http://scienceblogs.com/aardvarchaeology/2017/09/12/a-female-viking-warrior-interred-at-birka/
This topic peaked immense curiosity for me.
I have read brief articles about this topic of finding the first real female Viking before. In this particular case, the author Rundkvist elaborates on how the first real female Viking warrior was identified through sequencing the genomes of the bones. This is the first case recorded where there is a mismatch between osteo-sex and artefact gender. For me, this an incredible find, and almost feels liberating on behalf of feminist archaeology or queer archaeologies, despite the fact that it took nearly 40 years for someone to shine a light on a quiet osteologist who previously regarded the bones as female. Leading female academics are proven to be rare already, let alone listened to about their findings. I think it is also important to acknowledge the female reseachers such as Anna Kjellström who identified the bones as belonging to Birka’s grave 581.
Despite the presented evidence, there are still archaeologists who outright say they don’t believe this because of the weapons present, or the bones which could be from two different people. I can understand where they are coming from. In this field, one has to be critical of the entire picture. Can we say for sure this female was definitely associated with the items she was buried with? Was there possibly another person who she was buried with that was removed early? Even though I agree that the skeleton is female, maybe I personally can’t rule out any explanations of her surroundings until there is hard, empirical evidence that proves what archaeologists theorize.
I can’t help but wonder if the author of this article is a little biased in his opinion. Stating that the team of researchers who conducted the bone analysis are his “professional buddies” would make for a pretty slanted view towards the research of his friends, and possibly away from the critique of other academics. I think it is commendable he provides a few notes at the end of the article which address differing theories as noted above, I just hope he keeps an open mind, as well as future researchers when excavating graves.