Viking-Age Burials, Beads and Gender Views

Usually when asked to imagine what a Viking may have looked like, many people think of the strong male viking warrior, while the women in their society is confined to being servile and dutiful wives. This sentiment has continued throughout the years, even in a Time article in 2000, described them as meek house workers, reinforcing our view that theirs was a strictly male dominated society. (Lemonick et. al. 2000)  However, studies about Gender in Viking societies completed as early as almost a century ago has shown that gender roles were not as clearly defined as preceding archaeologists and historians may have thought (O’Sullivan, 2016). Specifically, by looking at the graves for Viking age Scandinavians, and the objects found in associated with them, archeologists are able to discover new perspectives and ways of thinking about gender for these people which can help us in understanding modern day culture as well.

It has been found that stereotypically “feminine” designated items such as beads or brooches, that have been considered simple adornments based on our modern concepts of jewelry, are actually very helpful in learning about the Viking culture and helping to do away with previous notions that there was a conclusive division of male and female in Scandinavian society, and how these concepts carry over to modern day Scandinavian society (O’Sullivan, 2016). One such way this is supported is by finding beads in association with burials displaying otherwise “male” attributes or bodies determined to be biologically male. Examples of these male designated graves that have the presence of beads include findings from Norway, Dublin, England, and Iceland. In the cemetery at Ire on the Baltic island of Gotland, ten individuals that were determined to be male were buried with glass beads, and also were buried in association with weaponry (Fig. 2). Some male graves are also found without weapons but still with beads in their graves, which indicates that the inclusion of beads would not confirm nor negate the determination of a grave being named male (O’Sullivan).

In many female determined grave sited, oval or tortoise brooches, and box brooches were found, usually on the chest of the body or below the chin, meaning that they were likely affixed to a dress or used to keep a cape closed. These brooches also reflect the rank and status of the woman, as well as tasks they may have carried out in their lives (Jesch, 1991). These brooches could designate their positioning within social classes. In the Viking social hierarchy, there was three classes; upper, middle, and lower, all of which, women were able to be a part of, as well as had considerable social mobility (Larson, 2012). In fact, the Oseberg ship burial, one of the most famous burials that many do not realize was for a woman (Fig. 1). The remains of two women, one a slave, and the other likelely a noblewoman or völva, a religious shaman of the norse religion. Inside the ship, tapestries, a four wheeled cart, wood works, spades, and a staff were found. In the same area was the Gokstad Ship burial which held the remains of a Viking chieftain, showing that it was possible for women to hold a position as high as a male or higher with in the Viking culture (Larson, 2012).

By looking at the archeological remains of the Vikings and others like it we see that many times there is evidence for less strict divisions of gender, that gender was likely only one small part of what defined their place in culture and that it is important to question previously unchallenged and undisputed assumptions about cultures, both past and present.

 

Fig 2. Beads typically found in male burials, these are specifically from those found in Cumwhitton Cemetery (https://cola.unh.edu/anthropology/women-traders-viking)

 

Further Reading:

http://www.academia.edu/23101978/Manifestations_of_identity_in_burial_Evidence_from_Viking-Age_graves_in_the_North_Atlantic_diaspora

https://www.ancient.eu/article/1251/women-in-the-viking-age/

 

References:

Jesch, Judith.

1991. Women in the Viking Age. Woodbridge, Suffolk: Boydell. https://www.jstor.org/stable/27710925?seq=1#metadata_info_tab_contents

 

Joanne O’Sullivan.

   2015. Strung Along: Re-evaluating Gendered Views of Viking-Age Beads, Medieval Archaeology,59:1, 73-86. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00766097.2015.1119384

 

Larson, Caitlin.

2012. VIKING SOCIAL STRUCTURE AND GENDER ROLES IN SCANDINAVIA BASED ON BURIALS AND GRAVE GOODS. The Archaeological Studies Program Department of Sociology and Archaeology. https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/10597635.pdf

 

Lemonick, Michael D., and Andrea Dorfman.

2000. “The Amazing Vikings.” Timehttp://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,44020,00.html

 

 

2 thoughts on “Viking-Age Burials, Beads and Gender Views

  1. Great article that uses archaeology to show how our construction and ideas of gender have no bases in stories of the past, and that our histories of today are awash in biases that favor ‘masculine’ men as warriors. I wanted to know more about other sources of knowledge that archaeologists use, like myth and oral tradition, to discuss and construct cultures of the past. How can Norse/Viking mythology help you think more deeply about gender in everyday Viking lives? How does a study or understanding of some Viking cosmology help you see these grave goods?

  2. Norse magic, or Seidr, considered to be feminine, only women practiced. Men who took part were seen as weak becuase magic was considered feminine, and those men who practiced were scorned by their community. As seen in the poem Lokasenna, “The Flyting of Loki”, the god Loki castigates Odin for using Seidr, as it is of an unmanly nature. This association with weakness likely stems from the emphasis placed on physical strength in Viking warrior society, and something non-physical like magic used to accomplish something would be regarded as weak or cowardly even. This myth reflects the way gender was viewed in the Viking community, that women were generally considered less than men, and being attributed with womanly attributes was an insult. (Goodwin, 2016).
    In the daily lives of Vikings, women were expected to be homemakers and farmers, and were given no choice to do something different without being greatly scorned by their community. Although men did take part in farm work, they were allowed to take occupations alongside of or instead of farm work. Men were also the only ones allowed to be warriors. weapons and tools were commonly found in mens graves, while women were generally buried with household items or needle work (Pruitt, 2016). Men being the only ones who went to war means they were the only ones able to go to Valhalla. Only those who die in battle go to Valhalla and are rewarded in the afterlife. This is considered the only honorable death. Those who die by other means go to Hel, including women since they aren’t warriors in battle. In the poem of Brynhildr’s Hel Ride in the Poetic Edda, it shows that women are able to enter Hel, as well as why the deceased are buried with certain items, these items were brought along with them in the afterlife, including the wagon she was burned on, which she rode in on her way to Hel (Bellows, 2004).

    Bellows, Henry Adams.

    2004. The Poetic Edda: The Mythological Poems. Dover Publications.

    Goodwin, Megan.

    2016 “Manning the High Seat: Seiðr as Self-Making in Contemporary Norse Neopaganisms.” HCommons. https://hcommons.org/app/uploads/sites/1000654/2017/07/Goodwin_ManningTheHighSeat.pdf

    Pruitt, Sarah.

    2016 “What Was Life Like for Women in the Viking Age?” History.com, A&E Television Networks. https://www.history.com/news/what-was-life-like-for-women-in-the-viking-age

Leave a Reply