A microstudy of associations between Viking Age women and their weapons
Bachelors Thesis in Archaeology
Stockholm University
HT/Autumn 2020
Alicia Halvardsson
Supervisor: Jan Apel
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Blood and Magic
A microstudy of associations between Viking Age women and their weapons
(Blod och magi. En mikrostudie av associationer mellan vikingatida kvinnor och deras vapen.)
Abstract
This thesis discusses what associations Viking Age women and weapons had according to extant sources and how they can present in the grave material. In order to achieve this, literary sources, iconographic representations, and grave material are studied and compared in order to reach a deeper understanding of these associations and what they look like in the archaeology. The literary and iconographic source materials in this thesis are limited those from within, or shortly after, the Viking Age. The grave material in this thesis is also dated to the Viking Age and consists of weapon graves with osteologically determined inhumed females located in Gerdrup, Kaupang, Aunvoll, Nordre Kjølen, and Birka.
Keywords: Viking Age, women, weapon graves, warriors, vǫlva, magic, combat, Nordre Kjølen, Birka, Gerdrup, Kaupang, Aunvoll
Cover photo: “Freya” by Johannes Gehrts. Published in Therese Dahn’s Walhall:
Germanische Götter- und Heldensagen.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. INTRODUCTION ... 1
1.1 Objectives ... 1
1.2 Previous Research ... 2
1.3 Theory and Method ... 3
1.4 Material ... 3
1.5 Defining Terms ... 4
2. NORSE MYTHOLOGY ... 5
2.1 Women’s Roles ... 6
2.1.1 The warrior ... 6
2.1.2 The sorceress ... 8
2.2 Mythology in Practice? ... 9
3. ICONOGRAPHIC MATERIAL ... 10
3.1 Oseberg Ship Tapestries ... 10
3.2 Metalwork ... 11
3.2.1 Hårby Figurine ... 11
3.2.2 Tissø Pendant ... 12
4. ARCHAEOLOGICAL MATERIAL ... 12
4.1 Gerdrup ... 13
4.2 Kaupang ... 13
4.3 Aunvoll ... 14
4.4 Nordre Kjølen ... 15
4.5 Birka ... 15
5. DISCUSSION ... 17
6. CONCLUSIONS ... 22
7. SUMMARY ... 23
8. BIBLIOGRAPHY ... 24
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1. Introduction
The idea that women stayed at the farm to care for hearth and home while men possessed positions of power and waged war was undoubtedly true at some point in our collective cultural development- it is an ideal that perceptions were built on and has persisted over time. This is especially true when visualizing bygone eras like the Viking Age where women became a forgotten face of society and men were ruthless, bloodthirsty raiders that raped and pillaged across Europe (Jesch 1991:1ff).
However, progressive steps in archaeology have shown that women actually could hold positions of power in society (Gardela 2017; Hedenstierna-Jonson & Kjellström 2014; Moen 2011; Price 2019a).
When assessing periods like the Viking Age archaeologically, grave material is exceedingly important due to a deficiency of true contemporaneous textual material written by and for its population, the exception being runic inscriptions. Because of this want of contemporary
documentation (Lund 2016:2ff), archaeologists have had to make do mainly with interpreting graves in their context which is wholly dependent on its interpreter’s preconceptions and assumptions, supplemented and/or complemented by post-contemporary (medieval) literary sources. Additionally, these graves often offer little to no preserved skeletal remains, often necessitating the gendering of graves via grave objects instead of osteologically sexing them via bone material (Moen 2011:5ff).
Combined with assumptions regarding gender roles, this has led, however to grave objects being associated with a specific gender, social class, or vocation; a frame of reference modern scientists have placed upon a prehistoric people; the female gender being associated with weaving and textile production, jewelry (i.e., oval brooches, arm rings/bands), or symbols of the home (i.e., keys), and the male gender with articles of war (Gardeła 2013a:276ff; Jesch 1991:14; Lund 2016:4). If on the odd chance a weapon grave was osteologically determined as female, it was interpreted as sacrificial, as a representation for an absent male relative that had died abroad, or as a slave, or even as the ’better- preserved’ remains of a double grave. Put simply, the weapons were not theirs (Gardeła 2013a:276f).
With the dawning of archaeology’s post-processualism and the dual symbolism its social analysis afforded to material objects, interpretations and wider understandings regarding burial practices and mortuary archaeology opened up. Grave objects could provide a new well of
information about the Viking Age living and dead, not only for men but also for women. The above mentioned ’frame of reference’ has, in recent years, been challenged by researchers and
archaeologists seeking answers beyond those assumptions, particularly when graves or grave material does not fit the framework provided by our predecessors and interpretations are too narrow. This is aided further by television shows, programs, and film in changing public perceptions of Viking women with media like History Channel’s Vikings, Netflix’s Norsemen, Marvel’s Thor, and National Geographic’s Viking Warrior Women from passive second class citizens to fully-fledged members of society. However, this paradigm shift has often resulted, more or less, in these women being
interpreted as representations of the mythological valkyries (Lund 2016:4). But were they? What do the extant sources say about women and weapons? Do weapons always equal warriors, regardless of gender, or does grave context provide other possible interpretations for female weapon graves? What are the associations between Viking Age women and their weapons beyond valkyries?
1.1 Objective
The objective of this thesis is to understand what associations the extant sources provide between Viking Age women and weapons particularly in relation to how these associations can present in the grave material.
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In order to achieve the objective, the following questions are posed:
a. What roles did women have in relation to weapons according to the Viking Age mythology and how are they reflected in iconographic representations?
b. What roles could women have had in association with weapons according to historical accounts? Which of these roles manifest in the Viking Age grave material?
c. In what way, if any, has osteology affected interpretations of the graves?
1.2 Previous Research
Due to the large interest surrounding the Viking Age, and female viking warriors more in recent decades, portrayals of viking warrior women have become a popular topic with academic material being published regularly. Charlotte Hedenstierna-Jonson, Neil Price, and Leszek Gardeła, amongst several others, have focused their research on the different associations and roles women had in Viking Age society, particularly in relation to weapons and religion. This includes new research surrounding female weapon graves, the religious beliefs of the Viking Age, and how they manifest in the archaeological record by examining the archaeological, osteological and literary material
(Hedenstierna-Jonson et al. 2017a; Price 2019a).
With the increasing use of DNA and other analyses resulting in new information, archaeologists like Charlotte Hedenstierna-Jonson with her interdisciplinary team of experts from both Stockholm and Uppsala Universities have been able to provide an aspect of context previously unavailable for female weapon graves. Knowing the genetic affinity, biological sex, and/or origin of an individual adds new aspects for greater understanding and more accurate interpretations which brings us closer to the individual and their society, especially regarding graves that deviate from traditional frames of reference. For Hedenstierna-Jonson and her team specifically, this is the case for their 2017 study surrounding the Birka warrior. By combining archaeology, osteology and textual sources,
Hedenstierna-Jonson and her team were able to push the phenomenon surrounding the Birka warrior into the limelight and make the reality of females as potential warriors tangible (Hedenstierna-Jonson et al. 2017a; 2017b). The study surrounding the Birka warrior, or Bj 581 as she is otherwise
designated, focused on determining the deceased’s biological sex, genetic affinity and early childhood mobility, or migration patterns, via aDNA testing, genomic-sequencing and strontium isotopic
analyses (Hedenstierna-Jonson et al. 2017a). The results were further discussed in comparison with the archaeological material, superficial osteological assessments and grave documentation to get as complete a context as possible for the most plausible interpretation (Hedenstierna-Jonson et al. 2017a;
2017b).
