“At Birka, grave Bj 581 was brought forward as an example of an elaborate high-status male warrior grave,” the study reads. “This image of the male warrior in a patriarchal society was reinforced by research traditions and contemporary preconceptions. Hence, the biological sex of the individual was taken for granted.”
Until now.
“What we have studied was not a Valkyrie from the sagas but a real life military leader, that happens to be a woman,” says the leader of the Stockholm and Uppsala Universities study, Charlotte Hedenstierna-Jonson.
The burial was made near the Viking town of Birka in the mid 10th Century. Isotope analysis of her teeth reveals she had been a roamer — moving all about northern Europe in keeping with the legendary Viking wanderlust.
The notion of a Viking warrior woman is not new. Mention is found in Nordic tradition.
http://www.news.com.au/technology/science/archaeology/famous-viking-warrior-burial-revealed-to-be-that-of-a-woman/news-story/7c1a4c0053f4cc167676af1bcffa5e37
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