Transvestite Vikings
Location: Scandinavia, Holland and England
Time: 400s-1100s CE
http://viking.hgo.se/Topic/may-03.html
This article was written in May 2003 by a pair of Danish archeaologists. I'm not sure how many people have had a chance to read it, but I was fascinated. The gist of the article is that bone testing techniques have determined that a significant number of viking-era graves that were thought to be male and female based on clothing and burial items actually belonged to members of the opposite sex (women with weapons, men with jewelery and domestic tools). This has led some archealogists to question the rigidity of the traditional viking gender binary system. It may mean that in the different viking societies there were men who lived as women and women who lived as men.
Of course, the authors also put forth the alternative theory that the burial artifacts were more representative of class differences rather than gender. In essence, women were buried with weapons as a sign of their higher class position. This leads me to wonder if viking men buried in feminine garb or with feminine items were considered to be of lower class or if their items were considered a sign of high class leisure, much like the cosmetics of refined ancient Roman soldiers. Any thoughts?
Time: 400s-1100s CE
http://viking.hgo.se/Topic/may-03.html
This article was written in May 2003 by a pair of Danish archeaologists. I'm not sure how many people have had a chance to read it, but I was fascinated. The gist of the article is that bone testing techniques have determined that a significant number of viking-era graves that were thought to be male and female based on clothing and burial items actually belonged to members of the opposite sex (women with weapons, men with jewelery and domestic tools). This has led some archealogists to question the rigidity of the traditional viking gender binary system. It may mean that in the different viking societies there were men who lived as women and women who lived as men.
Of course, the authors also put forth the alternative theory that the burial artifacts were more representative of class differences rather than gender. In essence, women were buried with weapons as a sign of their higher class position. This leads me to wonder if viking men buried in feminine garb or with feminine items were considered to be of lower class or if their items were considered a sign of high class leisure, much like the cosmetics of refined ancient Roman soldiers. Any thoughts?