Neil Price’s The Viking Way (2019a), published originally in 2002, was a study of social powers in Viking Age society with regard to gender and religion. In this work, Price discusses different aspects of the religious beliefs of the era and region chapter by chapter from the mythology to ritual practices within Viking culture, as well as other circumpolar cultures, to supernatural warfare and magic. Using what he calls ”cognitive archaeology,” Price focuses on understanding and learning from the vikings as well as the symbolism within their culture and cultic practices (Price 2019a). In order to complement the Viking Age beliefs, Price introduces figures from skaldic and eddic poems, excerpts from the older sagas and early medieval Scandinavian laws, amongst others, as supporting examples. A number of graves and other archaeological material are also examined as potential evidence of some theories regarding, or portraying, ritual practice in connection with sorcery or associations with different Gods, and roles in battle (Price 2019a).
Leszek Gardeła is another researcher studying several topics pertaining to the Viking Age, not the least of which is associations between women and weapons. This research focuses on the
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circumstances and purposes behind women carrying weapons in Viking Age society and the physical manifestation of the period’s belief systems in the archaeology (Gardeła 2013a). Within his corpus, Gardeła assesses the art of seiðr, staffs of sorcery, warrior women, deviant burials, and grave rituals in accordance with apotropaic practices from within the Viking Age and diaspora, (2008, 2009, 2011, 2013a, 2013b, 2017, 2018), all of which are featured heavily in this thesis.
1.3 Theory and method
This thesis focuses on analyzing what women’s roles were during the Viking Age in association with weapons and their presence in the archaeological (grave) record, drawing support from literary and iconographic material. Each grave will be analyzed via gender theory and the thick description method as individual case studies, focusing on each grave’s background and location, weapons, and their historical context. Gender-specific associated artifacts, osteological evaluations, and previous interpretations will also be discussed for context and compared against the backdrop of the literary and iconographic sources.
While gender theory and feminist theory became popular during the 1970’s in the Norwegian archaeological community, its real push into the limelight came a decade later with groundbreaking studies by researchers like Margaret Conkey and Janet Spector, which generated debates around gender bias in the practice and interpretation of archaeology (Trigger 2006:458). With these studies, a discussion regarding a lack of female representation in the archaeological data- and its resulting androcentrism in archaeological interpretations- took hold and lead to the recognition of a “generic nature of bias” for many archaeologists (ibid: 458f). This was seen in the wide reaching and staunch acceptance of gender-specific associations for artifacts in earlier interpretations. In more recent years, focus on gender studies has shifted from earlier feminist agendas to studies of gender being one aspect associated with social and physical identity in archaeological studies where biological sex and gender constructs are discussed (Trigger 2006:459f; Redon 2017:7ff). This leads to the topic of this thesis, which focuses on what women’s associations were with weapons when, traditionally, men were always associated with weaponry and, by extension, war and death.
Thick description, which was developed by social anthropologists, is a qualitative method used to provide greater understanding of material and cultural or social practice through the use of detailed sources and related context for better tailored interpretations (Ponterotto 2006:538ff). The use of thick description aids in creating a “clear picture of the individuals and groups in the context of their culture” and their environment (Holloway in Ponterotto 2006:541).
1.4 Material
The archaeological material chosen for this thesis has been restricted to Viking Age inhumation graves containing female remains osteologically sexed, using either DNA testing or osteological gender determination techniques, from areas within the viking world (ie. Denmark, Norway, Sweden, etc.; see Fig. 1). These graves are further limited to those containing one or more weapons within them, also known as weapon graves, where the weapons are placed in direct relation to the deceased female. All the graves will be studied as thoroughly as possible given the ravages of time and misplacement of materials as well as limited access to archaeological reports, though as per the topic of this thesis, the focus lies mainly with the weapons and gender-associated artifacts. As very few female Viking Age weapon graves with confirmed female remains are catalogued, the material is already rather narrow, so the graves described below were chosen as the best representations of the phenomenon with the most easily available literature.
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With the understanding thatmost written material covering the Viking Age is not truly contemporary, and was also written with a certain degree of prejudice on the author’s part- intentional or otherwise- the written materials chosen will be presented from a source critical perspective. As very few authors describing the actions or events in their materials were present, or even alive, during the occurences described, one must be cautious in accepting the material as factual or authentic. The vikings themselves rarely wrote anything down, if at all, sharing stories instead through long held oral
traditions common for prehistoric societies, the exception being- as
mentioned above- runic inscriptions. It should be said, however, that despite there being a sizeable period of time and/or distance between the occurring and the depiction of events, historical texts are a decent source of information when taking their partially substantiated nature (via the aforementioned runic inscriptions) into account, especially when regarding battles, sacrifices, and historical figures. In light of the textual source material’s significant- albeit potentially exaggerated- nature, literary
sources chosen for this thesis were chosen for their temporal relation to the grave material, in that the original sources date to within the Viking period or shortly thereafter. These include transcribed oral stories, witness accounts, and laws that complement the archaeology
The iconographic material includes textiles found in the Oseberg ship grave and metalwork figurines, all dated to the Viking Age and found in different areas of the Viking world, which serve as a further complement to the grave material.
1.5 Defining Terms
The origin of the terms víking and víkingr have been cause for debate among historians and archaeologists over the course of Iron (Viking) Age research. According to Jesch, the various
explanations for etymological origins for the term viking range from refering to the act or intention of going abroad for raiding or adventure (víkíngr referring then to participants in that activity), to where they came from (“vík” meaning ”bay” or conceivably Víkfjord), to perhaps even stemming from the act of rowing (“víkja” meaning “to turn aside”) (Jesch 2015:5; 1991:8). Other researchers believe the origin of viking could come from the germanic Old english ”wic” or ”wicing”, possibly even the Latin
“vicus” meaning “camp” (Jesch 2015:5). However, for the purposes of this thesis, the term viking will refer to those being of Scandinavian origin and living during the Viking Age.
The Late Scandinavian Iron Age, or Viking Age, as the material is restricted to, is
traditionally defined as beginning with the first documented raids on Lindisfarne in 793 CE with the period ending somewhere between 1066 (with the Battle of Stamford Bridge) and 1150 CE,
depending on the region described and events occurring there (Jesch 1991:1, 2015:8; Lund 2016:6).
The definition of the Viking Age’s timeframe is dependent on what it means to be viking, be that
Fig. 1 Map of grave sites.
1- Gerdrup, 2- Kaupang, 3- Aunvoll, 4- Nordre Kjølen, 5- Birka.
(Author’s own, 2020)
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northern sea raiders pillaging abroad or simply scandinavians in general (Jesch 2015:8). When considering all the significant features of the Viking Age, the chronological definition can stretch quite far, possibly starting as early as 700 CE and lasting until the 12th century (ibid.). This is especially so when assessing archaeological material dateable from the mid-eighth century found outside Scandinavia as well as the continued erection of rune stones within the Viking world long after the official adoption of Christianity in substantial areas of the Viking World and the Norman invasions in England (Jesch 2015:8f; Price 2019a:7f). However, in keeping with the traditional dating models for the Viking Age, the chronology for this thesis is restricted to 793-1066 CE.
