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Warrior graves and powerful women
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True or false? In 1878, archaeologists knew that the tomb in Birka was the tomb of a powerful female viking.
Early 900s The Viking city of Birka, on Björkö, has never been richer. Here, traders from near and far exchange goods such as iron, furs, horns and amber for silver coins, silk and spices. To protect the riches and defend the city's inhabitants, there is a fortress with warriors. Then, around the year 970 CE Birka is abandoned. No one knows exactly why.
Maybe land uplift makes it harder for boats to get there? Many years later, in 1878 an archaeologist digs in the ground to find out what Birka was like in Viking times. Under a large stone, near the old fortress, the archaeologist finds an underground room with wooden walls, a chamber tomb. It is one of Birka's finest. In the Viking Age when the stone was erected, this tomb was visible from the water so everyone who sailed into the city could see it.
The archaeologist calls the grave BJ-581. There are remains of a human skeleton and two horses, silk clothes, board games... And lots of weapons: swords, axes, knives, spears, arrows and shields. Judging by all the grave goods, this was perhaps the most powerful warrior in the whole fort, he who decided. ..but, wait.. In 2017, archaeologists examine the skeleton from BJ-581 using new modern methods, including DNA analysis.
The bones from the tomb show that they come from a woman. Is it possible? Surely it was the men who fought and held power, right? At least, that's what they thought in the 19th century. Maybe some still think so?
But there are other female Viking graves with grave goods that suggest they may have been warriors. In Åsnes in today's Norway, a Viking woman was found buried with a horse. She lay on a shield and next to her lay a sword, a battle ax, arrows and a spearhead. Had such weapons been found next to a male skeleton, researchers would have assumed that person was a warrior. In the 12-and 1300’s, unknown authors write several texts, the Icelanders’ sagas, describing things that happen in the Viking Age.
Some are true, while others are made-up stories. The sagas describe female warriors, shield-maidens, taking part in looting raids and battles. We don’t know for sure if women were warriors during the Viking Age, but sometimes they have grave goods that suggest so. We do know that some Viking women were very important! In a Viking Age burial mound in today's Norway, two women lay together in a burial chamber by the mast of a large ship, called the Oseberg ship.
The ship is 22 meters long and 5 meters wide. Sleighs, a chariot, beds, textiles and several animal sacrifices are found in the grave. These grave goods and the ship itself indicate that at least one of the women had a high status. The other was perhaps her thrall, an enslaved woman who had to accompany her owner to death. According to old Icelandic texts, there were women who could talk to the gods.
They were called völva and, like the goddess Freya, could predict the future. To do this, they used staffs. Völva means staff bearer. The staffs are reminiscent of the canes used to make linen spinning thread from flax. Freya is, among other things, the patroness of flax cultivation.
To be a völva and to be able to predict the future, to spin the thread of life, with the help of one's staff, came with high status. Archeology is a rapidly evolving science and many new methods are used to understand prehistory. It’s possible that much of what we think right now is not true. Will our knowledge about the Viking Age change in the future?