The leader, long assumed to be a man, was in fact a woman misidentified because 19th century archaeologists did not consider the possibility of women holding high-ranking positions in Viking culture.
And now one of the websites that promotes the idea that gender isn’t determined by genes, HuffPost, has accidentally admitted that genes do indeed dictate gender.
Swedish newspaper Local reported this week that the remains that were excavated during the 19th century by Swedish archaeologist Hjalmar Stolpe in the town of Birka were subject to new DNA tests, that determined the ancient warrior to be female. She was buried with weapons and armor and horses befitting of other high-ranking military Viking leaders during the dark ages.
Charlotte Hedenstierna-Jonson, who led the study on the warrior’s remains, described her as being "fairly tall" at 5 feet 6 inches. The female Viking leader’s gender became the subject of some scrutiny after Anna Kjellström, an osteologist at Stockholm University, found that her bone structured appeared to be feminine. The discovery led to the DNA study, confirming that she was indeed a woman.
HuffPost was the one of the first US websites to cover the story, which achieved viral status on social media.