Hervor dying after the Battle of the Goths and Huns. A painting by Peter Nicolai Arbo, a Norwegian historical painter. Hervor dressed like a man, fought, killed and pillaged under her male surname Hjörvard.
Then the high-born lady saw them play the wounding game,
she resolved on a hard course and flung off her cloak;
she took a naked sword and fought for her kinsmen’s lives,
she was handy at fighting, wherever she aimed her blows.
The Greenlandic Poem of Atli (st. 49), The poetic Edda. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Ancient DNA
I just love ancient DNA. Not only does it provide us a way to “view” long deceased individuals who we may be related to, one way or another (Y, mtDNA or autosomal), but it gives us a peephole into history as well.
Recently, a Viking warrior long presumed to be male has been positively identified as female through DNA analysis.
The paper titled A female Viking warrior confirmed by genomics by Hedenstiera-Jonson et al provides details.
Oral history tells us of female Viking warriors, but mostly, those stories have been dismissed as mythology. But guess what – they weren’t.
A Viking warrior grave excavated in Birka, Sweden in the 1970s was originally identified as a female. That finding was initially dismissed in light of the extensive warrior burial artifacts. The skeleton was presumed to be a warrior male due to extensive funerary objects indicating a high ranking individual. Similar female warrior burials have been dismissed as well by saying that the warrior artifacts might have been heirlooms and don’t identify the burial as a warrior.
The warrior burial has now been indeed proven to be a female using DNA analysis.
From the paper’s authors:
This type of reasoning takes away the agency of the buried female. As long as the sex is male, the weaponry in the grave not only belong to the interred but also reflects his status as warrior, whereas a female sex has raised doubts, not only regarding her ascribed role but also in her association to the grave goods.
A great deal can be told about skeletal remains through their bones – and certain traits indicate males or females. In 2014, a scientist again suggested that the bones of this burial suggested the warrior had been a female, but that commentary was met with significant skepticism because of the warrior’s high rank based on the grave goods. DNA was determined to be the only way to resolve the question. Thank goodness this avenue was pursued and was productive.
From their abstract:
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.
From their 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.
And their 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.
The paper further states that over 3,000 warrior graves are known, with approximately 1,100 excavated. I have to wonder how many of those graves might be females too.
The Birka warrior was confirmed to be a female by the absence of a Y chromosome, but her mitochondrial DNA can tell us even more.
Mitochondrial DNA
Her mitochondrial DNA is haplogroup T2b.
Dr. David Pike is the administrator of the haplogroup T mtDNA project and the mtDNA T2 project at Family Tree DNA. He notified me of these results and offered the following information:
The list of mtDNA mutations in the supplement (namely those obtained from a canine tooth) are actually quite thorough (see page 15 of the supplement). They include all of the mutations that lead up to and including mtDNA haplogroup T2b. And then they go on to include two more that do not yet fit into any currently-named subgroup of T2b. These are T5774C and C16354T.
People who are curious about their own mtDNA can determine their status at position 16354 by a simple HVR1 test at FTDNA, but position 5774 requires a full mtDNA sequence test.
Within the T projects for which I’m an administrator, there are a few people with T5774C with none that have both of these two mutations. At least not yet… it would be nice to encourage more people to do full mtDNA testing.
If you have tested at a company other than Family Tree DNA that provides you with only a haplogroup, and it’s T, T2 or T2b, you might want to consider the mitochondrial test at Family Tree DNA to obtain a more definitive haplogroup and your actual mutations. Someone, someplace, may well match this Viking warrior woman.
Who is She Most Like?
The report indicates that the Birka female warrior showed autosomal genetic affinity to the following present-day populations:
- British Island of England and Scotland,
- North Atlantic Islands of Iceland and the Orkneys
- Scandinavian countries of Denmark and Norway
- Baltic counties of Lithuania and Latvia
- Sweden from the south-central and southern region
The warrior was more like northern Europeans than southern Europeans, which shouldn’t come as a surprise.
Your Mitochondrial DNA
Mitochondrial DNA holds so many secrets and provides testers with information you can’t possible discover about your ancestors any other way. Males and females can both test. If you haven’t taken the full sequence mitochondrional DNA test, please consider doing so.
Want to know what you might discover? Please read the articles, Mitochondrial DNA – Your Mom’s Story and Jasmine’s Journey of Discovery.
You can click here to order the mtFull Sequence test or upgrade an existing test to the full sequence level.
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I wish I could pay you to analyze my mtDNA. I have it and don’t know what to do with it, lol.
You can purchase a Personalized Mitochondrial DNA Report at http://www.dnaxplain.com/shop/features.aspx
I agree I paid a lot of money to family tree DNA and I don’t have the time to stay up late and read on how to download my family tree and I don’t understand all the aspects plus I have a rare Haplogroup called N1a1a2 does anyone else have this Haplogroup I heard Ann Curry has it
A great story, Roberta. I am T2b6a – but don’t carry either of the two special mutations. So a distant, but proud, cousin of this Viking Warrior.
I’m a T2b who has done the full mtDNA test at FTDNA. Where should I be looking in my results for T5774C and C16354T? Would that be the line labeled “Extra Mutations”?
Yes and in the mutation boxes shown.
How exciting!!! Thanks, Roberta. T2b here. I need to check my results …
Nope, neither T5774C nor C16354T, but it’s still cool!
