The Vikings were women-commanders
A new study has shown that women are the Vikings not only served in the army, but could occupy high military posts.
Researchers from Stockholm and Uppsala universities note that we are not talking about the mystical heroes of the ancient sagas, but a real woman-commander. So, they studied one of the most important burials of the Vikings in it are the remains of a soldier surrounded by weapons — a sword and armor-piercing arrows, and the remains of two horses. In the grave also found the complete game set that, according to co-author with Charlotte Hedenstierna-Johnson (Charlotte Hedenstierna-Jonson), indicates that the woman was a high-ranking officer — “those who were responsible for tactics and strategy and could lead troops into battle”. A female warrior was buried in the middle of the X century in Birka (björkö island on the river mälaren), one of the largest trade and craft centers of Swedish Vikings in 800-975 years. Isotopic analysis confirmed that the woman led a nomadic life — the same as all the military society that dominated in the VIII—X centuries in Northern Europe.
In order to ascertain that the remains belong to a woman (this is clearly pointed out the structural features of the skeleton), the researchers turned to DNA analysis. Geneticists have found that in the sample there are X chromosomes, but no Y chromosome (present only in males), and thus confirmed the initial guess.
Jan Stora (Jan Storå), leading specialist of the study, reminded that the study of the burial was excavated in 1880-ies and for a very long time as a model of a professional soldier, a Viking all these years, the woman-commander was considered a man. This means, continues Stora that museums still have — thanks to new techniques, methods and critical perspectives of contemporary science research value.
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