Lastly, inspired by Anna Bech Lund’s master thesis ‘Women and Weapons in the Viking Age’, the term grave object is used in this thesis in order to remain neutral and avoid connotations that the objects buried with the deceased were either gifts for or possessions of the interred (Lund 2016:7)
2. Norse Mythology
The first aspect to understand when addressing Viking Age society is the mythology, which is woven with a plethora of entities associated with death, war, knowledge, sorcery, etc. interspersed with several death realms, purposeful brutality, and ongoing conflicts all ending in Ragnarök (Price 2019a:22ff). Through understanding the culture’s mythology, one can then deduce- at the very least on a basic level- the social roles and structures upon which the society built its traditions (Jochens 1996:33).
When discussing women and weapons in the mythology, the main actors mentioned most often in connection with them is Freya and Odin (both being gods associated with war, magic/ sorcery, and knowledge), the infamous Valkyries, and the Norns. Freya, the female counterpart to Odin as the goddess of war- and to whom half of the fallen warriors went- is often described as brave, independent, knowledgeable in magic and sacrifice as a seiðwoman (even called a blotgydja or
‘sacrificial priestess’), as well as a protector of heroes (Näsström 2009:160ff, 200ff; Price 2019a:38).
Through Odin’s role as god of war, he is associated with women and weapons through his link with the valkyries, as well as his and his valkyries use of seiðr, which was learned from Freya (Näsström 2009: 160ff; Price 2019:55ff).
Valkyries are prominent figures in the mythology as the legendary ‘choosers of the slain’
warriors from the battlefield, their connection to battle and seiðr through Odin as well as the Norns (Näsström 2009:155ff). Their roles in the mythology and their names, like Gunnr or Hildr (‘battle’), Randgníðr (‘shield-scraper’), Geirahǫd (‘spear-battle’), and even Hrist (‘shaker’), Róta (‘disorder’), Gǫndul (‘staff-bearer’), or Sváva (‘sleep-maker’ or ‘killer’) all point to associations with combat and seiðr-skills (Näsström 2009:155; Price 2019a:279ff). They are also described as serving the warriors they have chosen for Valhalla, a point that Näsström suggests could be a Christian addition to the myths (Näsström 2009:155). One of the valkyries, Skuld, is also one of the three Norns which links the battle role of the valkyries to the weaving role of the Norns, something described further in Njáls Saga where valkyries weave the fabric of war (Jochens 1996:39f; Näsström 2009:159; Price
2019:285). Valkyries have been widely associated with females bearing weapons, especially in iconographical contexts (Gardeła, 2018: 404ff; Price 2019:274) which will be described in a later chapter.
Additionally, giantesses such as Skadi and Hyndla have also been mentioned in connection with weapons. Skadi, daughter of the fallen giant Tjaze, walked into the hall of the gods in Asgard fully armed and clad in armor much to the bewilderment of the gods gathered there (Näsström 2009:225). There Skadi proclaims that she be named a ‘ringkvinna’ (the surviving female heir to a
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bloodline) (ibid:226). Later in her story, Skadi marries the god Njórd, Freya’s father, and is installed in the mythology connected to the mountains (ibid.) The second giantess, Hyndla, is called to aid a young hero on behalf of Freya against another in Hyndluljóð (Jochens 1996:170).
2.1 Women’s Roles
In The Viking Way (2019a), Neil Price begins the discussion surrounding gender roles in Viking Age society by discussing the mythology of the culture, laying particular focus on Odin (Óðinn) and Freya (Freyja), connecting the roles, spheres of influence and positions women held in society. For Price, warfare and the culture’s religious beliefs were “embedded in the general arena of social behavior”
which “implicated every member of the community, regardless of sex or gender” (Price 2019:3). This is evidenced by various types of mythical entities (i.e. deities, valkyries, giantesses, disir, apparitions, etc.), sorceresses/prophetesses, and larger-than-life warriors referenced alongside incidents in the various sagas and runic inscriptions from the period (Jochens 1996).
Jenny Jochens’ Old Norse Images of Women (1996) introduces Freyja’s roles as well as those of supernatural entities (such as the valkyries and Norns) and human women in the sagas and as real potential actors during the Viking Age. According to Jochens, human women could fulfill four functions within the three worlds (the divine, the heroic, the human): “the warrior”, “the avenger”,
“the whetter”, and the wise woman or “prophetess/sorceress”, each having their own respective chapters with examples taken from saga literature in the Poetic Edda (1996:88).
2.1.1 The warrior
Jochens states that the warrior woman was a way to provide a link between the mythological and the heroic realms of the humans, where the warrior woman was a human counterpart of the mythological valkyrie (1996:90). In the chapter outlining the role of the warrior woman in Norse Mythology, Jochens describes several shieldmaidens, occasionally also described as valkyries (ibid:95ff), as well as maiden warriors and maiden kings such as Sigrdrífa, Brynhild and Gudrun (from the Sigurd cycle in the Poetic Edda), the heroines of the Helgakviða Hundingsbana cycle, the maiden warrior Hervǫr from Hlǫðskviða, and the maiden king Þornbjǫrg in Hrólfs saga Gautrekssonar (Jochens:95ff). With these examples, Jochens discusses each maiden’s martial prowess and/or their wisdom through either the providing of runes or predictions of the future. This connects the roles concerning war and wisdom (ibid:92ff) and is mirrored in the Valkyrie and norn, Skuld. Jochens states that shieldmaidens participated in combat related duties which included providing men with weapons, inspiring and encouraging warriors to action, and were gifted knowledge of future events (Jochens 1996:96).
Maiden warriors and maiden kings, however functioned fully in combat as heirs and commanders in the absence of males in those roles (ibid.). These duties according to the literature, however, were dependent on the women in these roles maintaining either a virginal or unmarried status (Jochens 1996:102ff).
The “avenger” and the “whetter” fulfill a “physical” and “cerebral” role respectively, though they are occasionally combined as the act of revenge and verbal incitement can be seen in the sagas as going close in hand (Jochens 1996:133). In contrast to the female warrior, the avenger’s actions are described as personally motivated reactions, as opposed to the collective benefit from the warrior’s actions on the battlefield. The whetter, whose motivations are similar to the avenger, uses cunning manipulations to incite action on another’s part for revenge, but also to encourage warriors in battle from the sidelines (Jochens 1996:133; Price 2019:275). Gudrun and Brynhild are famously known as filling an avenger and a whetter role (Jochens:135, 162ff), the whetter role contributing directly or indirectly, to Sigurd’s death and Brynhild’s suicide (Larrington 2014:186). Even the goddess Freya
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acts in the capacity of a whetter when inciting two kings, Hedin and Högni, to violence which inevitably leads to a never-ending battle (Näsström 2009:166).
The stories in the Poetic Edda show women that have participated in some form of combat- demonstrated by the examples of Sigrdrífa, Brynhild, and Gudrun (Larrington 2014)- occasionally even described as clad in male clothing and with or without armor (Price 2019:275). In ‘the Lay of Sigrdrífa’ (Sigrdrífamál), the hero, Sigurd, finds the shieldmaiden- or valkyrie- in a magically induced sleep and he wakes her. The story depicts a conversation between the maiden and Sigurd in which she describes killing a character, Helmet-Gunnar, who was backed by Odin, while on the battlefield- for which the sleep was punishment. Before parting, Sigrdrífa endows Sigurd with several important runes and rituals (Larrington 2014:162ff).
