![]() Partly the issue is that the interpretation of the objects has been based on a number of assumptions that lead to circular arguments, a serpent biting its own tail, going right the way back to the start of the Viking Age. When it comes to women in the Viking Age, the conclusion has almost always been the former, which has had an enormous impact on how we have viewed women’s agency – their involvement and individual participation – in the entire period. ![]() The recurring problem is trying to work out whether it was the object or its owner who travelled. Specifically, she is a bioarchaeologist, which means she uses forensic toolslike isotope analysis, carbon dating, and DNA analysisto try and figure out what happened to bodies buried more than a millennium ago. But the new isotopic and genetic evidence on migration has forced us to rethink the interpretation of these burials. River Kings is by archaeologist Dr Cat Jarman, who is a senior adviser to the new Museum of the Viking Age in Oslo. This is especially so in western Norway, where artefacts looted from Britain and Ireland have mostly been found in women’s graves. “Until recently it has been assumed that in similar cases in the Scandinavian homelands, exotic and imported artefacts buried with women were gifts from men. ![]()
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