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The Discovery

Björkö Island Sweden 1878

In 1878, archaeologists on the Swedish sea island of Björkö noticed a slight depression in the ground. Seized by curiosity, they dug there for the remains of Birka, which in the early 8th century was considered one of the largest Viking settlements ever. Some archaeologists reported that during the excavations they could still hear the people of that time working, selling goods, fighting, crying, laughing and celebrating.

Over the next decades, the ground was to reveal more than 3,000 graves, and around 1,100 have been opened and examined with great care to date. But hardly any find was to be more spectacular than the body in grave Bj 581. There was great excitement when the excavators found a chamber tomb that helped shape our image of the Viking warrior. In the 3.5 meter x 1.80 meter chamber lay a skeleton in a hunched posture. The corpse had been buried with its weapons. To his left lay a mighty long sword, in his right hand he held a not-so-heavy battle axe.

Not only a spear, several arrows, a knife, two shields and a few stirrups completed the personal arsenal of this obviously not unimportant person. She was buried together with two horses. A mare and a stallion lay crowded in a small paddock at the foot of the grave, sacrificed as grave goods. This find was a sensation at the time and kept scientists busy for many years.

For 139 years, the body from grave Bj 581 was considered a powerful Viking warrior who led and won many battles. The richness and completeness of the equipment, many scholars concluded, was testimony to the fact that the buried man was of high rank - at least a high-ranking military leader. He had been buried as if he were about to be resurrected and ride his warhorses into battle, or so it was thought until 2017.

Stockholm, Sweden 2017

The more time went on, the more investigations were possible. In 2017, scientists took a gene sequencing and with it came a new, incredible certainty: this alleged warrior from tomb Bj 581, was not what was thought for 139 years. A ten-member research team from Stockholm University reported in the American Journal of Physical Anthropology that no male warrior was buried in the tomb. There was definitely a woman in grave Bj 581.

What would have provided decades ago still for irritation, aroused now under the scientists rather pure enthusiasm. It has long been known that women could accompany high ranks in the often martial organization of Viking society. It is also known that there were "Viking shieldmaidens". All this can be read here and there in the surviving sagas and legends of the Vikings.

Even in series these Shieldmaiden are revered, for example in the series "Vikings". The Shield-maiden Tori or Lagerta were brave, upright and loyal warriors who fought for their people and their family. But in the course of Christianization, the role of women changed almost all over the world. After the last pagans were massacred and forcibly converted, the role of women from then on was to have children. They were to take care of the upbringing and the household, in addition to cooking, cleaning and submitting to their husband.

This continued for years, deep into modern times. One day, courageous women stood up and began to fight for their rights again. They appealed for equal rights and equal opportunities, just as it used to be many hundreds of years ago.

This is their story - the story of the Shieldmaid from Tomb Bj 581.¹

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¹ Sweden: Viking warrior of Birka was a woman - DER SPIEGEL