Later in the Sigurd cycle, another character, Brynhild, tells her husband, Gunnar, that she was given the choice by her brother, Atli, to marry for her inheritance or become a warrior: “Then my mind was in doubt about this/ Whether I should fight and fell the slain/ A brave woman in a corselet/
because of my brother” (Sigurðarkviða in skamma, Larrington 2014:182, v. 37). After her suicide, Brynhild tells a giantess while on the road to Hel of her feats, which gives Brynhild a human and divine aura through her having been on “viking expeditions” and slaying Helmet-Gunnar, for which her punishment was sleep in Helreid Brynhildar (“Then I let the old man of the Gothic people,/
Helmet-Gunnar, quickly go off to Hell;/I gave the young man victory, Auda’s brother;/ Odin was very angry with me for that.”) (Larrington 2014:182, v. 8). The retelling of the slaying of Helmet-Gunnar matches that told by Sigrdrífa, which has led to a conflation between Brynhild and Sigrdrífa,
prompting some scholars to interpret the name Brynhild as another name for Sigrdrífa instead of being a separate character (Jochens 1996:91f).
Lastly, Gudrun, who marries Atli after Sigurd’s death, later finds herself in the position of avenger when Atli- while acting as avenger on behalf of his sister, Brynhild- betrays Gudrun and her brothers, forcing them to physically engage in combat against her husband (Greenlandic Lay of Atli, Larrington 2014:211-225):
47) Then she went outside, flinging open the doors, she advances fearlessly to welcome the arrivals;
she embraced the Niflungs, it was the last time she greeted
them,
this was honourable behavior, she added words besides:
48)’I tried to remedy this by keeping you at home, yet no one defeats fate, and so you still came here.’
She spoke common sense to try to make peace between them,
they would not agree at all, both sides said no.
49) Then the high-born lady saw them play a wounding game,
she resolved on a hard course and flung off her cloak;
she took a naked sword and fought for her kinsmen’s lives,
she was easy with fighting, wherever she turned her hand.
50) Guiki’s daughter brought down two fighters, she struck at Atli’s brother- he had to be carried off:
she shaped her strokes so she cut his leg from under him.
51) Another she set to strike so that he did not get up again,
she had him away into hell; nor did her hands tremble.
(Larrington 2017, v. 47-51)
In the last verses of the Greenlandic Lay of Atli, Gudrun tells Atli, as he lay dying, of deeds she and her brothers did in their youth:
98) ‘We were three brothers and a sister, we seemed unconquerable,
we left our country and went with Sigurd;
we hastened our ships onwards, each of us captained one,
we roamed where our fate led us, until we came to the east.
99)’First we killed a king there, chose land in that place;
earls submitted to us-- this demonstrated their fear;
by fighting we brought from outlawry those we wished to rescue,
we gave any man a fortune who had no wealth of his own.
(Larrington 2014: 224/5, v. 98/99)
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These depictions connect these roles to that of the warrior, which both Brynhild and Gudrun have been described as being in later scenes of their individual stories. Other female characters portraying shieldmaidens, maiden warriors and maiden kings, can be found among the Greenlandic sagas with Aud, the deep-minded, and Freydis Eiríksdóttir in the Eiríks saga rauða, or even in the
Fornaldarsogur, or Forefather’s sagas, with the story of Hervǫr as mentioned above. Furthermore, accounts of women warriors can be found in Saxo Grammaticus’ Gesta Danorum, Snorre Sturluson’s Prose Edda, as well as several others. It is important to question, however, the credibility of these sources as several accounts were transcribed centuries after they were originally told, or the events described had occurred.
2.1.2 The sorceress
The wise woman, also called priestess, prophetess, seeress, sorceress, vǫlva, or seiðwoman was, according to Jochens, the human equivalent of the mythic vǫlur who used the art of seiðr to predict or manipulate the future (1996:113f). Through the use of magic and ritual, they are connected to the divine, Odin/Oðínn and Freya/Freyja, who also knew the arts or used the gifts to seek knowledge. The duties a wise woman or sorceress would have included predicting the future, performing
fertility/death/wisdom-seeking rituals, preparing warriors and weapons for battle, weaving special articles of clothing for protection, manipulating the weather or creating natural disasters, etc.
(Jochens:116,121ff; Price 2019:293ff).
One connection that Jochens makes is between the origins of runes as magical tools from the divine world, through the story of Sigrdrífa, and her endowing important runes and rituals to Sigurd, as well as the possibility that spells or curses were weaved into fabrics, potentially like that of the shirts woven for warriors prior to combat and those placed on weapons (Jochens 1996:95, 127; Price 2019:295f). The connection between magic and weaving is seen as a domestic aspect of a seiðwoman, though the affects could also be used in battle or war magic (as also seen with Skuld in Njáls saga in the previous section), the visible attribute for this being the iron vǫlva staff which likens itself to tools used for spinning (Gardeła 2008:53).
According to Neil Price, while the duties of a seiðwoman could work on an individual level with personal motivations, the sorceress also acted for the collective benefit with offensive and defensive war rituals on the battlefield (2019a:272f). In contrast to the protective duties of the
sorceress, Price describes weapons such as “sorcerous darts…sent at an enemy”, or the use of seiðr to summon beings in order to kill or maim enemies and kings, occasionally even taking the form of
“spirits” working on behalf of the sorcerer (2019a:292). Price adds that these spirits could also prompt sickness in another as a form of physical attack (2019a:293). Price lists the possible duties a sorceress would have on the battlefield itself, taken from examples in the sagas, some of which include
conducting rituals to seed fear or confusion in the enemy or hindering the enemy with physical weakness, and even killing enemy warriors and sorcerers (ibid). Alternatively, their own soldiers would benefit from the seiðwoman bestowing courage, invulnerability and protection on them or resurrecting fallen warriors and affecting weapons (ibid:294).
Examples of these duties can be read in the saga literature, such as Ynglingasaga 7 and Hávamál, which Price translated and provided in The Viking Way, or Hrólfs saga kraka (v. 32), that describes the deluding of and attack on an enemy camp led by the Queen Skuld through the use of sorcery (Price 2019a:296f). Another example is the sorceress Gríma in the Fóstbræðra saga, who had armed her slave, Kolbakr, with weapons and protective gear, then covered him with an aura granting invisibility and provided him helpful seafaring weather in order to kill an unwanted suitor for Gríma’s daughter (Jochens 1996:123). Other examples of seiðwomen can also be read in the Greenlandic sagas with the elaborate telling of the vǫlva, Þorbjorg, with her iron staff in Eiríks saga rauða.
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2.2 Mythology in Practice?
For Jochens, it would seem that the possibility of how the divine, heroic, and human are described in the sagas could be a reflection of the social norms of Viking Age culture, especially when the oral stories are retold for generations (1996:33f). Additionally, Jochens proposes that societies with
“egalitarian gender roles” would be visible in the mythos of the culture by how women are admired for their traits and deeds as opposed to the more androcentric societies in which women are feared for their traits, their sexuality in particular (1996:33f).
From a historical standpoint, Jochens, Price, and Antonio Redon consider classical accounts of female warriors from earlier periods, taking examples from antiquity to contemporary culture from outside of Scandinavia. One example Jochens describes are women from Germanic tribes
participating in last-effort combat to stave off impending defeat which is supported by excavated graves in Germany containing males and females buried in battle regalia (Jochens 1996:108ff).
Icelandic law codes, or Grágás, has rhetoric that provides for the potentiality of female aggression and violence against another with punishments prescribed (ibid.) which are discussed below. Neil Price discusses examples in The Viking Way from Ibn Fadlan (examined below), Johannes Skylitzes, the Cogadh Gaedhel re Gallaibh and Annals of Clonmacnoise, the Annals of Ulster and Inisfallen, as well as Abbo and his eye-witness accounts of the Viking siege of Paris in 885 (2019a:275). All the
accounts Price described detail women engaging in aggressive ritual (Ibn Fadlan), active combat with an enemy (Johannes Skylitzes describing the Rus campaign in 971), leading in a commanding role (the Cogadh, the Annals of Clonmacnoise, Ulster, and Inisfallen), or acting in the role of whetter (Abbo) (ibid.). It is again important to note that none of the accounts used by Price were written by a viking, so the author’s perspective and prejudices should be taken into account, as well as the timeframe in which these accounts were written.
