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A female Viking warrior confirmed by genomics

OBJECTIVES: The objective of this study has been to confirm the sex and the affinity of an individual buried in a well‐furnished warrior grave (Bj 581) in the Viking Age town of Birka, Sweden. Previously, based on the material and historical records, the male sex has been associated with the gender...

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Autores principales: Hedenstierna‐Jonson, Charlotte, Kjellström, Anna, Zachrisson, Torun, Krzewińska, Maja, Sobrado, Veronica, Price, Neil, Günther, Torsten, Jakobsson, Mattias, Götherström, Anders, Storå, Jan
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: John Wiley and Sons Inc. 2017
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5724682/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28884802
http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ajpa.23308
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author Hedenstierna‐Jonson, Charlotte
Kjellström, Anna
Zachrisson, Torun
Krzewińska, Maja
Sobrado, Veronica
Price, Neil
Günther, Torsten
Jakobsson, Mattias
Götherström, Anders
Storå, Jan
author_facet Hedenstierna‐Jonson, Charlotte
Kjellström, Anna
Zachrisson, Torun
Krzewińska, Maja
Sobrado, Veronica
Price, Neil
Günther, Torsten
Jakobsson, Mattias
Götherström, Anders
Storå, Jan
author_sort Hedenstierna‐Jonson, Charlotte
collection PubMed
description OBJECTIVES: The objective of this study has been to confirm the sex and the affinity of an individual buried in a well‐furnished warrior grave (Bj 581) in the Viking Age town of Birka, Sweden. Previously, based on the material and historical records, the male sex has been associated with the gender of the warrior and such was the case with Bj 581. An earlier osteological classification of the individual as female was considered controversial in a historical and archaeological context. A genomic confirmation of the biological sex of the individual was considered necessary to solve the issue. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Genome‐wide sequence data was generated in order to confirm the biological sex, to support skeletal integrity, and to investigate the genetic relationship of the individual to ancient individuals as well as modern‐day groups. Additionally, a strontium isotope analysis was conducted to highlight the mobility of the individual. RESULTS: The genomic results revealed the lack of a Y‐chromosome and thus a female biological sex, and the mtDNA analyses support a single‐individual origin of sampled elements. The genetic affinity is close to present‐day North Europeans, and within Sweden to the southern and south‐central region. Nevertheless, the Sr values are not conclusive as to whether she was of local or nonlocal origin. DISCUSSION: The identification of a female Viking warrior provides a unique insight into the Viking society, social constructions, and exceptions to the norm in the Viking time‐period. The results call for caution against generalizations regarding social orders in past societies.
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spelling pubmed-57246822017-12-12 A female Viking warrior confirmed by genomics Hedenstierna‐Jonson, Charlotte Kjellström, Anna Zachrisson, Torun Krzewińska, Maja Sobrado, Veronica Price, Neil Günther, Torsten Jakobsson, Mattias Götherström, Anders Storå, Jan Am J Phys Anthropol Brief Communications OBJECTIVES: The objective of this study has been to confirm the sex and the affinity of an individual buried in a well‐furnished warrior grave (Bj 581) in the Viking Age town of Birka, Sweden. Previously, based on the material and historical records, the male sex has been associated with the gender of the warrior and such was the case with Bj 581. An earlier osteological classification of the individual as female was considered controversial in a historical and archaeological context. A genomic confirmation of the biological sex of the individual was considered necessary to solve the issue. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Genome‐wide sequence data was generated in order to confirm the biological sex, to support skeletal integrity, and to investigate the genetic relationship of the individual to ancient individuals as well as modern‐day groups. Additionally, a strontium isotope analysis was conducted to highlight the mobility of the individual. RESULTS: The genomic results revealed the lack of a Y‐chromosome and thus a female biological sex, and the mtDNA analyses support a single‐individual origin of sampled elements. The genetic affinity is close to present‐day North Europeans, and within Sweden to the southern and south‐central region. Nevertheless, the Sr values are not conclusive as to whether she was of local or nonlocal origin. DISCUSSION: The identification of a female Viking warrior provides a unique insight into the Viking society, social constructions, and exceptions to the norm in the Viking time‐period. The results call for caution against generalizations regarding social orders in past societies. John Wiley and Sons Inc. 2017-09-08 2017-12 /pmc/articles/PMC5724682/ /pubmed/28884802 http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ajpa.23308 Text en © 2017 The Authors American Journal of Physical Anthropology Published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
spellingShingle Brief Communications
Hedenstierna‐Jonson, Charlotte
Kjellström, Anna
Zachrisson, Torun
Krzewińska, Maja
Sobrado, Veronica
Price, Neil
Günther, Torsten
Jakobsson, Mattias
Götherström, Anders
Storå, Jan
A female Viking warrior confirmed by genomics
title A female Viking warrior confirmed by genomics
title_full A female Viking warrior confirmed by genomics
title_fullStr A female Viking warrior confirmed by genomics
title_full_unstemmed A female Viking warrior confirmed by genomics
title_short A female Viking warrior confirmed by genomics
title_sort female viking warrior confirmed by genomics
topic Brief Communications
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5724682/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28884802
http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ajpa.23308
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