Archeologists in Denmark have discovered a remarkable group of 50 skeletons believed to be from the Viking Era. The skeletal remains could help scientists unearth some of the mysteries around Viking DNA and provide new answers about this centuries-old civilization. 

The skeletons were reportedly preserved due to favorable conditions near the burial site; they were discovered in mid-October near the village of Åsum, a remote settlement near Denmark's third-largest city, Odense, on the island of Funen. Scientists are just getting started on unlocking the puzzles behind these ancient remains. 

What did the archeologists discover? 
A team from Denmark's Museum Odense located the burial site, which "was used in the 8th and 9th centuries," the museum said in a press release. A "total of 50 inhumation graves and five cremation graves have been found, placing the burial ground among the largest Viking burial sites discovered on the island of Funen." The discovery proves the area was a "key geographical point for the earliest urban developments" in what would become modern Denmark. 

Several of the skeletons "belonged to high-status individuals in society, as seen from the grave goods they were buried with," said the Museum Odense. This includes a woman who was "buried in a wagon, the upper part of a Viking cart used as a coffin," as well as another grave containing a "fine bronze three-lobed brooch, a single red glass bead that hung on a cord around the deceased's neck, an iron knife, and a small piece of rock crystal."

What can these skeletons tell us? 
The finding of the graves "opens a whole new toolbox for scientific discovery," Museum Odense curator Michael Borre Lundø said to Newsweek. The museum is hoping to perform DNA analysis to learn about the "general health, diet, and origins of those buried" in Åsum. DNA imaging "might even reveal whether the buried Vikings were related, which would be particularly significant, as this has never been examined in similar graves," Lundø said to CNN. This could "give us a much better idea of people's ages, sex, what diseases they might have had," and more.

Scientists are "really hoping to gain the larger picture," conservator Jannie Amsgaard Ebsen said to The Associated Press. "Who were the people that were living out there? Who did they interact with? It's a little bit like a jigsaw puzzle."

Climate change has long been a core priority for Democrats in national elections. U.S. climate policy has oscillated wildly between partisan administrations this century, and vice president and Democratic nominee Kamala Harris has plans that differ significantly from those of her Republican rival for office, former President Donald Trump.

What is Harris' climate history?
When Harris was California's junior senator from 2017 to 2021, she co-sponsored the Green New Deal. This legislation outlined a series of goals designed to kickstart green energy production and make the U.S. gradually less dependent on fossil fuels. As a candidate for president in 2019, Harris backed the Green New Deal and endorsed a ban on hydraulic fracking, a controversial method of natural gas extraction.

As vice president, Harris cast the tie-breaking vote on the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), which contained a variety of measures to boost clean energy production and expanded a clean vehicle tax credit to incentivize buyers to choose electric cars. 

What is Harris' climate future?
There are no specific proposals related to clean energy or the climate crisis in the economic plan that the Harris-Walz campaign released in September, and climate change did not figure prominently in Harris' acceptance speech at the 2024 Democratic National Convention. 

Harris stands by the provisions in the IRA but has backed away from her previous stance on fracking. Her campaign does not use the language of the Green New Deal, and Harris has pointed to the fact that the IRA grants new leases for natural gas drilling as proof that she has consistently backed domestic fossil fuel production as vice president. 

Why is Harris choosing not to emphasize climate policy?
Polling shows climate change is not a top issue for voters in the 2024 election, as they may be unwilling to entertain the idea of economic sacrifices for the sake of the environment. In Gallup polling, the share of respondents who said that "protection of the environment should be given priority, even at the risk of curbing economic growth," has fallen from 65% in 2019 to 52% in 2024.