The remains of a 10th century Viking warrior buried in Birka, Sweden have proven to be those of a woman, thanks to DNA evidence.
The warrior was discovered in the late 19th century by Swedish archaeologist Hjalmar Stolpe and the remains were assumed to be those of a man as they were buried with weapons, horses, and other military paraphernalia.
“It’s actually a woman, somewhere over the age of 30 and fairly tall too, measuring around 170 centimeters,” Charlotte Hedenstierna-Jonson, an archeologist at Uppsala University, told The Local.
American Journal of Physical Anthropology, CC BY 4.0
Illustration by Evald Hansen based on the original plan of grave Bj 581 by excavator Hjalmar Stolpe (1889).
"The chances are that they would have had red hair. Interestingly, if you look at where red hair occurs in the world you can almost map it to Viking trading routes.” ... “The only other density of red hair which compares to Scotland and Ireland is in Scandinavia. It becomes a cultural marker of the Norse and of the Vikings." From: http://www.scotsman.com/heritage/pe...gs-carried-redhead-gene-to-scotland-1-3200177
We have known that all along ;-) archeologists are turning bronze age history up and down with their new techniques. By studying teeth they are realising that women and children have wandered all over Europe and were accepted as equals where they settled. They were not slaves, they married into new tribes. The men stayed at home.
I wonder why people are surprised that women were warriors. Who do you think defended the homeland - homestead, villages, cities etc - when the men were off to war (not defense)? Not only did women defend they took over all the businesses and trades including agriculture. Still going on to this day.
Part of what makes this newsworthy is the finding that a Viking warrior was female. If transgendered, not as much of a story. Or, if passing herself off as a man, not as much of a story. Most people assume a feminine personna for a female, but for a warrior, I'm not sure this would have been the case in the Viking culture.
170 centimeters is only 5'5" or 5'6". That is not really tall. It is just low average for a woman of today. What was the average height of a Viking woman then? IDK.
Is this the Viking Board? jk. Didn't we discuss or mention the program that was available a few months ago about the Vikings? I'm sorry, I don't remember where I saw it. Might have been on Netflix or youtube. It was a documentary, made mention of various dwellings found in Scotland, England, and the New World and various artifacts found onsite. Cool stuff.
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