Textiles of the Viking North Atlantic

An examination of the uses, meanings, and social impact of Viking Age textiles.

This volume offers the first full study of archaeological fabrics and their decoration found in the North Atlantic region and dating broadly from the Viking or Norse period. With contributions from both academic scholars and practitioners, it shows how approaching early medieval textiles from archaeological, historical and literary contexts, and through the processes of learning and employing the traditional skills of making them, brings about a more nuanced understanding of early medieval cloths: their creation, use and meanings within their respective societies.

The book is divided into two parts. The first, "Textiles and their Interpretation", takes the reader on a journey from how wool was processed in the Viking Age, and the conservator's role in preserving and interpreting archaeological textiles, to different types of analyses that researchers use to understand and explain textiles from across the wide area of the Viking-influenced North Atlantic region. The second, "Understanding through Replicating", investigates the results of practical experiments in the reconstruction of surviving medieval fabrics and the resulting empirical conclusions that can be made about their manufacture and wider cultural implications.

Introduction Note on Old Norse characters
Part I: Textiles and their Interpretation
1. Sheep, Wool and Fleece Processing: where it all began - Carol Christiansen
2. Potential Insights on Archaeological Textiles: The Nature of Preservation and the Conservator's Eye - Elizabeth E. Peacock
3. King Harald's Grey Cloak: Vararfeldir and the Trade in Shaggy Pile Weave Cloaks between Iceland and Norway in the Late Viking and Early Middle Ages - Michèle Hayeur Smith
4. Re-clothing the Inhabitants of Tenth-century Dublin based on Archaeological Evidence - Frances Pritchard
5. The Sensory Archaeology of Early Medieval Fabrics from the North Atlantic - Alexandra Lester-Makin
6. The Function of Written Textiles in the Íslendingasögur - Rachel Balchin
7. The Medieval Mantles of Hibernia: Functional, Aesthetic and Markers of Ethnic Identity - Dolores Kearney
Part II: Understanding through Replicating
8. Making the Best of it: Planning Decisions for Reproduction Fabrics - Ruth Gilbert
9. The Importance of learning Old Things in Order to gain New Knowledge - Ann Asplund
10. Collaborative Working Practices: creating and theorising Sprang - Carol James
11. From Wool to Mitten - when History comes to Life in your Hands - Liselotte Öhrling and Anna Josefsson Glossary
Index