Finally, Antonio Redon also discusses warrior women and references to older classical accounts of warrior women as well as historical sources of warrior women from outside of
Scandinavia. Through his examples, Redon is attempting to support the possibility of Viking warrior women via other cultural figures of similar phenomenon in his thesis “Female warriors of the Viking age” (2016:2f). Redon addresses specifically four examples or accounts of warrior women: the Sauromatae (female warriors descended from ancient scythians), Artemesia I of Caria (a Persian naval commander under King Xerxes), Aethelflaed (daughter of King Alfred the Great that lead attacks on Viking settlements in England), and the Onna-Bugeisha (female samurai in Feudal Japan) (Redon 2016:3ff).
2.2.1 Laws
One source of information in close contemporary relation to the Viking Age regarding violence, females, and weapons are the Icelandic law codes, or Grágás. Some of the laws, which Jochens described, details incidents such as when divorce is immediately granted in the event of domestic violence, allowing for guilt on the part of either spouse committing violence, including ‘the infliction of “major wounds”’, or injuries where the brain or marrow had been pierced, or had caused internal bleeding (Grágás Ib: 40, 2:168, 3:35, Ia:145, 147; 2:299, 352; 3:428 in Jochens 1996:158). Two further laws state that in the event a woman kills another, be it a man or woman, she should be prosecuted in the same manner a man would (Gg 2:350 in Jochens 1996:158), and that a woman dressing, cutting her hair, or carrying weapons in order to portray herself as different from others could be exiled, being the same for a man dressing as a woman (Kónungsbók 254 in Lund 2016:22).
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While not disputing a woman’s ability to inflict mortal damage, however, Jochens considers the regulations as being a cautious piece of logical legislation rather than the laws serving as true indications of actual social practice (1996:158f).
2.2.2 Ahmad Ibn Fadlan
Following the translation of Peter Lund and Caroline Stone (2012) in Ibn Fadlan and the Land of Darkness, in the year 921, while travelling on behalf of caliph Muqtadir, Ahmad Ibn Fadlan
encountered a group of Rus viking traders with whom he witnessed the funeral preparations and rites of a Viking “nobleman” (2012:50ff). Upon his death, the nobelman was buried for ten days in a temporary grave while the seiðworker, whom Ibn Fadlan calls the “Angel of Death”, weaved the nobleman’s burial clothing. When the nobleman was ready to be buried, a slave girl that had volunteered to follow her master in death was sacrificed via both strangulation (“a cord round her neck in such a way that the two ends went in opposite directions. She gave the ends to two of the men, so they could pull on them”) and stabbing (“executed by the high priestess … with a broad blade and [plunged it again and again between the girl’s ribs], while the two men strangled her with her with the cord until she was dead.”) (Lund & Stone 2012:52f. Brackets in original).
The “Angel of Death” is described as an old woman that “was in charge of sewing and arranging all these things, and it is she who kills the slave girls. I saw that she was a witch, thick- bodied and sinister” (Lund & Stone 2012:50f). This character, according to Ibn Fadlan, was charged with creating- presumably weaving- the burial clothing, arranging the grave objects, the sacrifice and dismemberment of animals, the positioning of the deceased, and- mostly important for this thesis- the care and sacrifice of the slave girls via two methods, strangulation and stabbing with a dagger (Lund
& Stone 2012:50ff).
3. Iconographic Material
The second source material for this thesis is iconographic representations found in textiles and metalwork, specifically the tapestries from the Oseberg Ship Grave and two metalwork figurines, all depicting females with weapons from the Viking Age as per the objective for this thesis.
3.1 Oseberg ship tapestries
On the tapestries found in the Oseberg ship grave, dated to approximately 834 CE, females clad in long dresses and varied hairstyles walk in procession-like scene, holding swords and spears (see Fig. 2) (Gardeła 2018:408; Vedeler 2020). The tapestries themselves, only 23 cm tall at their highest, were weaved using both wool and a vegetable-based thread, possibly a type of flax (Vedeler 2020). The examples
Fig. 2 Left: “Sacrificial hanging.” Artist:
Stig Saxegaard, 2018. Vedeler, KHM 202. Used by kind permission.
Below:
“Wagon Procession”, drawn by Mary Stone, 1940.
Photo: Mårten Teigen KHM, UNIMUS
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below show reconstructions of three of the tapestries with added colors for easier viewing (Vedeler 2020).According to Price, several of the tapestries portray references to the era’s mythology with scenes depicting battles, hanged men, and shapeshifted characters (2019:280).
In the tapestry named “Sacrificial Hanging” (see Fig. 2, top), a procession of women can be seen in the upper left corner, depicted with typically female attributes, one woman carrying a sword in front of her and another other two following
unarmed with their hands held up and clasped. In the center of the scene is a tree with hanged men.
The “Wagon Procession” tapestry (see Fig. 2, bottom) also depicts a procession with women carrying spears both upright and upside-down. The third tapestry depicts a group of women all holding spears and shields and standing together, surrounded by different types of characters (see Fig. 3).
In The Viking Way, Neil Price elaborates on other female figures in the tapestries (not pictured here), showing a woman clad in the pelt of a wild boar carrying a shield and another woman wearing the head of a bird (2019a: 280). According to Neil Price these figures may represent shape- shifting seiðworkers, or perhaps valkyries, though these women are all represented in different ways which leaves the interpretation of valkyries as an automatic presumption, especially when, as Price notes, a woman’s image is found in connection with graves or picture stones (2019: 280).
3.2 Metalwork
The second category of iconographic material is metalwork figurines in both two and three-
dimensional representation, possibly used as amulets or personal adornment (Gardeła 2018:402). The armed figure representations are interpreted as women due to the distinctively female attributes of the long dress and/or knotted hair (Gardeła 2018:402). A further subcategorization of the metalwork figurines provided by Gardeła organizes them as either individual figures or standing figures with a horse and rider (ibid.), for which an example of both subcategorizations will be discussed below with the Hårby Figurine and the Tissø Pendant. Because the majority of these figurines were loose metal detector finds, as opposed to being found in grave or settlement material, the context for the artifact itself is lost, leaving archaeologists to speculate and interpret with the information available (Gardeła 2018:402f).
3.2.1 Hårby Figurine
The Hårby Figurine, a metal- detector find from Hårby, Denmark, is a three-dimensional figurine approximately 3.4 cm long that had once been attached to another object at the feet, perhaps as an amulet or adornment (Gardeła 2018:403). The figurine (see. Fig. 4) has the
distinctively long dress and long hair knotted at the neck typical for female representations during the Viking Age, and is carrying a shield and sword. The accepted interpretation of the figurine has been the representation of a valkyrie, due to the weaponry, female gender portrayal, large eyes, and potentiality as an amulet. However, as Gardeła states, other interpretations are possible, such as the
Fig. 4 Hårby Figurine.
Nationalmuseet, Denmark.
Fig. 3 Reconst.
of Oseberg Tapestry fragments 13b2. Artist:
Stig Saxegaard, 2018. Used by kind permission.
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female being a goddess (maybe Freya) or giantess, or perhaps even a casted image of a human individual (Gardeła 2018:403f).
