Who's that Girl? The Cultural Construction of Girlhood and the Transition to Womanhood in Viking Age Gotland

The aim of this paper is to explore the cultural construction of girlhood and the transition to womanhood in relation to beads and arm-rings in Viking Age (AD 800–1050) burials from Gotland. It is suggested that a distinct and dualistic division between childhood and adulthood may not have prevailed in Viking Age society. Further it is proposed that Viking Age girls up to the age of fifteen years were divided into two age groups. The first group comprised ages up to five years when infant girls were buried with a few beads and an arm-ring. The second group covered the ages from five to fi fteen years when girls were buried in a similar dress to adult females but with more elaborate bead-sets as well as wearing an arm-ring. This suggests that the number of beads in a burial tell less of social status and more of social age. An issue being addressed is whether the girls aged five to fifteen years should be considered as a second step of childhood, as female adulthood or as representing a 'hood' on the threshold. It is argued that beads and arm-rings had an important role in creating relational agebased identities; they had signi fications beyond the aspect of jewellery.