What implications would the existence of warrior women

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Reference no: EM133280605

Question: Viking Age "warrior women" have been attested to in medieval literary sources but until recently, there has been only limited archaeological evidence to support the reality of female warriors. The recent re-analysis of a "warrior burial" from Birka has demonstrated that the occupant was biologically female and has reignited the debate on women warriors in the Viking Age.

The Viking Age town of Birka located on an island in Lake Mälaren in Sweden was first excavated in the late 19th century by Hjalmar Stople. The archaeological remains at the site cover an area of about 7 hectares (a hectare is a common unit used in archaeology that is 100 meters by 100 meters or 10,000 square meters in area. The site includes buildings, a hill fort, and large burial ground: to date, about 3,000 graves have been found. One burial (Bj.581), originally excavated in 1879 and interpreted as a high status "warrior grave" based on the grave goods, has recently undergone genetic testing. The results demonstrated that the occupant was biologically female. Read the following short article announcing the results of the analysis:

. Hedenstierna-Jonson, Charlotte, Anna Kjellström, Torun Zachrisson, Maja Krzewinska, Veronica Sobrado, Neil Price, Torsten Günther, Mattias Jakobsson. Anders Götherström, and Jan Storä. 2017. "A female Viking warrior confirmed by genomics." American Journal of Physical Anthropology 164 (4):853-860.
Then answer the following questions:
• Can we be sure that the person in Bj.581 was a woman, in a gendered sense? Why or why not? Is it appropriate (or useful) to apply contemporary gender categories or identities to individuals in the Viking Age?
• Can we prove that the occupant of Bj.581 was a warrior? Why or why not? Is it necessary to directly enter into combat to be considered a
"warrior?"
• Is it reasonable to interpret burials with weapons as belonging to warriors? Should the same interpretative standards be applied to "warrior graves" with biologically male and female burials? Why or why not?
• What implications would the existence of "warrior women" have for masculine and feminine gender categories in Viking Age society? What implications do "warrior women" have for gender categories in our contemporary society?

Reference no: EM133280605

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