3.2.2 Tissø Pendant
The Figurine from Tissø, Denmark is one of a few similarly styled two-dimensional metalwork pendants found in Denmark, Poland, and England in varying levels of preservation or wear (Gardeła 2018: 404). These metalwork figurines are also called valkyrie brooches, though the label of brooch appears to have been a misnomer as there is no indication that any sort of needle catch was ever attached. The Valkyrie designation stems from the pendants’ similarities to Gotlandic picture stones depicting scenes of a standing figure facing a horse and rider, interpreted as a valkyrie welcoming a warrior to Valhalla which, as mentioned with the Oseberg tapestries above, is a common
interpretation when females are represented in conjunction with picture stones and graves (Gardeła, 2018:404ff; Price 2019:279f).
The Tissø Figurine (see Fig. 5) portrays a helmeted female (indicated by her long dress) standing to the right of a horse and female rider (indicated by her distinct knotted hairstyle). While other pendants similar to the Tissø pendant portray the standing female with a drinking horn, this pendant has a standing female armed with a sword and shield, and a female rider, wearing shirt and trousers, armed with a spear and sword (Gardeła, 2018:404f; Price 2019:279). Underneath the horse, is a tableau with nine squares which as yet remains a mystery (Gardeła, 2018:406).
4. Archaeological Material
Much like today, the Viking world had two distinctly different types of burial practices, cremation and inhumation, which could vary widely in their execution (Gardeła 2013a: 275, 2013b:99ff).
Because of this, archaeologists have needed to become cautious when basing interpretations on the grave material, particularly in regards specific grave-types and especially when certain grave objects have specific gender associations as deviations can, and should, be expected in the archaeological material. This is supported by an inconsistency in the total number of female graves archaeologically gendered compared to males (Gardeła 2013b:99; Moen 2011:6f; Stylegar 2007:65). This
inconsistency often appears in conjunction with non-professionally excavated grave sites, explained by erroneous archaeological gendering owing to stereotypes regarding grave objects and to certain grave objects being easier to miss (i.e., oval brooches) than others (i.e., weapons) (Moen 2011:7;
Stylegar 2007:83). Additionally, regional and chronological changes in grave material cause a disproportionate number of graves to be incorrectly interpreted, especially when new players emerge, such as new cultures met through trade or exploration, or the growing influence of Christianity (Price 2019:27).
As mentioned in Norwegian and Swedish provincial laws from the Late Scandinavian Iron Age and Early Medieval Period, according to Fedir Androshchuk, the common weapons of the freeman were the sword, the axe, the shield, the spear, and bow and arrow, all of which had different tactical purposes and could be found in various groupings with regard to cultural, regional or
chronological preferences (2009:96f).
Fig. 5 Tissø Figurine.
Nationalmuseet, Denmark
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4.1 Gerdrup (Grave B)
The grave, dated to approximately 800 CE, is one of several in a cemetery that was used as early as the Bronze Age, and was found along an old beach rampart in Gerdrup, just north of Roskilde, Denmark during a 1981 excavation (Christensen 1981:1; Kastholm 2015:69).
Grave B (see Fig. 6 reconstruction), as it is known, was measured at 2.5 meters wide, 1.6 meters long, and almost one meter deep (Kastholm 2015:69).
In the grave were the well-preserved remains of a man and woman, oriented North-South (Christensen 1981:3). The man (skeleton 1), laying in the western part of the grave, was aged at approximately 35-40 years old and was positioned on his back, his ankles resting together, knees bent outward, and his cervical vertebrae twisted. The only grave object in close spatial
relation to the man was an iron knife, found along his thoracic vertebrae (Christensen 1981:3f;
Kastholm 2015:69ff).
The woman (skeleton 2), determined to be middle-aged at death, was positioned flat on her back, her legs and arms straight. An iron knife and bone needle case was found buried at her right hip, with an iron spearhead (Petersen type F according to Christensen, type E according to Kastholm) measuring 37 cm long found at her right calf (Christensen 1981:3f). There are two things significant with these remains, first is the iron spear buried along her right leg, and the two large stones laid on top of her- one on her chest and one on her right leg, a possible third at her left arm (ibid.). These two features, as well as the presence of the bone needle case and the nature of the man’s position beside her in the grave, have led archaeologists to interpret the grave as that of a seiðwoman and her sacrificed slave, comparisons of the grave being drawn to Eyrbyggja saga’s Katla, a sorceress executed via stoning, and Odd, Katla’s son that was executed via hanging (Gardeła 2009:288, 2013b:117f; Kastholm 2015:74).
4.2 Kaupang (Ka. 296)
Kaupang, a once a thriving trading town near Oslo in the Viksfjord, now encompasses a ‘black earth’
area and a handful of cemeteries dating between 800 and 950 CE, of which include Bikjholberget cemetery and the graves designated as Ka. 294, 295, 296, and 297 (see Fig. 7 reconstruction), the focus of which rests, for this thesis, specifically with Ka. 296. While the site is, as of yet, not fully excavated, varying burial traditions including twelve boat graves as well as two barrows and 72 flat graves have been unearthed, equaling approximately 160 of the estimated 700 people buried in Kaupang (Moen 2011:35, Stylegar 2007:66ff; Lund 2016:44). The deceased in Ka. 294-296 were all buried in one boat grave, dated to around the 10th century, measuring approximately nine meters long with the prow in the southwest and the stern in the north east, which rested on top of Ka. 297 whose burial dated to the 9th century (Stylegar 2007:92ff).
Although Ka. 296 is the focus for this case study, all graves will be quickly described for the purpose of context. Ka. 294 is female grave, accompanied also by an infant at her pelvis, in the prow of the boat with her head towards the north. She was buried with jewelry, including a silver arm ring, a silver necklace ring, a pair of gilded oval brooches, a trefoil brooch as well as a key, an iron knife, a
Fig. 6.
Illustration by Mirosław Kuźma. © Leszek Gardeła &
Mirosław Kuźma, Used by kind permission.
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weaving sword, an iron axe and arrowhead (Stylegar 2007:92ff). Ka. 295 was a man buried in the middle of the ship, head-to-head with Ka. 294 with his feet towards the stern at the north. Positioned around him was an iron sword, remnants of shield debris, a spear and arrowheads. Between Ka. 295 and 296- in the aft area of the boat- lay a bisected horse skeleton and horse tack, including a bronze-decorated harness (Moen 2011:36, Stylegar 2007: 95). Ka. 297, also a man, was buried along with a
spearhead, knives, fire striker, a penannular brooch and a whetstone prior to the boat grave’s burial (ibid.).
Ka. 296, a female buried in the aft area of the boat, or northern end, was likely buried sitting upright as determined by the positioning of two oval brooches found on her. A copper-alloy tweezer-shaped object, a copper-alloy ring with clamp, and copper-alloy rod were found in a bronze/copper-alloy basin (with ‘i muntlauku’ inscribed on the side) were found. Beside the basin was an egg-shaped stone and on top of the basin was the head of a dismembered dog. An iron sword-beater, an iron axe (Petersen type G/H), a shield boss, a whetstone, a horse bit, five glass beads, and an iron staff buried under a large stone as well as a dismembered dog skeleton was arranged around the woman (Gardela 2013a:289f, Stylegar 2007:96).
The items of interest to this thesis are the axe, the shield boss, and the iron staff. Stylegar also lays focus on the dog found in near Ka. 296, which he points out is rather rare in Kaupang with only one other grave showing the presence of a dog (2007:96).
