In the year 1957 two puzzling grave mounds were excavated, belonging to a small grave cluster situated near Klinta - a village on Öland - Sweden. They appear to be an outcome of a complex burial ceremony that involved at least two individuals, a man and a woman, cremated on a pyre in a boat and buried under two separate mounds (Price 2002, 142).
Under the mound 59:3, which in fact was a stone cairn measuring 13 m in diameter and 2 height, a rich burial belonging to a woman was uncovered. It consisted of a cremation layer in which a pit around 0,4 m deep and 0,45 in diameter was dug. The opening of the pit was covered with a hexagonal cover made of sticks and clay (Svanberg 2003, 253).
The burial was richly furnished and the majority of goods were placed in a burial pit together with an urn made of a pottery vessel. Buried woman was provided with an oriental bronze jug, probably form Turkmenistan, a silver pendant also of oriental origin, a bronze basin or plate, an item interpreted by some scholars as a staff for sorcery or a roasting spit, a two oval bronze brooches of type P52, many different mounts in various shapes, two small copper sheets inscribed with runic inscriptions, rolled on one end to form a pendant, two iron knives, two iron sheers, an iron wood working cramp, an axe of Petersen type C, an iron key, an iron chain fragments, a ring with four small “Thor’s hammer” pendants and a great number of beads made from different materials (Petersson 1958, 139; Price 2002, 142; Svanberg 2003, 253).
Over the pit, in the cremation layer other items were discovered, mostly only as small fragments, together with about 16.7 l. of burned bones, mainly from animals such as horse, pig, cattle, sheep, dog, cat and bear, also unburned bones of chicken were found. Items from this layer, which function can be determined were a silver Abbasid coin form 801/804, a bronze equal-armed brooch, a round bronze pendant and a glass linen smoother (Petersson 1958, 137; Price 2002, 145; Svanberg 2003, 253).
The burial of a man was placed under a mound 59:2, measuring 15 m in diameter and 1,3 m height, in form of a cremation layer around 25 cm thick. In this layer, with human and animal bones, but only from horse and a dog following items were found: an Abbasid coin dated 809/810, 11 bronze buttons, different types of mounts, a pair of bronze scales, a sword that was destroyed before deposition in grave, belonging to Petersen type M or E (or Geibig’s type 8), 16 beads of different materials, a comb, a bone needle, 18 gaming pieces burned on a pyre but placed in a grave in a unburned wooden bucket and a whetstone (Price 2002, 147; Svanberg 2003, 252). Both of the burials were dated to the 10th century (Price 2002, 142; Svanberg 2003, 252-253).
The new interpretations of the grave focuses on the staff, which might be an attribute of a Völva - a kind of viking age sorceress connected with prophetic seiðr magic (Price 2002, 142). This kind of magic is, according to most of the scholars associated with crossing of gender boundaries (Soil 2002, 147). The Klinta graves are generaly viewed as an example in which this practice is visible (Hedager 2011, 127; Price 2002, 149; Stylegar 2007, 96). It is because some of the items, generally associated with male and female burials appear in contexts of opposing sex. The typical male items in a woman’s grave according to Price are: a battle axe type C and an item that is interpreted as a wood working tool. In the male grave the typically associated with female graves oval brooch, needle and beads are present (Price 2002, 149). However more critical approach is needed, because some of the evidence can point to a different conclusion, that their presence there is an evidence of gender transgression.
I would like to discuss the role of the artifacts mentioned, their placement in the grave and also the idea that items placed in grave are not necessarily to be viewed as a possessions of a buried person. First item, the battle axe is at the first glance clearly belonging to traditionally viewed male social context - war. However, finds of axes in woman burials are not so uncommon in Scandinavia. There is a number of graves from Norwegian grave cluster at Hopperstad in with women are often buried with elements of tradiotionaly male eguipment (Jesch 1994, 30), and axes appear in a number of graves form cementaries around Kaupang in a contexts that can suggest a ritual deposition - they are driven into the ground or a wall of a burial, for example in Ka. 298, Ka. 299, Ka. 305 and Ka. 316 (Stylegar 2007, 89). Also a rite involving thrusting weapons in the side of a burial is known from Birka in Sweden, there a spearheads were found inserted into the wall constructions of burials Bj. 834, 842, 558, 592, 832, 944, 955, 957, 986 (Gräslund 1980, 30-31). Burials Ka.298 and Ka. 299 belongs to one grave, conteing three presons buried in a boat, but Ka. 299 is viewed, according to other atrifacts found near it, as a burial of a woman. Two axes are also known form Ka. 284, a burial of a woman, but without information about their placment in a grave. The item found in Klinta grave seems to be used in a strikingly similar manner. The axe head was driven into the filing of a grave pit, the same way as part of a sword from mound 59:2 (Price 2002, 148). I will argue that this is rather some sort of apotropaic behavior, maybe used to ensure that the dead woman will not rise as some form of a demon.
