A Woman with a Sword? – Weapon Grave at Suontaka Vesitorninmäki, Finland

Abstract

In 1968, a weapon grave with brooches was found at Suontaka Vesitorninmäki, Hattula, Finland. Since then, the grave has been interpreted as evidence of powerful women, even female warriors and leaders in early medieval Finland. Others have denied the possibility of a woman buried with a sword and tried to explain it as a double burial. We present the first modern analysis of the grave, including an examination of its context, a soil sample analysis for microremains, and an aDNA analysis. Based on these analyses, we suggest a new interpretation: the Suontaka grave possibly belonged to an individual with sex-chromosomal aneuploidy XXY. The overall context of the grave indicates that it was a respected person whose gender identity may well have been non-binary.

Multi-isotope variation reveals social complexity in Viking Age Norway

“…In line with previous work ( Hedenstierna-Jonson et al., 2017 ; Moilanen et al., 2021 ), this study complements other research with its interdisciplinary approach. We have combined critical bioarchaeological and archaeological interpretations to re-assess gender roles, diet, and mobility in Viking Age Norway.…”

“…Recent biomolecular studies on human remains have nuanced the gendered view of Viking Age social organization and given greater insight into the complexity of this period’s socio-cultural organization. The now famous case from Birka, Sweden ( Hedenstierna-Jonson et al., 2017 ), which identified a female Viking warrior, and the weapon grave in Suontaka Vesitorninmäki, Finland, where an individual likely with Klinefelter’s syndrome was buried with both weapons and jewelry ( Moilanen et al., 2021 ), are both examples of cultural diversity in Viking Age societies. The present study aims to further investigate correlations between mobility, diet, and biological sex in Norway during this period, and to evaluate whether or not there are any regional patterns latent in the multi-isotope (δ 13 C carb , δ 13 C/δ 15 N coll , δ 18 O) evidence.…”

Interdisciplinary analyses of Bronze Age communities from Western Hungary reveal complex population histories

“…Investigating genetic disorders in archaic datasets can be useful to improve our knowledge on the history of health and medicine, and also highlights the overall genetic health of past populations. Genetic disorders, if accompanied with severe phenotypic anomalies, could also explain unusual burial practices, for example as it was described in cases of dwarfism in Byzantine era 47 , or in the case of the Suontaka burial 27 . Therefore, we analysed the ploidy of the autosomes not only for genetic sex determination, but to recover possible aneuploidies resulting in serious health related traits, such as Turner or Down syndrome 48 .…”

“…Studies that aimed to uncover variants under selective pressure in Homo sapiens populations, such as Lactase persistence (LCT) or Human Leukocyte Antigen (HLA) genes and pigmentation markers are beginning to thrive [23][24][25][26] . However, variants for rare genetic diseases or aneuploidies are sparsely checked on ancient datasets, except for a few cases, such as the study of the Suontaka grave 27 .…”

Revisiting the ‘Valkyries’: Armed Females in Viking Age Figurative Metalwork

“…Many studies have now considered such ambiguities, variations, and challenges for the late Iron Age, not least in relation to gender perceptions that may have extended beyond the binary (e.g. Arwill-Nordbladh 1998Göransson 1999;Back Danielsson 1999Moen 2019aMoen , 2019bPrice 2020:155-79;Moilanen et al 2022). This extended gender spectrum is also intimately connected with the bearing of arms, or rather with the changing ways that this has been perceived by scholars and society at large.…”