Viking Shield Maidens Revisited…

Figure 1: Sample of Weapons Found in the Birka Warrior's Burial

Antiquity Publications Ltd./Neil Price, Charlotte Hedenstierna-Jonson, Torun Zachrisso, Anna Kjellström

In 2016 I wrote a piece about the roles of women in Pre-Christian Viking culture.  This post was inspired by recent interests in Viking culture, largely promoted by fictionalized television series and other popular culture interests.  At that time archaeological evidence suggested that women in Viking cultures occupied a variety of social roles, including but not limited to the role of warrior.  A year later this conclusion was further supported by new evidence, but there were critics within the archaeological community who were unconvinced.  Today’s blog post will address this latest evidence and how modern cultural views can and do affect archaeological interpretations.

In 1878 the Birka Viking burial was uncovered in Sweden.  This 10^th century (900s AD) Viking burial was considered a remarkable find as it contained a high-status warrior’s burial.  This individual was interred with a wealth of grave goods, including several different types of weapons (Figure 1), two horses, a game board associated with military strategies, as well as clothing reminiscent of a high status warrior.  At the time scholars immediately believed that the deceased individual was that of a man because in the 1800s women were believed to have only occupied domestic roles, and therefore it was unfathomable to the scholars that a woman could be a Viking warrior.  As previously reported Viking lore contains several stories of women occupying just that role, but scholars quickly dismissed these as myths, not facts.

In 2017 an article was published in the American Journal of Physical Anthropology that caused quite the stir in the archaeological community.  This article claimed that recent paleogenetic evidence demonstrated that the Birka warrior was not a man as originally believed, but it was biologically a female.  This definitively demonstrated that shield maidens or warrior women did exist in Viking culture and they were not simply a myth.  Unfortunately, there were several members of the archaeological community who did not believe this evidence.  They claimed that the remains that were tested were not of the originally interred individual (a valid concern since the remains had been disinterred over a century previous), and there were also claims that the remains were that of a transgendered individual. 

The two scholars who wrote the original paper reviewed the criticisms and reanalyzed the entire burial, individual’s remains and grave goods included, and they returned in 2019 with a response to their critics in another paper published in the journal Antiquity.  In their latest piece they addressed how the grave goods in the burial demonstrate a high-status warrior, particularly the clothing, which is unique compared to other warrior’s burials.  They also point out that the burials location and the presence of a large stone above the burial made it viewable by land and sea, further supporting the high status of the deceased.  They also retested all of the remains present in the burial and further concluded again that they belonged to one individual and this individual was biologically a female. 

Most importantly, however, was the scholars’ conclusion that it is difficult to assess gender within archaeological contexts.  This is largely due to the effects of modern cultural views being impressed upon interpretations of the past, as well as a gap in knowledge of how the people of the past viewed themselves and what they culturally believed and valued.  They note that while the deceased individual could have been a transgendered individual it is impossible to know.  It is also impossible at this time to know if the Vikings had more fluid gender constructions as compared to our modern gender constructions or if they had multiple gender categories as seen in various cultures around the globe in the past and today. 

Ultimately, the original and follow up studies on the Birka Viking burial underscore a larger problem within the discipline of archaeology and anthropology generally: a lack of objectivity and representation.  It is widely known and acknowledged within the discipline that people are cultural creatures and they follow the cultural values that they are most familiar and comfortable with.  This is not a fault until it affects others, which is the case here with the original conclusion of the Birka warrior in that the original scholars assumed the warrior was a male without considering the possibility of a woman warrior.  The subsequent criticisms to the reanalysis of the Birka warrior also demonstrate how modern cultural ideas can affect archaeological interpretation, further demonstrating a need for greater cultural diversity (or at least more culturally relativistic viewpoints) among archaeological scholars.   Fortunately, the discipline of anthropology is in the midst of a paradigm shift that is encouraging more diverse viewpoints by the inclusion of different individuals into the field, as well as educating and promoting the inclusion of diverse viewpoints in anthropological interpretation.  This situation demonstrates the continued need for this paradigm shift, as well as the positive effects of this shift as it allowed for such conclusions to actually be published in the first place.  As this shift continues I suspect there will be more situations, such as this one, coming up, ultimately enriching our knowledge of the past and present and what exactly it means to be human (in all aspects).

