Trekroner-Grydehøj Viking Burial Belonged To A Volva?

In this piece of article, we are to discuss a Viking burial belonging to a Viking woman. The archaeologists believed that this woman held a high social rank. Although the grave was not so luxurious as the Oseberg burial or Gokstad ship, it held both historical and religious importance. 

The grave was named A505 and the archaeologists found it at Trekroner-Grydehoj, in Denmark. The archaeologists believed that this burial grave dated back to the eighth or ninth century.

Originally, many scholars assumed that the woman inside the burial mound was just a free Viking woman and she could have been punished. For the shortage of evidence, this theory quickly fell into oblivion. 

Modern reconstruction of the Trekroner-Grydehøj A505 burial 

It was an inhumation grave. In the Viking Age, there were two major ways that they would treat the corpse: to bury or to cremate. Inside A505, there was a woman who was at her 20s or 30s when she died. The grave was 70''x110'' and it was buried 20'' in depth. 

The woman was put to rest in the supine position and aligned north-south. 

And accompanying her in her final resting place were some grave goods. A wooden bucket was next to her. A chest was also found with two knives. A spearhead was still there when the archaeologists broke in. At the foot of the woman were a dog and a sheep. A stone was placed over the hind end of the dog. Over the left side of the woman was a horse. No textile survived the test of time. 

The drawing of the grave and the spearhead remains 

Later, many scholars believed that woman held a high social rank because not everyone in the Viking Age could be buried with a horse. Some assumed that she was a volva and the assumed spearhead was the wand for the Viking volva. In the Viking Age, a volva was a seeress who held a high social rank. "A volva" meant "the holder of the wand". However, the answer to the identity of the woman forever remains a mystery. 

The spearhead found inside A505 burial