Mythical Shield-Maidens Did Exist – Evidence Of Female Viking Warriors Discovered

Ellen Lloyd - AncientPages.com - In Norse mythology, there are many stories about female warriors called shield-maidens.

Historians have debated for years whether these powerful women did really exist and it seems now we have the answer to this question.

Archaeologists have found evidence that shows female fighters might have their roots in actual historical events.

New DNA evidence uncovered by researchers at Uppsala University and Stockholm University shows that there were in fact female Viking warriors. The remains of an iconic Swedish Viking Age grave now reveal that war was not an activity exclusive to males – women could be found in the higher ranks on the battlefield.

While excavating one of the most well-known graves from the Viking Age, a mid-10th century grave in Swedish Viking town Birka, scientists found remains of a warrior surrounded by weapons, including a sword, armor-piercing arrows, and two horses. There was also a full set of gaming pieces and a gaming board.

lllustration by Evald Hansen based on the original plan of the grave by excavator Hjalmar Stolpe, published in 1889.

Examination of the skeleton revealed the burial belonged to a woman. However, since this grave has been the type specimen for a Viking warrior for over a century, it has always been assumed to have belonged to a male Viking.

Now, geneticists, archaeogeneticists and archaeologists have worked together and solved the mystery. DNA retrieved from the skeleton demonstrates that the individual carried two X chromosomes and no Y chromosome.

“This is the first formal and genetic confirmation of a female Viking warrior,” says Professor Mattias Jakobsson at Uppsala University’s Department of Organismal Biology.

Isotope analyses confirm a traveling lifestyle, well in tune with the martial society that dominated 8th to 10th century Northern Europe.

“The gaming set indicates that she was an officer, someone who worked with tactics and strategy and could lead troops in battle. What we have studied was not a Valkyrie from the sagas but a real-life military leader, that happens to have been a woman,” says Charlotte Hedenstierna-Jonson, Stockholm University, who led the study.

Reconstruction of what the grave may have looked like to begin with. Image credit: Uppsala University

“Written sources mention female warriors occasionally, but this is the first time that we’ve really found convincing archaeological evidence for their existence,” says Neil Price, Professor at Uppsala University’s Department of Archaeology and Ancient History.

Interestingly there could be even more evidence that indicates shield-maidens did exist. Some years ago, archaeologists uncovered beautifully preserved, 1,000-year-old Viking boat burial in Scottish Highlands. It is today known as the Ardnamurchan boat burial.

Inside a 5m-long grave that contained the remains of a powerful, high-status Viking, who was buried with an axe, a sword with a beautifully decorated hilt, a spear, shield boss, and bronze ring-pin. Now a new detailed study of the Viking grave has raised the remarkable possibility the body belongs to a female warrior rather than a male.

So it’s very possible that  mythical female warriors known as Shieldmaidens may have been the basis for the mythical ‘Valkyries.’

Written by - Ellen Lloyd AncientPages.com

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