, shows a mild-looking man in his fifties with wrinkles, gray hair, and a neutral expression.
“I’ve been fascinated by this individual—this man of the Conquest—for twenty years,” says Kevin Booth, an archaeologist and curator at English Heritage, a public-facing charity that works closely with the government heritage agency Historic England. “To be able to now look at his face is to feel we can almost speak to him.”
The facial reconstruction was announced on Monday and coincides with the British Museum's exhibition of the Bayeux Tapestry—a famous chronicle of the Norman Conquest.
Archaeologists think “Conquest Man” was of Scandinavian descent, says Booth. But how he came to England is still a mystery. Was he a peaceful immigrant to England or was he part of the invading army that forever altered its history?
Norman Invasion
Led by Duke William of Normandy (from the northwest coast of modern-day France), the Norman Conquest changed England from a loose Anglo-Saxon monarchy into a centralized feudal kingdom with strictly hereditary rulers. It also moved the English language away from its Germanic roots by introducing many French words. The conflict was later characterized as the invading Normans against the native Saxons, but historians now think it was much more complicated than that.
William and his knights landed in England on September 28, 1066, at Pevensey Beach on England's South Coast and fought the English defenders a few weeks later at nearby Hastings. Following months of warfare, William "the Conqueror," as he was known, was victorious and crowned King William I of England.
Booth says it is possible “Conquest Man” was part of William's army because the church he was buried at was owned by a Norman knight who had fought at Hastings.
(Inside the secret operation to move the world’s most famous tapestry)
But he adds that it’s even more likely the individual settled in northern England when the region was under Scandinavian rule and known as the Danelaw, under King Cnut the Great (also spelled Canute) and his descendants. Cnut, who died in 1035, was also the king of Denmark and Norway, and it is probable “Conquest Man” was part of an exchange of people between England and Scandinavia.
“Between about 1016 and 1040-ish, they were all part of the same kingdom,” Booth says. “The North Sea was just a highway between territory.”
Unknown Origins
Some of the strongest evidence suggesting that “Conquest Man” was Scandinavian is the presence of three applewood staffs (or sticks) found in his grave. The practice of burying someone with such staffs was widespread in Scandinavia at this time, and similar staffs or sticks have been found in other graves in the Barton area, Booth says. The staffs weren't always apple, however: any wood that could grow from a cutting, including hazel, willow, and poplar, was also used, perhaps to signify rebirth.
Aleksandra McClain, an archaeologist at the University of York who specializes in this period, says the staffs alone do not prove a Scandinavian origin: they have been found in many 11th-century English burials and seem to have been regarded as protection for a soul's “journey” after death. She notes the Bayeux Tapestry shows mourners holding staffs at the funeral of the English king Edward the Confessor, whose death in January 1066 sparked the Norman Conquest, and these may have been placed in his grave.
(Anglo-Saxon England's defeat unfolds across the Bayeux Tapestry)
Other clues that “Conquest Man” may have been Scandinavian come from isotopes found in the man's teeth. The strontium isotopes indicate that he lived for a long time near Barton-upon-Humber, but the oxygen isotopes in one tooth suggest he grew up in a colder climate.
Katherine Cross, a historian at York St John University not involved in the work, agrees that a Scandinavian origin is likely for a man buried in the north of England at this time.
“Northern England was fundamentally shaped by the Viking Age,” she says. “It's not surprising to see an individual with local, Scandinavian, and continental connections living in Northumbria in the late 11th century.”
Face From the Past
Researchers from the Face Lab at Liverpool John Moores University worked closely with English Heritage to carry out the facial reconstruction of “Conquest Man.”
The lab has previously worked on facial reconstructions from the Paleolithic period (the "Old Stone" Age, more than 12,000 years ago) and ancient Egypt. But this is their first face from the time of the Norman Conquest.
(How scientists bring ancient faces back to life)
It was achieved using the Manchester Method, developed at the University of Manchester in the 1970s, to digitally layer muscles and skin onto the skull from the grave. The result is a scientifically informed depiction of how he looked.
His grey hair and faint wrinkles were added to reflect the man's rough age at death, sometime in his fifties according to the archaeologists who excavated his grave. His eye color was based on what was typical for this place and time. The reconstruction at last gives the man a face—an important aspect of his identity.
"With this new analysis, it feels like we can really get close to him," Booth says. But much is still a mystery: "We don’t know if he was ‘Saxon’ or ‘Norman’—he may have been neither."
