Birka female Viking warrior

Archaeologist and ethnographer Hjalmar Stolpe (1841–1905) excavated a warrior's burial chamber in the 1870s, as part of his archaeological research at the Viking Age site Birka, on the island Björkö (literally: "Birch Island") in present-day Sweden. In 1889 he documented the grave as Bj 581.[1][2] It has been considered "one of the most iconic graves from the Viking Age."[3] The grave was marked by a large stone boulder and was found on an elevated terrace where it was in direct contact with the garrison.[4] The grave chamber was made out of wood and it was 3.45 m long and 1.75 m wide. The body was found collapsed from a sitting position, wearing garments of silk, with silver thread decorations.[5] The goods found in the grave included "a sword, an axe, a spear, armour-piercing arrows, a battle knife, two shields, and two horses, one mare and one stallion".[4] For the next 128 years, the skeleton was assumed to be that of a "battle hardened man".[6] The warrior has been compared to "a figure from Richard Wagner's Ride of the Valkyries".[7]

Studies in the 1970s had questioned the assumption the skeleton was male.[8] A 2014 osteological analysis of the skeleton's pelvic bones and mandible by Stockholm University bioarchaeologist Anna Kjellström provided evidence that it was the grave of a woman.[9][2] Some archaeologists were skeptical, citing the probability that the bones had been mis-labeled in the last century, or perhaps jumbled with bones from other nearby graves.[2]

A study led by Charlotte Hedenstierna-Jonson, published in September 2017, noted Kjellström's "osteological analysis triggered questions concerning sex, gender and identity among Viking warriors".[4] Hedenstierna-Jonson's team extracted DNA from samples taken from a tooth and an arm bone of the person buried in Bj 581. According to Maja Krezwinska, the skeleton was conclusively proved to be that of a woman, having two, different X-chromosomes, but no Y-chromosomes.[3]

The same study also analyzed Strontium isotopes on the skeleton, to determine the geographic profile of the individual. This determined that she has similar markers with present-day people living in areas that were under the sphere of influence of the Vikings.[4] This has brought forward the question of whether or not the individual was originally from Birka, or if she had settled there afterwards.

Controversially, the conclusion of the study was that "the individual in grave Bj 581 is the first confirmed female high-ranking Viking warrior".[4] The authors responded to the criticism of their original study in a second article published in Antiquity, which provided additional information about their methodology and reaffirmed their conclusion.[10]

Analysis of the contents of the grave showed that it contained a game set with a board and pieces, thought to be evidence of her strategic thinking and indicating "that she was an officer who could lead troops into battle".[11] The Guardian reported, "Gaming pieces – perhaps from hnefatafl, a sort of precursor to chess – suggest the female warrior from grave Bj 581 was a battle strategist."[12] According to Kjellström, "Only a few warriors are buried with gaming pieces, and they signal strategic thinking."[11] The evidence also points to her as a member of the military caste.[6][13] The Washington Post reported, "The warrior was, in fact, female. And not just any female, but a Viking warrior woman, a shieldmaiden, like the ancient Brienne of Tarth from Game of Thrones."[6] Archaeologist David Zori noted, "numerous Viking sagas, such as the 13th century Saga of the Volsungs, tell of 'shield-maidens' fighting alongside male warriors".[2]

• Norse mythology depicts a group of supernatural women warriors called the Valkyries mentioned in the Poetic Edda, who act as guardians in Valhalla and allot death on the battlefield. Although shown carrying the dying from the midst of battle, they are rarely depicted participating in combat, although they are described as carrying spears.[15][16]

• Shield-maidens are female warriors that take on male characteristics and attitudes, like dress and the wielding of weapons. They do this either because there is no male member of the family left, or they are escaping marriage.[17]

• The Oseberg tapestry depicts anthropomorphic figures in dress that resembles that of Viking Age women, holding spears and swords.[16]

• A series of brooches found in Tissø, Denmark depict what are believed to be armed female figures on horseback.[16]

• A three-dimensional figure found in Hårby, Denmark, depicts a Viking Age female figure holding a sword and shield. The public interpreted it as a depiction of a Valkyrie, but nowhere in Norse mythology are Valkyries described wielding swords (their weapon of choice being a spear). This raises questions of whether this figure could represent a human female warrior.[16]

There are few historical attestations that Viking Age women took part in warfare:

• Saxo Grammaticus, in his History of the Danes, described warrior women dressed as men and wielding weapons.[15]

• The Byzantine historian John Skylitzes records that women fought in battle when Sviatoslav I of Kiev attacked the Byzantines in Bulgaria in 971.[18] When the Varangians (not to be confused with the Byzantine Varangian Guard) had suffered a devastating defeat in the Siege of Dorostolon, the victors were stunned to discover armed women among the fallen warriors.[18]

Saga literature has many examples of this as well:

• Freydís, in the Greenland saga, is manipulative and greedy. After cheating the people she was traveling with, Freydís proceeds to murder five women with an axe.[15]

• The Laxdæla saga tells the story of Auðr, whose husband leaves her for another woman because she is always wearing men’s breeches. She decides to take her revenge and, dressed like a man, stabs him with a sword. The Laxdœla saga has the broadest range of female characters out of all the sagas, and probably had an intended female audience.[15] It is interpreted as presenting an alternative to the disenchanted lives that women were living given their limited role in society.

• Hervör, in the Hervarar saga ok Heiðreks, is Angantyr’s only child. From early on she shows more aptitude for weapons than traditional female tasks. She wields the family sword against her father’s wishes and goes on many masculine adventures. It isn't until she decides to settle down and have children that the male line of the family is restored, allowing her to put down the mantle of son that Angantyr never had.[17]