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Archaeology students from the University of Cambridge were taking part in a training excavation when they uncovered a mass grave just three miles from the city. The burial dates to the ninth century C.E., during the period when Vikings controlled the region, and contained the remains of at least ten young men. Among them was one individual whose extraordinary height would have made him a “giant” by early medieval standards.

What began as an unremarkable field exercise quickly became a major find. Initially, the most notable object unearthed was a discarded 1960s Smarties lid. But everything changed when the team revealed a burial pit at Wandlebury. The number of skulls recovered confirmed that at least ten individuals had been interred there.

The most striking discovery was a man estimated to have stood around 6 feet 5 inches tall — dramatically taller than the average person of the ninth century. Even more intriguing, his skull showed evidence of a surgically drilled hole, suggesting he may have undergone a procedure such as trepanation.

Student archaeologist Olivia Courtney described the experience as both powerful and humbling, reflecting on how the individuals buried there were close in age to the excavation team, yet separated from them by more than a thousand years of history.