4.3 Aunvoll (T20248)
In the anthology Trøndelags Historie, Lars Stenvik describes an isolated, unmarked, flat grave found via a digging machine during ground
cultivation work in 1981. The grave overlooked the shores of Snåsavatnet, roughly 150 meters from Aunvoll (or Aunvold) farm and northeast of Steinkjer, outside of the city of Trondheim (2005:151).
The grave, designated T20248, contained the inhumed remains of a female, approximately 19 or 20 years old, approximately half a meter from the surface, with her head oriented south (Nordvall 2018:12; Stenvik 2005:151; UNIMUS 2020: T20248). At the right of her head were nine gaming pieces, a whetstone, an iron file, scissors and a bone comb. Additionally, there was an iron sickle, a sheath with traces of fur, textiles, leather and wood, and- more important for this thesis- buried alongside her left hip was an iron double-edged sword (Petersen type H/I) (ibid.). A later excavation unearthed an iron spear, 120 iron fragments and rivets, and one bead all scattered around her, as well as the remains of an adult canine (Nordvall 2018:12; Stenvik 2005:151; UNIMUS 2020: T20248).
The sword, Petersen type H or I, according to Androshchuk, was a common sword type found in Norway, encompassing an estimated 21% found Viking Age swords, which was used approximately between the years 860 and 960 (2009:93f, Fig. 38). The UNIMUS database lists the sword’s size as being approximately 76.5 cm long, the blade measuring 73 cm long with a width of 6.1 cm wide; the spear was listed as being approximately 38.2 cm long, the blade measuring 32 cm long (UNIMUS 2020: T20248). As access to osteological and archaeological reports as well as photos of the grave is limited, there is difficulty in assessing greater the grave objects’ spatial relationship to the deceased as
Fig. 7.
Illustrated by Þórhallur Þráinsson,
© Neil Price, used
by kind permission.
15
well as any osteological determinations in connection with the deceased’s skeletal measurements and features beyond the osteological age and gender determination given above.
4.4 Nordre Kjølen (C22541)
In Hedmark County, Norway, lies Åsnes and Nordre Kjølen farm where, in the summer of 1900, the grave, dated to around 950 CE, was found overlooking the Glomma River by the property owner’s son during agricultural labor (see Fig. 8 reconstruction) (Hernæs 1984:31). Grave C22541, as it was later designated, contained a petite deceased person lying on their back, oriented east to west, with a horse at their feet (ibid.).
An iron sword (Petersen type M) was lying at the left hip, hilt at the hip, blade-tip towards the head (Hernæs 1984:33f; UNIMUS 2020: C22541). Additionally, an iron spear head, an iron battle-axe head (type G), five iron arrowheads, an iron file, a whetstone, and shield boss were all found in relation to the deceased, all found in good condition, though they were later destroyed in to various intensities during a house fire in 1912 (ibid.).
The remains were determined to be a female
by Gustav Guldberg, aged determined as approximately 18-20 years old, which led the lead archaeologist at the time of excavation, Gustav Mørck, to interpret the grave with its weapons as a shieldmaiden (Hernæs 1984:33f). Later evaluations of the skeleton by Per Holck showed that the female had a particularly small build, an estimated maximum weight of 40 kg and height of 155 cm, which, when measured against the sword’s weight and length (approx. 1.5-2 kg and 87 cm), was determined to have been incapable of wielding the sword. Hernæs and Holck concluded that it was unlikely the sword was hers (Holck in Hernæs 1984:33ff; UNIMUS 2020: C 22541). It does need to be taken into account, however, that prior to this new interpretation, it is stated that the bone
preservation was poor enough that the bones could not be measured individually but was instead estimated as a whole (Hernæs 1984:37).
Recently during the filming of a National Geographic documentary, a previously undiscovered- or unmentioned- injury was found by paleoanthropologist Ella Al-Shamahi on C22541’s skull, which was confirmed in the same documentary by forensic archaeologist Carolyn Rando (Viking Warrior Women, 2019). The injury, which Rando posited could possibly be a deep scraping injury from a sword, appeared to her to have healed (indicated by signs of “puckering”) and that the female buried in C22541 would have not only survived the injury, but clearly lived for a period of time following the injury (Viking Warrior Women 2019: 39:20-44:00). With the information regarding this injury, Ella Al-Shamahi speculates on the possibility that C22541 was a warrior (ibid.).
4.5 Birka (Bj 581)
In 1878, Hjalmar Stolpe discovered several richly-decorated chamber and coffin graves near the garrison area of Birka on Björkö. These graves contained women, men, and children dated to the 10th
Fig. 8.
Illustration by Mirosław Kuźma. © Leszek Gardeła &
Mirosław Kuźma, used by kind permission.
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century, one of which was Bj 581, is dated to approximately 950 CE (Hedenstierna-Jonson et al.
2017a:2).
For nearly a century Bj 581 (see Fig. 9) was championed as the grave of a high-status male warrior with a full attaché of weapons (Hedenstierna-Jonson et al. 2017a;
Price 2019b:184). The deceased, found lying on their right side, had a sword (Petersen type E) and knife at the left thigh, a seax at the right thigh, an iron axe head (type M) at the right ankle, a quiver with 25 armor-piercing arrows at the right side of the head. A bowl, bone comb and spear was found at the right foot, a miniature spear at the left foot, and a shield at both the head and feet.A set of gaming pieces and dice were found on her lap (Hedenstierna-Jonson et al. 2017a;
2019:2ff). Also at her feet were the
skeletal remains of two horses, a mare and a stallion, as well as horse tack including crampons, a set of stirrups at the left foot, and a bridle (Hedenstierna-Jonson et al. 2017b; 2019:4). Silk textile fragments with silver brocade as well as approximately 40 mirrored-glass sequins, a silver tassel and four silver balls from a hat, a ring pin, a quarter piece of an Arabic silver dirham (dated to 913-933 CE), and several other objects were also included in the grave content (Hedenstierna et al. 2019:4).
The sword type, according to Androshchuk, was common between approximately 860- 910 CE encompassing an estimated 6% of the found swords for the period, though it is only one of two type E swords found at Birka (2009:93ff). The sword, axe, spear, bow and arrows, two shields and seax, as well as the presence of the two horses, led archaeologists to interpret the remains as those of a high-status warrior for the period (Hedenstierna-Jonson et al. 2017a:6; Price 2019b:184).
In 2017, the study surrounding Bj 581 determined that the deceased was biologically female and not of local origin, probably originating from an area south of Birka in Sweden (Hedenstierna- Jonson et al. 2017a:5). Osteological examinations have estimated that the deceased had an
approximate height of 173 cm and noted osteophytes- or bone spurs- on six of her vertebrae, two cervical and four thoracic (Vilkans 1978:24). An analysis of the teeth determined the deceased’s age to be a minimum of 30 years old (Hedenstierna-Jonson et al. 2017:3). Carolyn Rando has also stated, after evaluating the skeleton for the aforementioned National Geographic documentary, the deceased appeared to have arthritis in her spinal column, with markers on alternating sides of each vertebra, as would be found perhaps in the spine of a horse rider (Viking Warrior Women 2019: 26:35- 27:50).
Additionally, Rando noted pitting on the left shoulder joint as well as its slightly more robust nature to indicating possible joint overuse. With Rando’s assessment of Bj 581, Ella Al-Shamahi interpreted the grave to potentially be that of a mounted archer (Viking Warrior Women 2019: 26:35-26:50).
Fig. 9.
Left: Grave sketch for Bj 581 by Hjalmar Stolpe, 1878.
