Birka grave Bj 581

Birka grave Bj 581 held a female buried in a weapons grave during the 10th century in Birka, Sweden. Although the remains had been thought to be of a male warrior since the grave's excavation in 1878, both a 2014 osteological analysis and a 2017 DNA study proved that the remains were of a female. A 2017 study claimed the person in Bj 581 was a high ranking professional warrior. The study attracted worldwide attention, as well as criticism from some academics who disputed the interpretation of burial goods.^[1]