The burials that could challenge historians’ ideas about Anglo-Saxon gender

[Waspie_Dwarf]

The burials that could challenge historians’ ideas about Anglo-Saxon gender

Quote

There are a significant number of Anglo-Saxon burials where the estimated anatomical sex of the skeleton does not align with the gender implied by the items they were buried with. Some bodies identified as male have been buried with feminine clothing, and some bodies identified as female have been found in the sorts of “warrior graves” typically associated with men.

In the archaeology of early Anglo-Saxon England, weaponry, horse-riding equipment and tools are thought to signal masculinity, while jewellery, sewing equipment and beads signal femininity. And, for the most part, this pattern fits.

So far though, no convincing explanation has been put forward for the burials which appear to invert the pattern.

Read More: The Conversation

 

[Piney]

The Germanic People had a cross dressing priesthood. @Orphalesion probably knows more about them. 

[+OverSword]

The Romans wrote extensively about the Germanic tribes.  I wonder if there is anything about a trans phenomena in those historic documents? We know there were warrior women such as Brittan's Boudica and that Women were allowed to speak in council in Finland, Sweden and Norway but that is far from they identifying as male.

Looking at it "through the lens of trans theory and the 21st-century language of “transness”"  As the author put it may be as fair as viewing women's rights in such a culture through the lens of 1970's feminism.  How you would do such a thing based on 11 burials with discrepancies should be interesting. I'm no expert by any means interpretable but I doubt this could lead to any solid conclusions.

[Tatetopa]

Odin took up witchcraft, usually a woman's purview, Loki bore several amazing children, Thor dressed as a bride to recover his hammer.  

[+and-then]

1 hour ago, OverSword said:

We know there were warrior women such as Brittan's Boudica and that Women were allowed to speak in council in Finland, Sweden and Norway but that is far from they identifying as male.

She was the first leader I thought of while reading this.  Looking for early examples of "trans" culture is fine.  Research does no harm but I think modern examples of "scholarship" seem to too often try to force examples or make puzzle pieces fit with a hammer rather than tweezers.  It seems more likely that these women were simply accepted and honored as warriors in their culture.  The IDF, among other militaries, has been a shining example of the role of women in the military in the modern era.  

I have no idea if such things are happening in a widespread manner but it looks like "research" these days is too often funded with a predetermined narrative in mind.  Covid-19 certainly was an example of politicizing research to fit a narrative.  

[Abramelin]

22 hours ago, and-then said:

it looks like "research" these days is too often funded with a predetermined narrative in mind. 

[Orphalesion]

On 10/3/2023 at 6:53 PM, Piney said:

The Germanic People had a cross dressing priesthood. @Orphalesion probably knows more about them. 

Hey, sorry I didn't react to this. I was sick.

Hm..I would have to read up on it again to say anything concrete, it does ring a bell, but it's been years since I really looked into it.

But it's very possible. Several cultures had cross-dressing or genderfluid priests.

And as already pointed out, even the surviving myths reflect this to some extend. Odin, a god who is, among other things, linked to pagan priesthood did have his female aspects (such as his pro efficiency in Seid, Norse magic usually practised by women) and Loki with his tendencies to take on female shapes in several myths.

[Piney]

22 minutes ago, Orphalesion said:

Hey, sorry I didn't react to this. I was sick.

Hm..I would have to read up on it again to say anything concrete, it does ring a bell, but it's been years since I really looked into it.

But it's very possible. Several cultures had cross-dressing or genderfluid priests.

And as already pointed out, even the surviving myths reflect this to some extend. Odin, a god who is, among other things, linked to pagan priesthood did have his female aspects (such as his pro efficiency in Seid, Norse magic usually practised by women) and Loki with his tendencies to take on female shapes in several myths.

If I remember correctly Loki wasn't evil pre-Christian. Just a trickster in the Native American/ Asian sense so he might of had a priesthood. 

[Orphalesion]

1 hour ago, Piney said:

If I remember correctly Loki wasn't evil pre-Christian. Just a trickster in the Native American/ Asian sense so he might of had a priesthood. 

It's difficult to reconstruct his pre-Christian character or even function, since we do not know much/anything.

From what I remember his name means "Entangler" but it's very possible that the name Loki/Entangler was originally just a title (Just like with Freyr/Yngwi and, possibly Freyja) and his original name is lost.

But even from the surviving tales there is quite a bit of evidence that allows for the interpretation of him as a trickster god. He causes mischief/problems, but also solves them, and sometimes that can lead to a positive outcome. Like in the story where he removed the hair of Thor's wife Sif by the root while she was sleeping. After Thor threatened him, Loki then got the Dwarves to forge new hair out of pure gold for her which made her even more beautiful, and as a bonus he also got the Dwarves to forge Thor's hammer.

And in the one tale where his actions lead to evil (the death of Baldr) we do really not know what the original, pre-Christian form or context of the myth is, and we've talked in the past about how many dubious theories about that myth exist, haha.

So we have one very Christianized myth where he acts evil, and a whole bunch of other surviving myths where he acts mischievous or even helpful. So the interpretation of him as a trickster is very probable.