Researchers Reaffirm Remains in Viking Warrior Tomb Belonged to a Woman [View all]

In new paper, the authors behind the 2017 study echo their original conclusions and delve deeper into the secrets of the grave in the Viking town of Birka



Artist's rendering. The remains of the woman in the ornate tomb were found buried alongside an array of weapons, as well as a gaming set suggestive of strategic military planning. (Antiquity Publications Ltd./drawing by Tancredi Valeri)

By Meilan Solly
smithsonian.com
February 21, 2019

In 1878, archaeologists excavating the Viking town of Birka, Sweden, uncovered a singular ornate 10th-century burial tomb believed to hold the remains of a great warrior.

The site was filled with a trove of weapons, including a sword, spear, shield and two horses, as well as a game board likely used to map out military strategies. Further emphasizing its noteworthiness, out of 1,100 Birka tombs identified on the settlement, it was just one of two that contained a full set of weaponry.

If the final resting place wasn’t enough to convince you of the deceased's unique societal status, consider this: As History.com’s Becky Little reports, researchers have definitively concluded the soldier in question was not, as was long assumed, a man.

Guided by comprehensive genomic sequencing, archaeologists first revealed the unexpected findings of the woman warrior in a 2017 study published in the American Journal of Physical Anthropology. But as Live Science’s Laura Geggel explains, naysayers immediately unleashed a storm of criticism, alternately questioning whether the researchers had analyzed the correct set of bones, overlooked the presence of a male warrior sharing the grave, or failed to consider if the grave actually belonged to a transgender man.

Read more: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/researchers-reaffirm-famed-ancient-viking-warrior-was-biologically-female-180971541/#KdJfzJewXu2GlDMF.99