Jelling runestones. To the left is “Denmark’s birth certificate,” on the right Gorm’s memory stone for his wife, Thyra.
After the exciting discovery of King Richard III’s bones in a parking lot in England, and the DNA tests to support that identity, it seems that other old bones are being seen in a new light. Some of Denmark’s oldest royal bones may be getting similar treatment. It is thought that these bones, discovered under Jelling church in the 1970s, might belong to the first (by tradition) Danish king, Gorm the Old. This church is adjacent to the famous Jelling burial mounds, and it is presumed that Gorm’s Christian son, Harald Bluetooth, removed these remains from the mounds and consecrated them by reinterring them under the church. The bones, however, might also belong to Harald. In any case, it is assumed that these bones belong to a male member of Gorm’s family.
According to the researchers and experts quoted in the article linked above, it makes sense to conduct genetic tests on these bones to compare them with other remains. However, since written records of the Iron Age are so scarce, there are no proven direct descendants (and certainly no male ones) with which to compare the results.* The best the researchers are hoping for is to compare any DNA results with those of the remains of members of other powerful families of the time.
*The current queen of Denmark, Margrethe II claims descent from King Gorm through a somewhat circuitous path. I don’t know whether this claim could be proved through the DNA test, but it would certainly be interesting.
Danish Folk 