Warrior Women Were Common Among the Vikings

You have probably heard of Viking Shieldmaidens, especially if you watch the TV show, Vikings.  You may have also been aware that many historians have been skeptical that Shieldmaidens were very common or that they even existed at all.  After all, all of the Viking warrior burials were men, right?

Not so.  It just so happens that archaeologists had been merely assuming that all  graves that contained weapons were men.  But according to a new study from the University of Western Australia, which actually looked at the chemical composition of the bones, many of the sword-wielding Vikings were women.

Many, many of them.  In the Viking horde that invaded England in the Ninth Century, anywhere from one third to one half of them appear to have been women.

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