Charlotte Hedenstierna-Jonson
Researcher at Department of Archaeology, Ancient History and Conservation; Archaeology
- E-mail:
- charlotte.hedenstierna-jonson@arkeologi.uu.se
- Visiting address:
- Engelska parken, Thunbergsvägen 3H
- Postal address:
- Box 626
751 26 UPPSALA
Short presentation
Core member in the World in the Viking Age (WIVA) centre of excellence, and researcher and Co-investigator of the Viking Phenomenon research project coordinating work in the sub-project Viking Economics aiming at exploring the economy and organisation of Viking raids and their impact when shaping Scandinavian identities. Key issues relate to how the raids were structured, what role women played and the importance of slave-taking and trafficking, both when raiding and in society at large.
Biography
I am a researcher and part of the Viking Phenomenon research project. I studied at the Archaeological Research Laboratory, Stockholm University, and presented a PhD thesis in 2006 on the Birka Warrior – the material culture of a martial society. With a background in field archaeology and as senior curator at the Swedish History Museum (SHM) I have held research fellowships at SHM, Stockholm University and the Römisch-Germanisches Zentralmuseum (RGZM) in Mainz. Previous research projects have focused on warfare, identities, mobility and material culture in Late Iron Age – Viking Age societies. Most recently I was part of the interdisciplinary ATLAS-project aiming at unravelling human prehistory within present day Sweden by combining archaeology, physical anthropology and genetics.

Publications
Recent publications
Breaking Down the "Barbarian" Trope: Strategic Military Coordination in Decentralized Collectives
Part of Journal of archaeological research, 2025
- DOI for Breaking Down the "Barbarian" Trope: Strategic Military Coordination in Decentralized Collectives
- Download full text (pdf) of Breaking Down the "Barbarian" Trope: Strategic Military Coordination in Decentralized Collectives
A Völva or Seiðmaðr in Finland?: Cultural Creolization as a Problem for Interpretations
Part of Gendering the Nordic Past, p. 121-135, Brepols, 2025
- DOI for A Völva or Seiðmaðr in Finland?: Cultural Creolization as a Problem for Interpretations
- Download full text (pdf) of A Völva or Seiðmaðr in Finland?: Cultural Creolization as a Problem for Interpretations
Iron Age Scandinavia and the Silk Roads: a new frontier.
Part of The Historian, p. 36-39, 2024
A Viking Century. Chernihiv area from 900 to 1000 AD
Part of Norwegian Archaeological Review, p. 88-90, 2024
Sequins and Other ‘Bling’ in Viking Age Fashion
Part of The Common Thread, p. 247-254, Brepols, 2024
- DOI for Sequins and Other ‘Bling’ in Viking Age Fashion
- Download full text (pdf) of Sequins and Other ‘Bling’ in Viking Age Fashion
All publications
Articles in journal
Breaking Down the "Barbarian" Trope: Strategic Military Coordination in Decentralized Collectives
Part of Journal of archaeological research, 2025
- DOI for Breaking Down the "Barbarian" Trope: Strategic Military Coordination in Decentralized Collectives
- Download full text (pdf) of Breaking Down the "Barbarian" Trope: Strategic Military Coordination in Decentralized Collectives
Iron Age Scandinavia and the Silk Roads: a new frontier.
