Discover 3

FROM TOP: ILLUSTRATION BY ÞÓRHALLUR ÞRÁINSSON (© NEIL PRICE); EVALD HANSEN/STOLPE 1889; UNIVERSITY OF BERGEN; UPPSALA UNIVERSIT

Y

someone’s biological identity.” And even that can

raise more questions than it answers.

Grave Concerns

Last September, researchers publishing a study in

the American Journal of Physical Anthropology

thought they were putting to rest a decades-old

question about the individual buried in one of the

most famous Viking Age graves. They had no idea

that, on the contrary, they were reigniting a debate

that quickly grew to a firestorm.

The grave at the heart of the controversy is

known academically as Bj 581. It’s in Birka, one

of Sweden’s greatest Viking Age archaeological

sites: In addition to being a trading center, the

town saw more than 3,000 burials. Bj 581 in

particular stands out. Unearthed in the late 19th

century, the grave held remains of a single human,

two horses, a mini-arsenal of weaponry and other

warrior goods.

The original excavators assumed that the

individual who’d been buried armed to the teeth

was a man. In the 1970s, however, archaeologists

re-examining the remains noted that certain

anatomical features, including the shape of the

pelvis, suggested the skeleton belonged to a woman.

Such osteological analysis is not always conclusive,

and the claim stirred up controversy over whether

the Viking warrior ranks included women.

To resolve the matter, Charlotte Hedenstierna-

Jonson, an archaeologist now at Uppsala

University, and colleagues analyzed ancient DNA

from Bj 581’s remains. The results, published in the

2017 paper, were conclusive: Bj 581 was female.

In addition to determining her sex, however,

the study went a step further — and a step too

far, say critics, who spoke out via online forums

and social media, often anonymously. Many took

exception with the study’s published title: “A

female Viking warrior confirmed by genomics.”

All genomics had really confirmed, charged

skeptics, was that Bj 581 was female — and,

some added, one buried without physiological

hints of being a warrior, such as healed battle

wounds or the thickening of bone associated with

intense physical activity, like years of swinging

a sword or ax.

Uppsala University archaeologist Neil Price, a

co-author of the study, reacted to the critics with

a mix of irritation and disbelief. “This particular

grave has long been held up as the type-example

of a high-status male warrior,” Price noted via

email. “So the fact that the body is actually

female has obvious implications, not least in

undermining assumptions.”

Price added: “One of the most important

qualities of a good researcher is the willingness

to be wrong, but critique has to be constructive

and it has to be informed, which was unfortunately

not the case with much of what was posted on

social media.”

One of the critics to weigh in without

anonymity was the University of Nottingham’s

Jesch, who took exception to the results in part

because some of her previous research was cited

— and, she says, misrepresented — in the paper.

March 2018^ DISCOVER^27

Charlotte

Hedenstierna-Jonson

Ellen Røyrvik

A 19th-century

illustration

(above) and

a 21st-century

rendering (inset)

depict Bj 581,

a Viking Age

warrior grave in

Birka, Sweden.

The individual,

confirmed in

2017 as female,

was buried

with weaponry

and horses.