I think that by now that everyone with even a passing interest in Viking anything has seen the media extravaganza that is the Warrior Woman of Birka. I will not bother to post the mainstream news source click-bait headlines, here is the link for the piece about the recent DNA analysis of Birka grave Bj 581.
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ajpa.23308/full
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ajpa.23308/full
Unfortunately, this is stirring all sorts of Laegertha-esque fantasies in people. There is more to the science behind learning about the lives of those interred long ago. In this case, there is also an issue of whether or not those bones indeed even belong to that grave.
Other considerations also need to be processed. If weapons = warrior, then does that mean children buried with weapons took to the field of battle? Does it mean a 5 year old child was a master tailor because she was buried with the tools of the trade? There are also things like a female grave in Norway that contained a sword that was too large for her to wield. A great deal more study needs to be done before we can make any real determinations about whether warrior-women are more than a myth.
I have read three well-thought-out countpoints so far, and expect to see more in the future. My hope is that perhaps we will look more closely at additional graves (particularly those excavated more recently).
http://norseandviking.blogspot.com/2017/09/lets-debate-female-viking-warriors-yet.html
https://www.academia.edu/34564381/FEMALE_VIKING_REVISED
http://scienceblogs.com/aardvarchaeology/2017/09/12/a-female-viking-warrior-interred-at-birka/
Other considerations also need to be processed. If weapons = warrior, then does that mean children buried with weapons took to the field of battle? Does it mean a 5 year old child was a master tailor because she was buried with the tools of the trade? There are also things like a female grave in Norway that contained a sword that was too large for her to wield. A great deal more study needs to be done before we can make any real determinations about whether warrior-women are more than a myth.
I have read three well-thought-out countpoints so far, and expect to see more in the future. My hope is that perhaps we will look more closely at additional graves (particularly those excavated more recently).
http://norseandviking.blogspot.com/2017/09/lets-debate-female-viking-warriors-yet.html
https://www.academia.edu/34564381/FEMALE_VIKING_REVISED
http://scienceblogs.com/aardvarchaeology/2017/09/12/a-female-viking-warrior-interred-at-birka/
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