Studies of the skeletons found on Vasa when she was salvaged tell us about the people who died on board and give us a deeper understanding of Vasa and her contemporaries.
Roughly thirty people died when Vasa sank on her maiden voyage in August 1628. It is impossible to know who these people were, as only one of them is named in historical sources: Captain Hans Jonsson.
The first finds
When the ship was salvaged in the 1960s, an extensive archaeological excavation was carried out. During the excavation, human remains in the form of skeletons from at least 17 people were found. Additional remains were found during dives in 1966 at the site where the ship had previously been located. Some of the skeletons were almost complete, while others were in pieces. They were also scattered, which made it difficult to know which bones belonged to which individual.
The first challenge was to try to piece together the individuals and understand which bones belonged to whom. Quite early on, it was possible to determine the height, gender, and approximate age of the individuals.
The early examinations
In 1963, osteologist Nils-Gustaf Gejvall examined the bones and divided the skeletons into individuals, labelling them with letters in alphabetical order. In the 1980s, osteologist Ebba During conducted new analyses of the skeletons and also named them based on the letters of the alphabet, with skeleton A becoming Adam, B becoming Beata, and so on. Despite her examinations, many questions remained unanswered in terms of how many individuals were involved, which bones belonged together, and who these people were.
DNA research and new collaborations
In 2004, researchers at the Vasa Museum began collaborating with Marie Allen, Professor of Forensic Genetics at Uppsala University. She took DNA samples from the skeletons in order to match the various bones to the correct individuals with greater certainty than before. Over the next twenty years, several other studies were conducted to gain a better understanding of the people who perished on Vasa.
In recent years, researchers at the Vasa Museum re-examined the skeletons to gain even more knowledge and a deeper understanding of the people who were on board. We can now tell much more than was possible in the 1960s. Among other things, it is possible to know with greater certainty what they looked like, how they were dressed, and what they had with them on board. This is thanks to new research, i.e. DNA analysis, isotope analysis and osteological analysis, as well as research on the archaeological context and on clothing and shoes.
Research on several fronts
As DNA research has taken great strides forward, new samples were taken in 2023 to try to map the individuals' core DNA through a collaboration between Marie Allen, Kimberly Andreaggi of the US Defence Department’s AFDIL laboratory in Delaware, and Andreas Tillmar from the National Board of Forensic Medicine in Sweden. In addition, a new osteological examination was carried out by Anna Kjellström and new isotope analyses were performed by Kerstin Lidén, both from Stockholm University.
What the analyses can reveal
Isotope analysis provides information about what the individuals ate and where they came from. Studies of the skeletons reveal how tall the they were, whether they had been injured or had hereditary diseases, and whether they were likely to have given birth.
DNA research can reveal gender, hair and eye colour, and predisposition to having an upturned nose or baldness. It also provides clues to their geographical origin and reveals whether they were related to each other. In addition, it is possible to find out whether they had wet or dry earwax, were prone to alcoholism, and whether they were susceptible to winter vomiting disease (Norovirus), to name just a few examples.
Putting the puzzle pieces together
Thanks to the new DNA samples, the researchers were able to determine that one of the skeletons thought to be a man was actually a woman. The osteologists had suspected this based on the appearance of the hip bone. Now it could be confirmed with certainty, as there were no Y chromosomes in the genome. This discovery became big news around the world in the spring of 2023.
This interdisciplinary puzzle has enabled us to learn more about the people who were on board and died on Vasa.