However, even excluding the idea that the axe was used for ritualistic purposes, the item can be perceived out of the boundaries of purely male domain of war. It is very hard to distinguish between an axe that is a tool and and axe that is a weapon (Pedersen 2002, 30). This kind of item wielded as a tool can be connected to women’s work around the household, for example for chopping wood (Jesch 1994, 21).
The other item, view as a traditionally connected with male activity is a iron cramp for working in wood (Price 2002, 144). As mentioned before, sometimes tools are found in woman’s graves, for example at Hopperstad in Norway. Also this tool might be perceived as a part of equipment connected to the boat in which both individuals were buried.
The artifacts connected to woman’s domain found in 59:2 are presenting far more interpretative difficulties, mostly because there are some inconsistencies in the description of the grave made by different authors. For example, were Price sees an oval brooch type P51 (2002, 147), Svanberg writes about a fragment of P52 (2003, 252). The interpretation puted forward by Svanberg is far more convincing because Price is clearly mistaken about ascribing the type to brooches found in mound 59:3. From a drawing published by Schultze in 1987 it is clearly visible that in the pit two oval brooches P52 were placed (Price 2002, fig. 3.15, 143). Assuming that two mounds are outcomes of one cremation burial, a small piece of burned bronze could have easily been displaced, and buried with remains of the man. However if it is a complete piece of jewelry the situation becomes puzzling because it would indicate at three oval brooches on a pyre. The woman’s dress in viking age normally is reconstructed with only two brooches. It is also an argument for Svanbergs description of finds, but still additional brooch in mens grave doesn't indicate that it was worn by the buried person. It is a common mistake made by archaeologist facing a big interpretative challenge that is presented in every burial. Thinking about items placed in graves in terms of possession of the buried person excludes the roll of mourners taking part in the burial. People present at the ceremony may place items at the pyre to communicate change in their social position - example of this kind of behavior is known form Hiduism, where it is expected that widow will place her bridal jewelry on her husbands pyre (Fhalander, Oestigaard 2006, 7).
Also viewing the bone needle as an evidence for gender transgression seems a bit of an overstatement. In his description of the grave Svanberg mentions a fragment of a bone needle (2003, 252). In Price’s book this fragment grows to “needlework tools” (2002, 149). It seems probable that people responisble for clearing the site of the pyre by mistook a small tool fragment made of bone for a pice of a man’s skeleton.
The last presumably ‘transgender” item are the beads found in the man’s grave. Sixteen of them were present in the mound 59:2. However beads are a kind of artifact that is ascribed to both genders and archaeologist decides about it on a basics of their quantity in a burial. Also the same argument, about placing things on a pyre by mourners, that was used with the oval brooches applies here. The other reason for them to be present in a burial is a fact that a bead is not a large item, and could be accidently misplaced.
In the light of these arguments it is better not to use burials 59:2 and 59:3 form Klinta as a main example in writing about gender transgression in the Viking age, because it can not be proven in this case. However I see some flaws in my interpretation, and it still needs some work, the main problem is, that I am using examples to support my ideas that are from different regions of Scandinavia. Svanberg’s work has proven convincingly, that studing burial customs of the Viking age should be mostly focused on finding paralles in a region, because great differences can be observed across Scandinavia but he also observed that in southeastern part of this peninsula artifacts ascribed to different genders seems to transgress those boundaries in burials connected to the elite. I think that this might be an emanation of complex ceremonies, connected to manifestations of new status of the mourners, and rebuilding of social bonds not a proof of an existence of transgender class of sorcerers.
Literature:
Price N.S
2002 The Viking way. Religion and War in Late Iron Age Scandinavia
Svanberg F.
2003 Death Rituals in South-East Scandinavia
Soil B.
2002 Seid. Myter Sjamanisme og kjønn i vikingenes tid
Petersson K.G
1958 Ett gravfynd från Klinta, Köpings sn, Öland
Hedager L.
2011 Iron Age Myth and Materiality. An archaeology of Scandinavia AD 400-1000
Jesch J.
1994 Women in the Viking age
Gräslund A.S
1980 Birka IV: The Burial Customs
Stylegar F.A
2007 The Kaupang Cemeteries Revisited in: Kaupang in Skiringssal ed. D.Skre
Fhalander F. Oestigaard T.
2008 The materiality of death: Bodies , Burials, Beliefs. in: BAR international series 1768 2008
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