Fun fact of today: the shield maiden from Solør

(Tw for a picture of a real skull)

Did you kno that in the town of Flisa in Solør, there is a small, 155cm tall statue of a shield maiden? What if I told you that it’s in honour of an actual shield maiden?

In the year of 1900, in Solør, a viking grave was discovered. The grave contained the skeleton of a young woman, and it has been dated back as far as the 10th century.

The woman was around 155cm tall, and she had most likely been around 18 to 20 years. Her grave consisted of multiple objects; a spear, an axe, 5 arrowheads, a sword, the skeleton of a horse, a bridel, etc. By these objects, it was determined that the women had most likely been a shield maiden.

A part of her front skull had been damaged, most likely from being struck by a weapon of some kind, but amazingly enough, researchers found evidence that the wound had been healing, meaning that she probably died from something else.

The axe that she had with her in her grave, was bigger than what she comfortably was able to use, and researchers have been throezing that she either stole the axe, or won it in a battle of some kind.

The shield maiden was given the name “Skjoldmøya” which means “The shield maiden” in Norway.

Other than the statue of her in Flisa, a tradition was created many years ago. Every year, there is a play called “Skjoldmøya spellet” (The shield maiden play) which is a play about, well, the shield maiden of Solør. Since we don’t know her story, we create and imagine what we think her life was. So every year, the play is different, but the plot is the same; Skjolmøya’s life from birth, to her death.

Today, her remains lay in Oslo, along with her belonging. Whoever you were Skjoldmøya, I hope you’re looking down on the people who keep you alive through tradition and plays.

by uhh_ise