The Textiles from Nørre Vosborg

Abstract

The Textiles from Nørre Vosborg

In a north Jutland woman's grave from the Viking Age a few textile remains have been preserved in connection with metal ornaments: three frue fragments and two textile impressions inside tortoise brooches. The latter were probably made in connection with the casting of the brooches (see H. Brinch Madsen's article in this volume).

The two textile impressions are both of fine plainwoven material. The thread count is 19/18 (C 10932) and about 18/20 (C 10933) per cm, respectively. Spinning direction cannot be determined.

The textile fragments C 10934 arid C 10941 b presumably derive from the same material, both Z/S spun, and with a thread count of 9/14 and 15/18 per cm, respectively. The weave cannot be determined for the first piece but is 2/2 twill in the latter.

The piece C 10941 is in 2/2 crystal twill, Z/Z spun, with a thread count of 26/14 per cm. The three types of material from the Nørre Vosborg grave, i.e. plain-woven, coarse twill and crystal twill are all known from other Viking finds. A registration of the textile remains from all Viking graves has produced 225 identifiable fragments, of which 81 % are plain-woven, and the remainder 1/2 twill, 2/2 twill and broken/crystal twill. Spinning direction is in 84 % of the cases Z/Z, and the thread count varies between 4 and 52 threads per cm.

A comparison between the textiles from the Viking period and those from the rest of the Iron Age reveals that twill dominates throughout the early Iron Age and in the older Germanic Iron Age, while plain weave, which had hitherto been rare, suddenly comprises 44 % of the material and in the Viking Age attains over 80 % .

The Nørre Vosborg textiles may be described as good pieces, characteristic of the earliest Viking period.

Lise Bender Jørgensen

Oversættelse: Peter Crabb