Archaeologist and ethnographer Hjalmar Stolpe (1841–1905) excavated a burial chamber in the 1870s as part of his archaeological research at the Viking Age site Birka, on the island Björkö in present-day Sweden. In 1889 he documented the grave as Bj 581.

Jan 18, 2023 · Illustration of the female warrior of grave Bj 581 based on the grave goods of Birka and contemporaneous graves in North Kaukasus. Drawing by Tancredi Valeri, used with permission.

Apr 18, 2024 · The Viking Warrior Woman? Birka Chamber Grave Bj 581. Face-to-face. On a very small island called Björkö in the middle of Lake Mälaren, in southern Sweden, was a Viking settlement called Birka that was occupied for about 200 years.

Feb 18, 2019 · Bj.581 is, in fact, the westernmost grave at Birka, situated high on the rocky promontory overlooking the lake and originally marked by a large boulder, which would have been visible from both the settlement and the water below.

After performing both analyses, the Birka warrior sequenced genome coverage was statistically significant, providing definitive evidence for the Bj. 581 individual being buried as a female high-ranking warrior.

Dec 21, 2023 · Towards the end of the 19th century, a highly impressive and elaborate burial was discovered in an ancient grave in Birka, Sweden. The contents suggested the man buried in the tomb must have been a great Viking warrior, perhaps even a local chieftain or king.

The grave immediately caught the attention of Viking scholars. The contents were spectacular, and the grave stood out even compared to other chamber burials in Birka in its explicitly martial character. It was interpreted as the burial of a high-status warrior and consequently sexed as …

Dec 2, 2024 · Genetic evidence from Bj 581 grave reveals extraordinary story of a female Viking warrior, reshaping our understanding of medieval society. The archaeological site of Birka, located on the Swedish island of Björkö, has long been a treasure trove of Viking Age discoveries.

Sep 8, 2017 · The female Viking warrior was part of a society that dominated 8th to 10th century northern Europe. Our results—that the high-status grave Bj 581 on Birka was the burial of a high ranking female Viking warrior—suggest that women, indeed, were able to be full members of male dominated spheres.

Feb 20, 2019 · The late archaeologist Hjalmar Stolpe uncovered the burial in 1878 in Birka, a Viking settlement that flourished from about 750 to 950 in what is now east-central Sweden. The Birka site is...