Does new DNA evidence prove that there were female viking warlords?
A well-furnished warrior grave in the Viking age town of Birka, Sweden, has been found to contain female bones. So, a female Viking warrior. And not just any warrior, but a senior one: she was buried alongside a sword, an axe, a spear, armour-piercing arrows, a battle knife, two shields and two horses. Gaming pieces - perhaps from hnefatafl, a sort of precursor to chess - suggest the female warrior from grave Bj581 was a battle strategist. Was she unique, or were the Viking ranks full of women?
"It is exciting because the traditional images of Vikings are masculine and war hungry - with the women at home baking, or looking after the kids," says Becky Gowland, a lecturer in archaeology at Durham University. "This burial is clearly of a high-status woman. The fact that she's buried with weapons indiciate this. It doesn't indicate that she's a warrior, but if we interpret [male graves] in that way, why not women as well?"
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