ArchSim : Virtuell arkeologisk utgrävning för undervisningsbruk

UU:ITEpu

Horses, Women, and Weapons in Viking-Age Scandinavia

Many of the characters of Old Norse poetry and literature are shrouded in mist. Among these are the Valkyries; the mounted servants of Ođin and Freyja that enter the battle fields to collect the bravest of the fallen and bring them to eternal life in the great halls. The general idea of the Valkyries has always been that of armed women on horseback, while earthly horses and weapons have been interpreted by archaeologists as almost exclusively part of the men’s sphere. To the extent that weapons and horse equipment in Late Iron Age graves have been considered as artefacts indicating male gender of the buried person. Despite the knowledge of concept of the Valkyries which indicates a link between horses, women and war, neither the different roles of women in the equestrian world of the Viking Age, nor the existence of earthly mounted women warriors have been discussed to a greater extent. The last decades, the number, and types of artefacts from the Late Iron Age have increased significantly due to the use of metal detectors. Of special interest here are the ‘Valkyrie pendants’. These are small metal figures, undoubtedly in the shape of a woman. She sometimes carries weapons, and, in some cases, she is mounted on a horse. In the field of archaeological science, a game changing discovery was made some years ago. The skeleton from one of the 10th century warrior graves from the Viking town Birka, Sweden was noted to have ‘female traits’ by an osteologists already in the 1970s, but since the deceased had been laid to rest together with full two horses and full weaponry, male sex was assumed. DNA-analysis revealed the truth – the warrior was a woman. Against this background, I will discuss the connections between women and war in Late Iron Age Scandinavia and problematizing women’s roles on the equestrian scene of the period. In the field of archaeological science, a game changing discovery was made some years ago. The skeleton from one of the 10th century warrior graves from the Viking town Birka, Sweden was noted to have ‘female traits’ by an osteologists already in the 1970s, but since the deceased had been laid to rest together with full two horses and full weaponry, male sex was assumed. DNA-analysis revealed the truth – the warrior was a woman. Against this background, I will discuss the connections between women and war in Late Iron Age Scandinavia and problematizing women’s roles on the equestrian scene of the period

Horses, Women, and Weapons in Viking-Age Scandinavia

Many of the characters of Old Norse poetry and literature are shrouded in mist. Among these are the Valkyries; the mounted servants of Ođin and Freyja that enter the battle fields to collect the bravest of the fallen and bring them to eternal life in the great halls. The general idea of the Valkyries has always been that of armed women on horseback, while earthly horses and weapons have been interpreted by archaeologists as almost exclusively part of the men’s sphere. To the extent that weapons and horse equipment in Late Iron Age graves have been considered as artefacts indicating male gender of the buried person. Despite the knowledge of concept of the Valkyries which indicates a link between horses, women and war, neither the different roles of women in the equestrian world of the Viking Age, nor the existence of earthly mounted women warriors have been discussed to a greater extent. The last decades, the number, and types of artefacts from the Late Iron Age have increased significantly due to the use of metal detectors. Of special interest here are the ‘Valkyrie pendants’. These are small metal figures, undoubtedly in the shape of a woman. She sometimes carries weapons, and, in some cases, she is mounted on a horse. In the field of archaeological science, a game changing discovery was made some years ago. The skeleton from one of the 10th century warrior graves from the Viking town Birka, Sweden was noted to have ‘female traits’ by an osteologists already in the 1970s, but since the deceased had been laid to rest together with full two horses and full weaponry, male sex was assumed. DNA-analysis revealed the truth – the warrior was a woman. Against this background, I will discuss the connections between women and war in Late Iron Age Scandinavia and problematizing women’s roles on the equestrian scene of the period. In the field of archaeological science, a game changing discovery was made some years ago. The skeleton from one of the 10th century warrior graves from the Viking town Birka, Sweden was noted to have ‘female traits’ by an osteologists already in the 1970s, but since the deceased had been laid to rest together with full two horses and full weaponry, male sex was assumed. DNA-analysis revealed the truth – the warrior was a woman. Against this background, I will discuss the connections between women and war in Late Iron Age Scandinavia and problematizing women’s roles on the equestrian scene of the period

ArchSim : Virtuell arkeologisk utgrävning för undervisningsbruk

UU:ITEpu

Organofosfatestrar i humanmjölk och fisk från svenska sjöar och kustnära områden : Ett screeningprojekt från Naturvårdsverket

Användningen av fosforbaserade flamskyddsmedel och mjukgörare av typen organofosfatestrar (OP) ökar i samhället. Halter och fördelningsmönster av 11 st OP, varav en del har visat sig vara giftiga för bl.a. vattenlevande organismer, har kartlagts i bröstmjölk samt i fisk och musslor från svenska sjöar och kustområden. En del av miljöproverna samlades in i närheten av potentiella källor till OP men de flesta samlades in från bakgrundslokaler. Tris-2-kloro-iso-propylfosfat (TCPP) och trifenylfosfat dominerade i biota medan TCPP och tributylfosfat dominerade i mjölkproven. Koncentrationer och fördelningsmönster av OP var mycket likartade i biota från bakgrundslokaler, vilket tyder på att OP spridits från diffusa källor. Däremot märktes tydliga skillnader i både halter och fördelning av OP i proven som tagits nära källor. Fisk från Märstaån, som får dagvatten från Arlanda flygplats, uppvisade höga halter av OP som ingår i hydrauloljor för flygplan. Fisk provtagen nedströms reningsverk hade betydligt högre halter än fisk från bakgrundslokaler av tris(2-butoxyetyl)fosfat (TBEP), en av de mest vanligt förekommande OP i utgående vatten från reningsverk. Likaså återfanns den klorerade OP tris(1,3-dikloro-2-propyl)fosfat endast i fiskarna som provtagits nedströms reningsverk. Inga distinkta skillnader kunde upptäckas i halter och fördelning av OP i mjölk från kvinnor som bor i olika städer. Däremot var halten av TBEP högre i mjölk insamlad för tio år sedan jämfört med nyligen insamlad mjölk. När det gäller humanexponering för OP verkar exponering via fisk och, för spädbarn, bröst-mjölk vara av liten betydelse jämfört med andra potentiella exponeringsvägar som t.ex luft och damm

Circulating levels of inflammatory markers and DNA methylation, an analysis of repeated samples from a population based cohort

DNA methylation in blood may adapt to conditions affecting our health, such as inflammation, and multiple studies have identified differential DNA methylation related to smoking, obesity and various diseases. The purpose of this study was to evaluate previously reported, and explore possible new, associations between levels of inflammatory markers and DNA methylation in blood. We used a well-characterized study population consisting of 127 individuals, all of whom were participants in the population-based Vasterbotten Intervention Programme cohort and had provided two blood samples, ten years apart. Levels of CRP and 160 other proteins were measured in plasma, and DNA methylation levels (assessed using the 850K Illumina Infinium MethylationEPIC BeadChip) were measured in white blood cell DNA. Associations between CpG methylation and protein levels were estimated using linear mixed models. In the study we were able to confirm the direction for 85 of 102 previously reported protein-methylation associations. Depicting associations in a network allowed us to identify CpG sites with associations to multiple proteins, and ten CpG sites were each associated with three or more inflammatory markers. Furthermore, two genetic regions included nine additional unreported CpG sites that may represent trans-acting methylation sites. Our study supports a complex interaction between DNA methylation and circulating proteins involved in the inflammatory response. The notion of trans-acting methylation sites affecting, or being affected by, the expression of genes on completely different chromosomes should be taken into account when interpreting results from epigenome-wide association studies