Archaeologists found the grave of an ancient warrior, who challenges “traditional beliefs about gender roles” and provides information on “gender expressions” from the Iron Age.
Excavated in southern Finland, the remains were first believed to belong to a powerful woman who slayed her medieval days, but now, experts say the grave reveals a huge secret.
Keep reading to learn more about this incredible discovery!
In 1968, in south Finland’s Suontaka Vesitorninmäki, Hattula, archeologists discovered an 11th-century grave, holding the remains of someone believed to be a powerful woman. The individual was buried in a dress with three clipped brooches, and a sword was placed on her left hip.
This person, almost 1,000 years old, was unearthed in an area that’s known for its bounty of archeological treasures. It became a site of interest, primarily because of the extraordinary objects contained inside the grave.
Powerful warrior
Finland’s University of Turku writes, “The jewelry inside the grave indicates that the buried individual was dressed in typical female clothing of the period. On the other hand, the person was buried with a sword…which is often associated with masculinity.”
According to a peer-reviewed study in the European Journal of Archeology, “swords are rare items in graves of female-bodied individuals,” leading researchers to conclude the grave provides “evidence of powerful women, even female warriors and leaders in early medieval Finland.”
Research further explains that the grave was “either a double burial of both a woman and a man, or alternatively, a weapon grave of a female, and therefore a proof of strong female leaders or even female warriors in the Late Iron Age Finland.”
Further analysis
In 2021, the grave was revisited and consideration of powerful women leaders or warriors in early medieval times took a turn.
It was then confirmed only one person was in the grave, and the sword, resting on the hip, was hiltless, which means it has no handle.
“The buried individual seems to have been a highly respected member of their community. They had been laid in the grave on a soft feather blanket with valuable furs and objects,” says Ulla Moilanen, then a doctoral candidate of Archaeology at the university.
DNA analysis
Next, the skeletal remains were studied using ancient-DNA analysis, and though the DNA was damaged, results suggested the buried person had the XXY chromosome, or Klinefelter syndrome, which determines gender at birth.
The university’s article explains that “although a person with XXY chromosomes is usually anatomically a male, the syndrome may also cause breast growth, diminished muscle mass, or infertility.”
In mild cases, the study reports it will go unnoticed but in more severe cases, it can result in testosterone deficiency, which “may cause delayed or incomplete pubertal development,” or “males feeling physically more feminine than other males.”
Stressing the DNA results are based on a small sample, which means researchers had to rely on modelling to a certain degree, the study also reports it’s “not unprecedented, as archaeological cases of Klinefelter syndrome (XXY) have been reported earlier: there is a case from Viking Age Iceland.”
Challenging traditional beliefs
In short, the findings reveal the individual in the grave may have had a social identity that “settles outside the traditional division of genders.”
“They might not have been considered strictly a female or a male in the Early Middle Ages community,” says Moilanen, now a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Helsinki. She continues, “The abundant collection of objects buried in the grave is a proof that the person was not only accepted but also valued and respected. However, biology does not directly dictate a person’s self-identity.”
This “exciting” study challenges the idea that in an “ultramasculine environment of early medieval Scandinavia, men with feminine social roles and men dressing in feminine clothes were disrespected and considered shameful.”
This research offers interesting insight on our masculine ancestors!
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