Viking Scholar Lecture Series: Neil Price from Uppsala University: Debating a Swedish grave and its implications.

The warrior woman or 'shield maiden' has long been part of the Viking image, with a pedigree that extends from the Valkyries of Old Norse prose and poetry to Wagner's operatic fantasies and beyond. In our own times, she has taken on a new lease of life through mass-media entertainment and television drama such as the Vikings series. However, until recently the actual Viking-Age evidence for female fighters, whether real or mythical, has been sparse and ambiguous. In September 2017, the announcement that a famous Viking warrior burial was in fact the grave of a woman went viral across the internet. This talk presents the discovery and its reanalysis, addresses the controversies and considers our attitudes to gender in the Viking Age.

Neil Price is Distinguished Professor of Archaeology at the University of Uppsala, Sweden, and formerly held the Sixth Century Chair in Archaeology at Aberdeen. A leading specialist in the Viking Age and the pre-Christian religions of the North, his researches have taken him to more than 40 countries. For the next ten years he is directing one of Sweden's largest archaeological research projects, The Viking Phenomenon, leading an international team to explore the origins of this critical period in world history.

Cost: $10 for Museum members, $15 for General Admission.
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/viking-scholar-lecture-series-professor-neil-price-tickets-56001355562