Works Cited

Greshko, M. (2017, September 12). Famous Viking Warrior Was a Woman, DNA Reveals. Retrieved from National Geographic: https://www.nationalgeographic.com/news/2017/09/viking-warrior-woman-archaeology-spd/

Little, B. (2019, March 5). High-Ranking Viking Warrior Long Assumed to Be Male Was Actually Female. Retrieved from History.com: https://www.history.com/news/viking-warrior-female-gender-identity

Solly, M. (2019, February 19). Researchers Reaffirm Remains in Viking Warrior Tomb Belonged to a Woman. Retrieved from Smithsonian.com: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/researchers-reaffirm-famed-ancient-viking-warrior-was-biologically-female-180971541/

Uncovering the Mysteries of Queen Nefertiti

Figure 1: Bust of Nefertiti

Today’s blog post will address the mysterious past of Queen Nefertiti, one of Egypt’s most well-known queens (Figure 1).  The image of her iconic bust (housed in a museum in Berlin) has captured the attention of the public for generations, but very little attention is paid to her life and rule over Egypt.  This blog post will rectify that oversight and explore her life before and during her tenure as an Egyptian Queen.

Very few details are available about Nefertiti’s life before she married Akhenaton, Egypt’s heretic king.  It is known that she was not a direct relation to Akhenaton, which was uncommon among Egyptian royalty who often married siblings as per religious doctrine.  Some scholars believe that Nefertiti was the daughter of a prominent nobleman, while others claim she was a princess of another kingdom.  What is clear was that she was chosen by Akhenaton to be his wife, and she was deemed his favorite consort of all (as he had several). 

Upon elevation to the status of pharaoh, Akhenaton instituted a series of religious changes in Egypt that moved worship away from polytheism (the worship of multiple gods) to monotheism (the worship of one god).  These changes cascaded into several sociopolitical changes within Egypt, specifically in the realm of the royal family.  When Akhenaton canceled the acknowledgement of all but one of the Egyptian gods he elevated his and his family’s status to taking on the roles of those other gods.  This resulted in the elevation of Nefertiti to a goddess of fertility, beauty, sexuality, and creation.  According to Jacquelyn Williamson, a visiting lecturer at Harvard University, Nefertiti may have been regarded as the pinnacle of beauty and sexuality of the day, being held to as the standard of femininity that all Egyptian women were expected to strive to achieve.

Traditionally, in Egypt the pharaoh’s wife was meant to support her divine husband and his rule, but it appears that under this new religious order Nefertiti was elevated to equal status as her husband.  There are several images of her taking on authoritative roles, including worshiping the paramount god alone and her solely and bravely fighting off enemies of the state.  When Nefertiti and Akhenaton are present together in images she takes on a slightly smaller body build as compared to her husband, but they are always working together as, according to scholars, he lovingly looks on.  According to interpretation of Egyptian historical records it appears that Nefertiti may have also held similar responsibilities, power, authority, and status as her husband.  While Akhenaton commissioned the construction of temples for himself he also had one built for Nefertiti, to which would have enabled (or required) Egyptian citizens to worship and pay appropriate homage to her.  There is also evidence that suggests that she may have ruled after her husband’s death, but this is still debated.

Unfortunately, due to her husband’s infamous reign much of what could have been learned about Nefertiti was destroyed by Egyptian elites and priests in the years after his reign.  What little survived provides us some but not all of the details of her life.  Therefore a great deal of speculation remains, but what is known is that she was held in high regard at that time, embodying femininity, sexuality, and power.

References

History.com Editors. Nefertiti. 7 June 2019. Electronic. 20 December 2019.

Taronas, Laura. Nefertiti: Egyptian Wife, Mother, Queen and Icon. n.d. Electronic. 20 December 2019.

Vande Panne, Valerie. Nefertiti as sensual goddess. 18 November 2013. Electronic. 20 December 2019.

Anthropologist Profiles: Deborah Tannen

Deborah Tannen (Head Shot by Steven Voss)

There are a series of scholars and researchers who have made an important contribution to the fields of anthropology, and one of the most influential and well known is Dr. Deborah Tannen, University Professor at Georgetown University.  She is a sociolinguist whose work on gender and language has greatly affected not only academics but also personal, professional, and family communication.  Her research on the cultural language differences focuses largely on American culture but within the framework of distinguishing linguistic patterns among men and women and among regionally different speakers.  She has always been particularly interested in not just what is said but how it is said.  Her work, which has been widely published for both academic and popular audiences, has brought attention to linguistic style differences, which refers to a person's speaking patterns and the culturally taught signals that aid in interpreting meaning among speakers and listeners.  Through Tannen's most popular work,You Just Don't Understand: Women and Men in Conversation, audiences realized the stark differences in how men and women are taught to communicate and how specifically that affects interpersonal communication.  Her work on gendered communication within the workplace has also been instrumental in improving the acknowledgement of women's contributions to the professional world by aiding men in realizing that women's communication styles often cause them to be overlooked in favor of men.  Tannen has recently moved on to studying language and communication within families, which is sure to improve relationships within families among those who listen and heed her words.

References

DeborahTannen.com. Bio. 2018. Electronic. 20 December 2019.

Georgetown University. Deborah Tannen Biographical Information. n.d. Electronic. 20 December 2019.

Tannen, Deborah. "The Power of Talk: Who Gets Heard and Why." Harvard Business Review September-October 1995. Electronic.