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DNA: Woman Was on Famed 17th Century Swedish Warship
Epoch Times ^ | April 4, 2023 | Staff

Posted on 04/04/2023 9:48:30 AM PDT by Red Badger

The royal warship Vasa is seen at the Vasamuseet museum in Stockholm on April 24, 2011. (Scanpix Sweden, Anders Wiklund/AP Photo)

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COPENHAGEN, Denmark—A U.S. military laboratory has helped Swedes confirm what was suspected for years: A woman was among those who died on a 17th-century warship that sank on its maiden voyage, the museum that displays the ship said Tuesday.

The wreck of the royal warship Vasa was raised in 1961, and was remarkably well-preserved after more than 300 years underwater in the Stockholm harbor. It has since been place at the Vasa Museum, one of Stockholm’s top tourist attractions where visitors can admire its intricate wooden carvings.

Some 30 people died when the Vasa keeled over and sank just minutes after leaving port in 1628. They are believed to have been crew members and most of their identities are unknown.

For years, there were indications that one of the victims, known as G, was a woman, because of the appearance of the hip bone, Fred Hocker, research leader at the Vasa Museum, said in a statement.

Anna Maria Forsberg, a historian with the Vasa Museum, told The Associated Press that women were not part of the crew in the Swedish navy in the 17th century, but they could be on board as guests. Seamen were allowed to have their wives with them onboard unless the ship was going into battle or going for a long journey.

“We know from written sources that around 30 people died that day,” Forsberg said. “It is thus likely that she was a seaman’s wife who wanted to come along on the maiden journey of this new, impressive ship.”

She said the exact number of people on board that day was not known “but we think there were around 150 people. An additional 300 soldiers were supposed to board further out in the archipelago,” she said.

Since 2004, the Vasa Museum collaborated with the Department of Immunology, Genetics, and Pathology at Uppsala University, which examined all the skeletons on Vasa in order to find out as much as possible about the various individuals on the doomed vessel.

“It is very difficult to extract DNA from bones that have been on the seabed for 333 years, but not impossible,” Marie Allen, professor of forensic genetics at Uppsala University said in the statement. “Simply put, we found no Y chromosomes in G’s genome. But we couldn’t be completely sure and we wanted to have the results confirmed.”

So they turned to the Delaware-based Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory. And thanks to the forensics laboratory specializing in DNA profiling at the Dover Air Force Base, “we have been able to confirm that the individual G was a woman, using the new test,” Allen said.

The Vasa which was supposed to go to a naval base outside Stockholm to wait for the boarding of the soldiers, is believed to have sunk because it lacked the ballast to counterweigh its heavy guns.

By Jan M. Olsen


TOPICS: History; Military/Veterans; Science; Society
KEYWORDS: ancientautopsies; ballast; baltic; gatorgothistrollback; ggg; godsgravesglyphs; helixmakemineadouble; middleages; navy; sweden; swedishnavy; vasa; warship
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To: Red Badger

“we have been able to confirm that the individual G was a woman, using the new test,”


So there is a test for that. Should we tell the democrats?


21 posted on 04/04/2023 10:08:29 AM PDT by PeterPrinciple (Thinking Caps are no longer being issued but there must be a warehouse full of them somewhere.)
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To: whitney69

TWOT

That wench over there.


22 posted on 04/04/2023 10:08:39 AM PDT by Larry Lucido (Donate! Don't just post clickbait!)
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To: TexasGator

Did they have biologists in the 17th century?
Huh?

That’s clearly a side reference to our newest SCOTUS judge Brown who couldn’t define what a woman was because she’s “not a biologist “.

Keep up there, Sparky!🤭


23 posted on 04/04/2023 10:09:49 AM PDT by drSteve78 (Je suis Deplorable STILL . )
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To: Scrambler Bob

Yes, to my knowledge there were no women involved in the erratic design process (the basis of what is known today as the “Vasa Syndrome”).

