Women in History

“HE was tall. He was powerful. The Viking warrior was buried with sword, spear, shield and battle knives. There was one problem.”(source: www.news.com.au )

HE was a SHE.

Long ago in the 1880’s, the grave of the famous Viking warrior was discovered near the Swedish town of Birka. She was aged in her 30’s. Her burial goods, weapons and warhorses suggest she was an accomplished warrior, perhaps even a military leader. You can read more about the archaeological story here. www.news.com.au

Watch a short video about the mistaken gender of the Viking Warrior. 

Hello Friends,

I wondered why some of the experts were surprised that the Viking Warrior was a woman? It got me thinking how women are portrayed or even missing from the history books. So I’ve decided to revisit the posts I’ve written about interesting women from history.

I’ve blogged about the ancient, matriarchal site in New Mexico that has a moon calendar, one of the few places in the world. The grave of a Celtic Priestess. The prehistoric cremated remains of women found at Stonehenge. Terrifying female pirates from the 18^th Century. A book written about “The Amazons”—fierce female warriors who smoked pot and put up a good fight.

Women did exist in history, and hopefully more discoveries of forgotten lives will be returned to us over the coming years. Please enjoy my history tour! If you’d like to read more, each article has a link to the blog post.

 The Lost & Mysterious Chacaon Civilization is located in an American canyon which was sealed, burnt and abandoned. New research focused on DNA studies of the women buried at the New Mexico site has found the society was led by a "maternal elite" who passed power from female to female, or through a mother-daughter linage from 800-1130 A.D.

Celtic Jewelry Unearthed blog post was about two discoveries of Celtic jewelry.  

The first of the golden hoards was found at the grave of the Celtic Priestess in Germany. Her burial chamber is dated as 2,600 years old, and she shared the grave site with a young girl aged about three years and another woman.

The second discovery of Celtic Jewelry came from a farmer’s field in England. The big golden torc was so big, it could have been a belt made to protect a pregnant woman.

Heroines or Villains are the women who broke the mold, and challenged the ‘status quo’ of their societies.

Experts are still piecing together the mystery of Stonehenge. Despite artists portraying prehistoric man as in charge of the site, in the latest discovery, half of the prehistoric, cremated bones belong to women. Could women have been as noteworthy as men in prehistoric Britain?

Once there was a superstitious belief among pirates that having women aboard a ship was bad luck. Meeting Anne Bonny and Mary Read on the high seas would knock the wind out of anybody's sails. The two marauders from the 1700's were the most feared female pirates to raid fishing boats and trading sloops.

Warrior Women The Amazons are the legendary warrior women from the history books. Did they really exist?

“Archaeology shows that these fierce women also smoked pot, got tattoos, killed—and loved—men.”  (source: National Geographic )

Adrienne Mayor from the Princeton University Press has written a book, “The Amazons: Lives and Legends of Warrior Women across the Ancient World.”

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Happy reading,

and enjoy your weekend.

♥ Ashlyn