Fascinating! I’m delighted to be a distant cousin of a female Viking warrior. My mtDNA is T2b2b — but I don’t carry either of her two mutations.
A Norwegian heroine:
>
Yes we just found out about her, we are also T2b’s. My Sister was called Viking Woman at High School in Bluffton, IN; she was a tall blonde. I am a short brunette, well I was 5’5″ but lost 3 inches when I had back surgery. Nevertheless, she is my lineage.
My 2nd GGrandmother was given up for adoption and she had a heartbreaking life. Her husband Harvey J Wright died while carrying their 2nd Daughter, I am through her. Their first Daughter died at 19 from typhoid fever in Nov 1901. She then married an old friend, they had no Children together. When Maggie died July 18, 1937, relatives from other Countries came to her funeral in Marion, IN. They then went to my Grandparents house, my Uncle Bill heard something going on in the living room, he got up but was told to go back to bed. He went around the corner and continued listening. From what he could understand, was that her Mother was a very young Royal who came to the States to have her safely. She was forced to give her up and had to go back to her Country.
I matched Russia’s last Tzar Nicholas on FTDNA. Mom’s drawings and paintings looked like his Mother Minnie’s. This is saying something, although my Daughter argues that they were T2a’s and we are T2b’s. We heard of a discrepancy about whether he was a T2b or if it goes from T2a to T2b. Mom also looked like Minnie and my Grandmother looked like her Mother when they got older. My oldest Daughter resembles Minnie’s Sister Alex.
Thanks for listening😊
I’m also T2b, with a missing mutation and an extra mutation (but not one of those). As well, my mother’s atDNA myOrigins at FTDNA shows 18% Scandinavian, although we don’t have any known Scandinavian ancestors (mostly English and Scottish). So I’m happy to claim the Birka warrior as a distant relative!
My dad is U7b and was put in group 3. His mtDNA haplogroup is rare and traces back to India. His mother’s line goes back to Scotland. I watched a documentary that showed archaeological digs of Viking settlements that had beads from India mired in the dirt. The Vikings traded in India and got the steel for their swords from there.
I live in the Netherlands, My family for at least 500 years and I have U7b
I love mtDNA discussions! My husband is T2F, so pretty distant, but it’s still fun news. Thanks for sharing.
Thank You Roberta for the Awesome work you do ! My mtDNA test helped me and my family sort some things out and has connected me with a lot of my family !!!!
FWIW, The grave was excavated in 1889 by Hjalmar Stolpe. This link will take you to his drawing of the grave — Bj 581 https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/speaking-of-science/wp/2017/09/14/wonder-woman-lives-viking-warrior-skeleton-identified-as-female-128-years-after-its-discovery/?sw_bypass=true&utm_term=.69140481d8c7
I wish I could get either Y or mtDNA to get a haplotype! The Scandinavian hypothesis is on Dad’s side.
Anything that gets more of us T2s to test has to be a good thing!
I sent your post to my Oakes Project Manager whose wife is T2e1.
The two positions show as 16354C and 5774T and my MtDNA Haplogroup T2B6 – 86% Irish; 9.6% Scandinavian; 2.4% Finnish and 1.4% North Africa. In researching T2 it appears to originate around the Baltic Sea so I guess there may be a Viking female way back in the mists of my genetics.
T2b but no T5774C or C16354T from Birka.
Most of my mtDNA matches are Scandinavians despite I’m Belgian.
HVR1: 16126C, 16294T, 16296T, 16304C, 16519C
HVR2: 73G, 263G, 309.1C, 315.1C
Coding Region: 709A, 750G, 930A, 1438G, 1871G, 1888A, 1900G, 2706G, 4216C, 4769G, 4917G, 5147A, 7028T,
8697A, 8860G, 10463C, 11251G, 11719A, 11812G, 13368A, 14233G, 14766T, 14905A, 15326G, 15452A, 15607G,
15884A, 15928A
My daughter just received her 23 and me results. She belongs to T2b5 Haplogroup. After researching this warrior Viking, she is feeling very proud and strong!
I am a T2b5 also. I was thrilled to find out about the Viking warrior! I would like to know if there is a site that has other T2b5 members.
This is so cool I just found out my ancestory maternal haplogroup is T2b1 🙂
How interesting! 23andme says I also am t2b1!
I’m T2b and I’m struggling to understand what it means except that I descend from an ancient maternal line.
Hi , my mitochondrial is T2B4-T152C, so distant relative i guess , i live in England also a
A negative blood type .
I found my mitochondrial T2b1 … more to learn over this, just noting it for now.
OK. Viking woman. Germanic. T2b DNA is Slavic. What am I missing here?
I’m a T2b and I am 65 percent Swedish and 5 percent Norwegian per 23 and me, but when I plug in matches with other ancestors it seems to be my Scottish ancestors that I connect up with.
Hjörvard (or, more properly, Hjörvarðr) is not a surname, it’s a given name. People were only known by their first name until hundreds of years after the end of the viking age. There were absolutely zero family surnames. There were two types of surnames; a patronymic (or sometimes, as in the case of the god Loki, a matronymic) and/or an epithet, such as “the fat” or “the great” etc. Surnames were not appellation; people were never referred to or addressed by surname, unless there was a specific reason for doing so
FamilyTreeDNA says I am T2b4 not sure really what that means or how to investigate it.
Here you go: https://dna-explained.com/mitochondrial-dna/