Was trying to make a little joke.


24 posted on 04/04/2023 10:12:24 AM PDT by BenLurkin (The above is not a statement of fact. It is either opinion, or satire, or both.)
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To: Sacajaweau
#5: Somebody’s gotta make the coffee sammich.

25 posted on 04/04/2023 10:14:07 AM PDT by Governor Dinwiddie (LORD, grant thy people grace to withstand the temptations of the world, the flesh, and the devil.)
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To: Scrambler Bob
Eerily similar to what happened to Henry VIII's Mary Rose.

26 posted on 04/04/2023 10:18:08 AM PDT by Governor Dinwiddie (LORD, grant thy people grace to withstand the temptations of the world, the flesh, and the devil.)
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To: Red Badger
Every boat needs a winch or two...


27 posted on 04/04/2023 10:18:32 AM PDT by Magnum44 (...against all enemies, foreign and domestic... )
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To: drSteve78

Or that crackpot anthropology professor at UPitt!


28 posted on 04/04/2023 10:19:03 AM PDT by Reily (!!)
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To: Red Badger

“...sank on its maiden voyage”

All you need to know about females on ships.


29 posted on 04/04/2023 10:20:34 AM PDT by Kenny500c ( )
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To: Scrambler Bob

“I was told ...”

Read the article.


30 posted on 04/04/2023 10:21:02 AM PDT by TexasGator
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To: drSteve78

“Did they have biologists in the 17th century?”

Huh?


31 posted on 04/04/2023 10:21:51 AM PDT by TexasGator
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To: Scrambler Bob
I was told that a new King wanted an additional layer of guns added to the top.

That changed the balance from the original.

Correct!

32 posted on 04/04/2023 10:24:34 AM PDT by ScaniaBoy (Part of the Right Wing Research & Attack Machine)
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To: Scrambler Bob

You are correct, whether you read the article or not.

It is a beautiful museum. If you ever get the chance, you should see it.


33 posted on 04/04/2023 10:27:34 AM PDT by Bartholomew Roberts
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To: MeganC
How did the Swedes know this was a woman? Did they have biologists in the 17th century?

Only a little later: Carl Linneaus (1707 - 1778) was a Swedish botanist, zoologist, taxonomist, and physician who formalised binomial nomenclature, the modern system of naming organisms. In 1729, Linnaeus wrote a thesis, Praeludia Sponsaliorum Plantarum on plant sexual reproduction.

Carl Linneaus was definitely able to define male and female.

Where is Winston Smith when he is needed most? /s

34 posted on 04/04/2023 10:31:37 AM PDT by ScaniaBoy (Part of the Right Wing Research & Attack Machine)
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To: Red Badger

We can go on living now.


35 posted on 04/04/2023 10:33:36 AM PDT by LeonardFMason
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To: BenLurkin
Yes, to my knowledge there were no women involved in the erratic design process (the basis of what is known today as the “Vasa Syndrome”). Was trying to make a little joke.

Well that makes a vas deferens then.

36 posted on 04/04/2023 10:36:08 AM PDT by higgmeister (In the Shadow of The Big Chicken!)
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To: Bartholomew Roberts

“You are correct, whether you read the article or not.”

Not according to the article.


37 posted on 04/04/2023 10:39:41 AM PDT by TexasGator
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To: ought-six

Top-heavy and unstable...

Sounds like she must have been high on the Hot vs Crazy Matrix!


38 posted on 04/04/2023 10:40:03 AM PDT by rlmorel ("If you think tough men are dangerous, just wait until you see what weak men are capable of." J)
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To: ScaniaBoy

The article said no major changes from original.


39 posted on 04/04/2023 10:41:15 AM PDT by TexasGator
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To: Red Badger

No she wasn’t. They can’t ask the person what they identify as so technically we can just say they are dead. Their pronouns are was/were

What lunacy!


40 posted on 04/04/2023 10:42:02 AM PDT by BereanBrain
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