We now, for the first time, exhibit some of the people who had their everyday life at the castle. Nine skeletons are exhibited in open coffins, so you can see what archaeologists see when they open up a grave. Bones are not just bones. Defence fractures, caries-infected teeth, soft cartilaginous joints, osteoarthritis, broken collar bones and 6-year molars unfold a world of stories. How people lived – and died – in the Middle Ages. Archaeologists see much more than a skeleton. They see a human. Maybe a human who worked hard in the field. Or lived a carefree life without illnesses and war injuries. Who gave birth to many children. Who sat bowed over a writing desk. Or fasted the mandatory 120 days a year, required from a clergyman. Skeletons tell stories – you just have to know what to look for.
The nine skeletons are carefully placed in coffins. They lie as they were found in their graves. Some lack bones and skulls. Others are complete and show all the traces archaeologists can use in their attempt to identify them. Common to them is that they lie without a glass case. You will be standing in the same room with the little group of people who walked, lived, and died here at the castle.
You find the skeletons just after you enter the Danish Castle Centre.