Thousand-year-old Grave of Nonbinary Person is Discovered By Researchers
If you think the acceptance of non-traditional gender roles is a product of the new generation, think again. Researchers in Finland say they’ve determined a body found in a 1,000-year-old grave is that of a nonbinary person.
And not just any person. According to a study published in Tuesday’s European Journal of Archaeology, the body inside the iron grave was that of a leader or someone who was loved by many. “The overall context of the grave indicates that it was a respected person whose gender identity may well have been nonbinary,” the study reads.
“The buried individual seems to have been a highly respected member of their community,” the study’s lead author, Ulla Moilanen told The Guardian. “They were laid in the grave on a soft feather blanket with valuable furs and objects.”
The grave was actually discovered in 1968. However, because the body was dressed in women’s clothing, they believed it to be that of a woman. Researchers recently ran a DNA test on the body because they were puzzled by a sword found in the grave, an item traditionally buried alongside men of that period, they say.
For decades, the researchers said, archaeologists had assumed either that two bodies, a man and a woman, had been buried in the Suontaka grave, or that it was the evidence strong female leaders, even woman warriors, existed in early medieval Finland. How cool is this new evidence!
