At the beginning of this year, I gave a talk on the clothing of Viking Age warrior women for the inaugural “Shieldmaidens: Women in Western Style” online conference. I repeated this talk in person in Denmark last week and it was both nerve-wracking and good fun! As is usually the case, repeating the talk with a new audience allowed for further reflections on the topic and fresh perspectives from attendees.
In passing, I discussed my idea that the Hårby valkyrie figurine could be inspired by Classical Greco-Roman depictions of Athena/Minerva and we had a great discussion about the practical applications of these speculative garments interpreted from artwork. I’m not even sure that *I* am convinced by my theory, but I think the topic may be a fun one to write a full article about- let me know if you’d be interested.
As this iteration of the talk was (mostly) unplugged, I took e-mail addresses for anyone wanting my short list of references. I thought I’d share the love and simply post these on my site, so anyone interested in this or my other talk/workshop on “Female Headcoverings of the Viking Age” (references will be published for this and linked here ASAP, watch this space!) can check out my references for further reading.
References:
Anonymous. The Story of Burnt Njal. Translated by George W. DaSent (1861.) Icelandic Saga Database, Sveinbjorn Thordarson (ed.), [Accessed 30 January 2026.] Available online: http://www.sagadb.org/brennu-njals_saga.en
Anonymous. The Saga of King Heidrek the Wise. [Online]. Translated by Christopher Tolkien (1960.) Thomas Nelson And Sons Ltd. Available at: http://vsnrweb-publications.org.uk/The%20Saga%20Of%20King%20Heidrek%20The%20Wise.pdf [Accessed 31st January 2026].
Friðriksdóttir, J. K. (2020). Valkyrie: The Women of the Viking World. London: Bloomsbury Academic.
Gardeła, L. (2021). Women and Weapons in the Viking World: Amazons of the North. Oxbow Books. https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctv24q4z0f
https://www.germanicmythology.com/works/OsebergTapestry.html
Gardeła, L. & Pentz, P. & Price, N. (2022). Revisiting the ‘Valkyries’: Armed Females in Viking Age Figurative Metalwork. Current Swedish Archaeology:30. pp.95-151. .
Hedenstierna-Jonson, C., Kjellström, A., Zachrisson, T., Krzewińska, M., Sobrado, V., Price, N., Günther, T., Jakobsson, M., Götherström, A., & Storå, J. (2017). A female Viking warrior confirmed by genomics. American journal of physical anthropology, 164(4), 853–860.
Jesch, J. (1991). Women in the Viking Age. 3rd ed. Woodbridge: Boydell Press.
Killgrove, Kristina. (2025). Hårby Valkyrie: A 1,200-year-old gold Viking Age woman sporting a sword, shield and ponytail. [Online]. LiveScience. Last Updated: 5 May. Available at: https://www.livescience.com/archaeology/vikings/harby-valkyrie-a-1-200-year-old-gold-viking-age-woman [Accessed 31st January 2026].
Saxo Grammaticus, Gesta Danorum. Translated by Oliver Elton (1905.) New York: Norroena Society.
Statens Historiska Museer. (2026). Mirror. [Online]. Statens Historiska Museer Digital Collection. Last Updated: 2026. Available at: https://samlingar.shm.se/object/EAF70FA6-4340-490B-981F-AF4543E40112?type=object&query=bj%20581&n=2 [Accessed 30 January 2026].
University of Bristol. 2018. Radiocarbon dating reveals mass grave did date to the Viking age. [Press release]. [Accessed 30 January 2026]. Available from: https://www.bristol.ac.uk/news/2018/february/radiocarbon-viking-grave-.html
Wåhlander, L. (2020). 10th century The Warrior Woman. In: Wåhlander, L. (Ed). Buried at Birka. Birka: Birka Vikingastaden. pp.91-176.
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