Better Identification of Viking Corpses Reveals: Half of the Warriors Were Female

[Blue_Adept]

Shieldmaidens are not a myth! A recent archaeological discovery has shattered the stereotype of exclusively male Viking warriors sailing out to war while their long-suffering wives wait at home with baby Vikings. (We knew it! We always knew it.) Plus, some other findings are challenging that whole “rape and pillage” thing, too.

And it's good to see a lot more women fighting these days for what they believe in.

Link

[Xyzse]

1. I believe it!

I've heard of the term Shieldmaidens before, and they were reputed to be TOUGH.

Glad to see this actually.

[Scootaloo]

2. well... Duh?

The Vikings themselves left plenty of evidence already in their myths, on runestones, even in early christian-era texts. Hell, the account of the Norse evacuation of Vinland involves a woman terrifying the "scraelings" (native Innu) by chopping at her bare breasts with a sword while her family runs for the boats during a raid.

I guess this just stands as a reaffirmation that our perception of history is still deeply anglo-centric

[hootinholler]

3. Hmmmm

By studying osteological signs of gender within the bones themselves, researchers discovered that approximately half of the remains were actually female warriors, given a proper burial with their weapons.

I guess the whole viking burning boat burial is a myth also?

[Cleita]

4. The legends of Valkyries comes from somewhere.

The series "Vikings" show women on the raids and involved in battle.

[Xipe Totec]

5. If you read Hugh Thomas' "Who's Who of the Conquistadors"

You'll find that some of the soldiers were women as well.



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In%C3%A9s_de_Su%C3%A1rez



And some were black free men.



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juan_Garrido

[littlemissmartypants]

6. Kicking. Thank you. nt

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

7. Duh. Valkyries? War-goddesses.

They chose who would live and who would die in battle. Armed to the teeth, they were.

[Generic Other]

8. In the Saga of Erik the Red

The sister of Lief Erickson bared her breasts and beat her chest with a sword which caused the Skraelings(Indians) to scatter in fear.

"Freydis came out and saw how they were retreating. She called out, "Why run you away from such worthless creatures, stout men that ye are, when, as seems to me likely, you might slaughter them like so many cattle? Let me but have a weapon, I think I could fight better than any of you." They gave no heed to what she said. Freydis endeavoured to accompany them, still she soon lagged behind, because she was not well [pregnant]; she went after them into the wood, and the Skrælingar directed their pursuit after her. She came upon a dead man; Thorbrand, Snorri's son, with a flat stone fixed in his head; his sword lay beside him, so she took it up and prepared to defend herself therewith.

Then came the Skrælingjar upon her. She let down her sark and struck her breast with the sword. At this they were frightened, rushed off to their boats, and fled away. Karlsefni and the rest came up to her and praised her zeal."

[TRoN33]

9. It doesn't surprise me.

[underpants]

10. I thought Shieldmaidens was an all girl Iron Maiden cover band

I just spent 10 minutes searching YouTube for their cover of "Sea of Madness".

Note to self - read more of the article

[LisaLynne]

11. A lot of things we believe we know have been ...

filtered through the prejudice of those who described the discoveries. It's really hard to root out all of our biases.

[closeupready]

16. Oh, yeah, absolutely - in all areas of history and study.

[nomorenomore08]

29. +2

[riderinthestorm]

12. My daughter's a contributing writer for Medievalists.net which has amazing Viking info

She's one of several Viking experts on staff (she's got her masters in medieval archaeology) and they have a lot of excellent links.

K&R!

[cyberswede]

31. Jealous!

I wish were an expert on Vikings.

[KittyWampus]

13. Being buried with a sword doesn't automatically mean they were warriors. Having bone

fractures and other damage consistent with battle experience would be convincing.

It's more likely that 50% of those who came over were women SOME of which may have also fought in battle.

[ieoeja]

14. They're talking about invaders, not vikings.

There were a lot of women on the Mayflower too. But killing natives was primarily a male privilege.

I imagine the same was true of the Danish invasions of Ireland and England. While the invading Danish nobles married recently widowed English noble ladies, it appears the rank-and-file brought along their wives.

[Moonwalk]

15. Go Valkyrie!

And just to ad: Thor is going to have a new look this October

[proReality]

27. Minus the "boob armor", I hope

http://www.tor.com/blogs/2013/05/boob-plate-armor-would-kill-you

[Moonwalk]

36. Well, both "Thora" and Valkyrie are magical/mythical women...

So the realities of boob-plate armor for us mere mortals might not apply to them.

[Vattel]

17. cool

[treestar]

18. Interesting totally

They thought they were men merely because they were buried with shields.

[Omaha Steve]

19. I already knew that

Marta is Danish, with a little German.

And then there was "How to Train Your Dragon"!

[KT2000]

20. the Picts

in what is now northern Scotland also had female and male hunters and warriors. It is said the women warriors went topless while fighting to distract enemy male warriors.

[Cleita]

23. Cuchulain, the Irish hero of the the Ulster Cycle of epic poetry trained with

Scatha, a Scottish warrior goddess in Scotland.

[Moonwalk]

37. If Scots were fighting Scots and both sides have topless women...

How does that work?

[KT2000]

38. A big mess??

But they had club, hatchets and swords too.

[riderinthestorm]

21. I just sent this to my daughter the Viking expert and this is what she replied...

I agree with the comments more than the article. It's been known since UK excavations in the 1970's discovered female skeletons with Scandinavian build/bone ratios buried in mass graves with male Scandinavians. A lot of 'warrior' graves discovered pre-1960's were automatically assumed to be male, but with the rise of forensics and osteological examination, 'gendered' burials are getting re-examined. 50% is way too high and is nowhere near proven, but women did participate in Viking expeditions. Also, almost all of the rape/pillaging/village burning records are written by Christian monks, and while there is a small amount of evidence that a few locations were pillaged/burned, the majority have no archaeological record of such destruction. There are a lot of Anglo-Saxon women buried with spear heads too, which are usually of an earlier date than most of the known Viking burials outside of Scandinavia.

Interesting stuff!

[octoberlib]

25. Interesting, indeed!

Thanks for the link to medievalists.net

[elias7]

32. Expertise always appreciated...

Thanks.

[Fred Sanders]

22. "Vikings" drama series on AMC is an awesome do not miss watching...female warriors aplenty.

[KittyWampus]

30. it's one of my favorite shows. Can't wait til they hit France.

It's a lot of fun playing "spot the historical inaccuracies".

[hatrack]

34. That's been a favorite hobby of mine for decades!

[alcibiades_mystery]

24. Viking warrior women to former identifiers

[Docross]

26. Women in war...

I can't remember which General it was ..years ago that said, "I will NOT have women on the front lines!" And the person asking him started to say,"Well of COURSE not, women couldn't handle.." And the General cut him off and said, "NO, it's because if they killed one of their friends, they would attack and kill anything that moved. And they would NOT take an order to retreat!"

Favorite: Robin Williams- "A woman should be President. They wouldn't make a bomb that would kill you. They'd make a bomb that might make you feel bad for awhile..."

[BlindTiresias]

28. Unlikely

Being buried with weapons and armor was a sign of the family's status, not that they were necessarily a warrior.

[hatrack]

33. "From the fury of the Northmen, er, Northwomen, Lord deliver us!"

Yoicks!

[XemaSab]

35. My people