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To view any of our past lectures please visit our YouTube channel.
We are delighted to have Dr Charlotte Hedenstierna-Jonson presenting a lecture on her work on women in the Viking Period for International Women’s Day 2021. Dr Hedenstierna-Jonson is a faculty member of the Department of Archaeology and Ancient History at Uppsala University, Sweden and also a researcher and part of the Viking Phenomenon research project. Her work on the Birka Warrior and gender in burials will be the subject of this paper.
Active men and Emblematizing women: a reflection on agency, narrative and interpretations in archaeological practice
by Dr Charlotte Hedenstierna-Jonson
Graves provide one of the main sources when acquiring information about the people of past societies. In the process of collecting and documenting archaeological remains, the methods are explicit and requirements for scientific viability extensive. But when the facts have been documented and the process of interpretation begins, new approaches seem to apply. The study of a “warrior grave that turned out to be a woman” (grave Bj 581 from Birka), and the response it received, brought to light the fact that the interpretative process followed parallel frameworks depending on the gender of the buried individual. Gender became a game changer, making previously accepted interpretations no longer valid although nothing in the grave had actually changed. Using three burials from the Viking town Birka as illustrations, this presentation is a reflection on how we as scholars approach the archaeological source material, the choices we make and the perspectives that influence our interpretations and narratives.
Please note that due to COVID 19 restrictions this event will be online only.
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