Yes, the Decorated Viking Warrior Grave Really Did Belong to a Female

The stench of patriarchy in this case is strong

Hiya!

Our species is ripe with exceptional qualities, and we burst with intricate complexities — many of which we’re still discovering. We’re also masters of duality, solid yet fragile or violent and destructive yet delicate and soothing. Sometimes though, our traits hinder rather than help us.

Like, our intelligence is impressive, to be sure, but our egos often limit how and what we learn. For instance, our ability to deny information that conflicts with our preconceived beliefs is genuinely remarkable. It might even be entertaining if it weren’t also so frustrating and detrimental sometimes.

I was reminded of this recently when I learned about some drama over the gender (yes, gender) of a presumed ancient Viking warrior that’s been going on for decades. Science says the skeleton is a woman, but scientists say, “check again — and again — and again — and again.”

Birka, Sweden

Let’s start from the beginning.

On the island of Björkö, to the east of Sweden, are the remains of a small medieval town named Birka. Today its a tourist destination and protected World Heritage Site, but in the 8th century, it thrived as a Scandinavian trading center filled with bustling merchants, artisans, and Viking warriors.

All of whom got first dibs on the bounty of luxurious, unique, and exquisite goods stretching from Asia to central Europe — the leftovers were taken by Vikings to be sold in other areas.

Outside of the drifters, between 700 and 1,000 culturally diverse people called Birka home, and it flourished for about 200 years. Then for reasons unknown, its inhabitants abandoned it — though the accepted theory is that they relocated to the second most booming town at the time, Sigtuna, after the “land rise” and Birka lost its strategic yet easy accessibility.

While the history of Birka is fascinating in itself, what’s more, intriguing are the over 3,000 graves discovered since the 1800s that encircle the town — making it one of the largest Viking burials ever found.

Actually, slight side note, but while we’re on the topic, I learned while researching this article that just last summer, in June 2022, archaeologists unearthed the first-ever Viking shipyard in Birka, too. And so far, everything they’ve found “challenges previous theories about how the maritime activities of the Viking Age were organized.”

But anyway, one of the 3,000+ Viking burials surrounding Birka caught the attention of archaeologist Hjalmar Stolpe in 1878 — so much so that he recorded it as being “perhaps the most remarkable of all the graves in this field.” Little did he know we’d still be talking about what he found almost 150 years later.

The Grave

The burial Stolpe noticed was a wooden chamber nestled underground, but its location indicated importance. It’s the farthest one on the Western border of the grave field, up on a cliff overlooking a lake and sitting across from the road leading toward town. A large boulder originally marked it, and its location meant people could see it from their boats in the water and from the settlement.