SHM.
Right:
Illustrated by Þórhallur Þráinsson. © Neil Price.
Used by kind permission.
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5. Discussion
According to the mythology, women and weapons are associated in a few different ways, be that as mythological characters (i.e., Freya, valkyries, or giantesses) or human women (i.e., shield maidens, maiden warriors or kings) (see section 2) which, as Jochens implies (1996:33f), could have served as inspiration for young, unmarried females of the Viking Age. Female characters displaying masculine traits and accomplishing great feats potentially shaped societal norms via oral stories and possibly even “repeated dramatic performances” (Jesch 1991:148). This could especially be so if, as Jesch states, women in the mythologies were well-regarded when they displayed “masculine” or aggressive and ambitious traits (ibid.). These roles appear to be divided by age or marital status, the
shieldmaiden/maiden warrior/maiden king roles performed by young unmarried women (as implied by the term ‘maiden’) and older married women, sometimes mothers, acting in the role of avenger or whetter (see section 2) (Jochens 1996: Chap 6). Taking the historical accounts into consideration, Jochens reasons out the possibility of real female warriors during the Viking Age, though perhaps as protectors of the homestead and family during short conflicts instead of riding to war or
accomplishing epic feats like those in the sagas (1996:109).
Iconography such as in the Oseberg tapestries and metalwork figurines (as discussed in section 3), depict swords, spears, and shields in female hands, though not necessarily in combat settings. In the Sacrificial Hanging tapestry reconstruction (Fig. 2), is the depiction of three women, one of whom carries a sword that could- instead of being interpreted as a warrior or valkyrie- perhaps be an image of a handmaiden carrying a sword as a type of standard while preceding her queen or noble ladies in a procession. The procession possibly also being the funerary procession for the grave in which these tapestries were discovered as previous researchers have suggested. The distinctions inferred by the differences in clothing hint possibly at class, marital status or age differences between them. The reconstruction of the Wagon Procession (see again Fig. 2) depicts again a procession including women with spears, the women appearing older- as indicated by their headscarves- spears shown either upright or upside-down. The meaning behind this is unclear, though they could hint at representing seiðwomen, or vǫlvur, the spear perhaps connecting to that of the Gerdrup grave and Gardeła’s interpretation with the spear as a potential symbol for the same (Gardeła 2011:342). The last tapestry discussed in section 3 shows a grouping of women, indicated by the long dresses, carrying shields and upright-held spears (see Fig. 3). These women are holding the weapons like the soldiers in the same scene though they do not appear to be fighting, like that of the Hårby figurine though the figurine is holding a shield and sword. Whether these women are meant to be warriors or seiðworkers on a battlefield, or clad for a special occasion, actors ready to perform in a dramatic telling of the mythologies, or images of mythological characters is unknown. A possible explanation for these women could be valkyries, as they are shown with spears and shields- an idea Gardeła presented as a counterargument for the Hårby figurine’s valkyrie interpretation, though this rests on trusting the saga literature’s description of the period’s mythology (Gardeła 2018:404).
There are about 25 metalwork figurines or brooches found scattered across England, Denmark, Germany, Poland, and Russia, but- because the metalwork figurines or brooches are lone metal-detector finds- the deeper context is lost, which leaves these representations open to
interpretation (Gardeła 2018:404). As mentioned above, the Hårby figurine has traditionally been accepted as a valkyrie representation with her hair uncovered and weapons in hand, though, as Gardeła states, it is not the only plausible explanation for the character the figurine represents (ibid.).
The mythologies have several female characters aside from valkyries that could easily have been used as inspiration for the figurine’s casting, such as Freya, Skadi, or any of the human characters from the mythologies (Gardeła 2018:403). The Tissø pendant or brooch, also called a valkyrie brooch because
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of its similarities to the ‘welcome scenes’ depicted on Gotlandic picture stones despite the mounted figure on the stones being accepted as males (Gardeła 2018:406f; Price 2019:279). The pendant shows two armed women, one on a horse- indicating an action scene with the rider as a warrior- being welcomed by the standing figure, a valkyrie, to Valhǫll (Eng. Valhalla) as the current interpretation posits. Gardeła offers other possible interpretations for these representations such as the mounted figure, again a warrior, being welcomed by Freya to Fólkvangr, or even a depiction of Sigurd and Brynhild/Sigrdrífa from the sagas (Gardeła 2018:407). The presence of the spear on the mounted figure, however, points to some connection with Odin and his valkyries as mentioned above, as well as the horse and square item with nine cells, the number nine being associated with Odin and
groupings of valkyries in the sagas (Price 2019a: 274). The rider perhaps as a valkyrie approaching or choosing a female warrior on the battlefield.
The possibility that the mythic heroines were drawn purely of male fantasy motivated by long sea-travels, or created by the medieval authors of the post-contemporary Norse sagas is argued by both Jochens and Gardeła, classing them similarly to that of the mythological valkyrie (Jochens 1996:111 ; Gardeła 2017:15). This leaves the debate open on whether the deeds of these mythic female characters were just that, mythic, or if there are seeds of truth to the stories that may have inspired women to take up arms for combat, perhaps as warriors or heirs to bloodlines like Skadi’s ringkvinna position.
An important distinction to remember when analyzing and interpreting a grave is the potential duality in grave material: how much of the grave material has genuine meaning for the deceased themselves, or their family line, versus a projected significance or symbolism chosen by those that orchestrated the funerary ritual and decided on the grave’s content. Moreover, the variations in mortuary customs can cause further debate as there is a misconception that the Viking period constitutes a collective culture consistent across its vast territories, likely propagated by the deceptively cohesive terms ‘viking’ and ‘Viking Age’ and the loose definitions surrounding them (Lund 2016:6f). Despite the misleading terminology and shared Germanic roots, geographical, topographical, and even chronological distances created different territories with sometimes large variations in cultural, spiritual, and political customs (ibid.). These distinctions have quite obviously created two different camps: one side arguing for symbolic or dual meanings for grave objects, the other taking the grave language as literal reflections of the period and culture.
Currently, in the archaeological record, there are upwards of twenty known female Viking Age weapon graves- both inhumation and cremation types- most of which were uncovered in Norway (Gardeła 2017:11, 2018:397f). According to Gardeła, these graves provide a pattern for weapon deposition in graves for females where the prevailing weapons were axes, spears, and arrowheads (ibid.:13f). These weapons, however, are challenging to interpret due to their uses outside the realm of combat: axes as farming or household tools (specifically Petersen types G, H or K) and spears
potentially as staffs of sorcery (ibid.). For the graves in Gerdrup, Kaupang, and Nordre Kjølen, this means that the weapons, a spear in Gerdrup and two axe heads of Petersen type G/H in Kaupang and Nordre Kjølen, could “double” as either as a staff (the former), or as “suitable” tools for the
household (the latter) (Gardeła 2017:11ff). Similarly, with arrowheads, their meaning possibly more symbolic or owing to something beyond that of being a warrior when their presentation, according to Gardeła, is rarely- if ever- as an entire quiver-full (2017:13f). In that regard, Gardeła questions assumptions that burial practices and graves echo the social strata and/or roles of the deceased when funerary traditions vary so greatly, and especially when several graves necessitate caution while interpreting them because of conflicting genders with artifacts and “atypical” burials skewing
traditional readings (2011:340). Gardeła’s conclusion for this being that weapons in female graves do not have to mean that they were specifically warriors but could signify instead their social role or family line; the weapons possibly doubling also as ritual tools (2017:11ff) is supported by a parallel