Part of The Historian, p. 36-39, 2024
The genetic history of Scandinavia from the Roman Iron Age to the present
Part of Cell, p. 32-460000000000000000000, 2023
- DOI for The genetic history of Scandinavia from the Roman Iron Age to the present
- Download full text (pdf) of The genetic history of Scandinavia from the Roman Iron Age to the present
New institutional economics in Viking studies: Visualising immaterial culture
Part of Archaeological Dialogues, p. 172-187, 2022
- DOI for New institutional economics in Viking studies: Visualising immaterial culture
- Download full text (pdf) of New institutional economics in Viking studies: Visualising immaterial culture
Internationell handel, tidiga städer och nätverksriken
Part of Situne Dei, p. 74-76, 2022
Part of Bulletin of the Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities, p. 43-64, 2020
Population genomics of the Viking world
Part of Nature, p. 390-+, 2020
Viking warrior women?: Reassessing Birka chamber grave Bj.581
Part of Antiquity, p. 181-198, 2019
- DOI for Viking warrior women?: Reassessing Birka chamber grave Bj.581
- Download full text (pdf) of Viking warrior women?: Reassessing Birka chamber grave Bj.581
A female Viking warrior confirmed by genomics
Part of American Journal of Physical Anthropology, p. 853-860, 2017
- DOI for A female Viking warrior confirmed by genomics
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Chapters in book
A Völva or Seiðmaðr in Finland?: Cultural Creolization as a Problem for Interpretations
Part of Gendering the Nordic Past, p. 121-135, Brepols, 2025
- DOI for A Völva or Seiðmaðr in Finland?: Cultural Creolization as a Problem for Interpretations
- Download full text (pdf) of A Völva or Seiðmaðr in Finland?: Cultural Creolization as a Problem for Interpretations
Sequins and Other ‘Bling’ in Viking Age Fashion
Part of The Common Thread, p. 247-254, Brepols, 2024
- DOI for Sequins and Other ‘Bling’ in Viking Age Fashion
- Download full text (pdf) of Sequins and Other ‘Bling’ in Viking Age Fashion
Not a camp but a garrison: Martial life 'at home'
Part of Viking Camps, p. 274-293, Routledge, 2023
- DOI for Not a camp but a garrison: Martial life 'at home'
- Download full text (pdf) of Not a camp but a garrison: Martial life 'at home'
Elite Burials with Bohemian Garnets in Vendel Period Sweden
Part of Royal Insignia of Late Antiquity from Mšec and Řevničov, p. 194-199, Museum in Rakovník, 2023
Sveer i østerled: Fund fra vikingebyen Birka
Part of Rus, p. 131-138, Moesgaard Museum, 2022
Farmer, Raider, Trader, Ruler: Society and People of the Eastern Viking World
Part of Norman Connections, p. 46-57, Verlag Schnell + Steiner GmbH, 2022
Bland getingpärlor och Hedebymynt: Spår av danska kontakter i Birka
Part of Glimt fra Vikingetiden, p. 62-68, Danske Amatørarkæologer (DAA), 2021
Part of Svenska arkeologer, p. 47-53, Kungl. Gustav Adolfs Akademien för svensk folkkultur, 2020
Part of Iron and the Transformation of Society, p. 187-222, Jernkontoret, 2020
Part of Svenska arkeologer, p. 301-308, Kungl. Gustav Adolfs Akademien för svensk folkkultur, 2020
Viking Mobility in the Baltic Sea Region
Part of Viking Encounters, p. 57-66, Aarhus University Press, 2020
Kvinnan med den gröna bägaren: 800-tal
Part of Begravd på Birka, p. 52-89, Strömma, 2020
Warrior Identities in Viking Age Scandinavia.
Part of Vikings Across Boundaries, p. 179-194, Routledge, 2020
Entering the Viking Age through the Baltic
Part of Relations and Runes, p. 11-22, Riksantikvarieämbetet, 2020
Creating a Cultural Expression: On Rus' Identity and Material Culture.
Part of Identity Formation and Diversity in the Early Medieval Baltic and Beyond., p. 91-106, Brill, 2017
Foreigner and Local: Identities and Cultural Expression among the Urban People of Birka
Part of Shetland and the Viking World, p. 189-195, Shetland Heritage Publications, Shetland Amenity Trust, 2016
Spaces and Places of the Urban Settlement of Birka
Part of New aspects on Viking-age urbanism c. AD 750-1100, p. 23-34, Archaeological Research Laboratory, Stockholm University, 2016
Part of Socioekonomisk mångfald. Ritualer och urbanitet, p. 27-38, Statens Historiska Museer, Arkeologerna, 2016
Collections (editor)
Viking Camps: Case Studies and Comparisons
Routledge, 2023
Riksantikvarieämbetet, 2020
Hjalmar Stolpe-samfundet, 2018
Archaeological Research Laboratory, Stockholm University, 2016
Own and be owned: archaeological approaches to the concept of possession
Stockholm University, 2015
Conference papers
Part of Vikings in the Mediterranean, p. 223-240, 2023
Horses and Burials in Late Iron-Age Central Sweden: The Examples of Valsgärde and Birka
Part of Horse and Rider in the late Viking Age, p. 223-243, 2021
Other
A Viking Century. Chernihiv area from 900 to 1000 AD
Part of Norwegian Archaeological Review, p. 88-90, 2024
Jeanette Varberg, Viking: Ran, ild og sværd (Köpenhamn: Gyldendal 2019). 576 s.
Part of Historisk Tidskrift, p. 552-554, 2020