Significant Viking Textile Finds for Women’s Clothing

Compiled by bSusan B. Farmer (ska Jerusha Kilgore)

1938 – Birka by Geijer; English summary 1983

1945 – Vernes by Blindham
1974 – Birka by Hägg; English summary 1983
1976 – Vestlandet by Holm-Olsen
1980 – Køstrup by Wielandt ?? I don't have this, so I don't know if it's "just" textiles or not
1981 – Birka by Bau
1982 – Oseberg by Ingstadt
1984 – Russia by Stalsberg
1984 – Hedeby Harbour by Hägg
1988 – Gnëzdovo by Avdusin and Pushkina
1991 – Hedeby Settlement by Hägg
1993 – Køstrup by Lindblom, Løngborg, and Rasmussen and Longbørg
1994 – Tuna by Nockert
1999 – Kaupang by Ingstad
1999 – Scar by Gabra-Sanders
2004 – Yorkshire by Speed and Walton Rogers
2008 – Valsgarde by Grässlund (I think this is mostly/all cremation graves. I'll know as soon as I get a
copy of the entire paper)
2010 – Pskov by Zubkova et al
2011 – Gnëzdovo by Orfinskaya and Pushkina
2011 – Voss and Vik in Norway by Lukešová
2014 – Cumwhitton by Parsons et al and Walton Rogers
2014 – Valsgärde by Larsson (preliminary results indicating all textiles in one burial are silk. Book was
allegedly to be published in 2016)
2014 – Woodstown by Russell and Hurley ???
2015 – Iceland by Hayeur Smith
2015 – Trå by Øye
2016 – Hårup by Beck (2 preliminary publications)
2016 – Bryndum Church (2 preliminary publications one by Jensen, the other by Silkjær)

BIBLIOGRAPHY
Avdusin, D.A. & T.A. Puškina. 1988. Three Chamber Graves at Gniozdovo. (Tre kammergraver fra
Gniozdovo). Fornvännen 83: 20-33. Stockholm.
http://kulturarvsdata.se/raa/fornvannen/html/1988_020 Date last accessed 20 Oct 2015.
Bau, F. 1981. Seler og slæb i vikingetid, Birka's kvindedragt i nyt lys (Straps and trains in the Viking age:
Birka’s female costume in a new light.). Pp. 13-47 in KUML 1981, Årbok for Jysk arkæologisk
selskap.
Beck, M.A. 2016a. Unikt vikingedødehus rummer fornemt stormandspar.
http://videnskab.dk/kultur-samfund/unikt-vikingedoedehus-rummer-fornemt-stormandspar Date
Last Accessed 14 Nov. 2016. {Unique Viking Death House houses a magnificent Stormandspar}
Beck, M.A. 2016b. Unique Viking tomb contains remains of noble couple.
http://sciencenordic.com/unique-viking-tomb-contains-remains-noble-couple Date Last Accessed
16 March 2017.
Blindheim, C. 1945. Vernesfunnene og kvinnedrakten i Norden i Vikingtiden. Oslo: Viking IX, 143-162.
https://www.duo.uio.no/handle/10852/37571 Last accessed September 2015. {Vernes finds and
women’s costume in Scandinavia in the Viking Age.}
Gabra-Sanders, T. 1999. The textiles from Scar: A summary. Pp. 133-135 in Scar: A Viking boat burial
on Sanday, Orkney, O. Owen, M. Dalland, and A. Allen (eds.). Tuckwell press in association with
Historic Press.
Geijer, A. 1938. Die Textilfunde aus den Gräbern. Birka: Undersuchungen und Studien III. Uppsala:
Kungl. Vitterhets Historie och Antikvitets Akadamien. {The textile finds from the graves. Birka:
surveys and studies III.}
Geijer, A. 1983. The textile finds from Birka. Pp. 80-99 in Cloth and Clothing in Medieval Europe;
Essays in Memory of Prof. E.M. Carus-Wilson. N.B. Harte and K.G. Ponting (eds). Pasold studies in
Textile History 2. London, Heinemann Educational Books/The Pasold Research Fund Ltd.
Gräslund, A-S. 2008. Some powerful women at Valsgärde. Pp. 65-82 in Valsgärde Studies: The place
and its people, Past and Present, Norr (Ed). (OPIA 42). Uppsala.
https://www.academia.edu/5304718/Some_PowerfulWomen_at_Valsg%C3%A4rde last accessed
22 Nov 2016 (NOTE: contains only odd pages).
Hägg, I. 1974. Kvinnodräkten i Birka: Livplaggens rekonstruktion på grundval av det arkeologiska
materialet, Uppsala: Archaeological Institute. {Women's costume in Birka: Livplaggens
reconstruction on the basis of the archaeological material.}
Hägg, I. 1983. Viking women’s dress at Birka: A reconstruction based on Archaeological methods. Pp
316-350 in Cloth and Clothing in Medieval Europe; Essays in Memory of Prof. E.M. Carus-Wilson, ed.
N.B. Harte and K.G. Ponting. Pasold studies in Textile History 2. London, Heinemann Educational
Books/The Pasold Research Fund Ltd..
Hägg, I. 1984. Die Textilfunde aus dem Hafen von Haithabu. Berichte über die ausgrabungen in
Haithabu, Bericht 20. Neumünster: Karl Wachholz Verlag. {The textile finds from the port of
Haithabu. Reports on the excavations in Haithabu.}
Hägg, I. 1991. Textilfunde aus der Siedlung und aus den Gräbern von Haithabu. Berichte über die
ausgrabungen in Haithabu, Bericht 29. Neumünster: Karl Wachholz Verlag. {Textile finds from the
settlement and from the graves of Haithabu. Reports on the excavations in Haithabu.}
Hayeur Smith, M. 2003b. Dressing the Dead: Gender, Identity and Adornment in Viking-Age Iceland.
Pp. 227-240 in Vinland Revisited: the Norse World at the Turn of the First Millennium. St. John's, NL:
Historic Sites Association of Newfoundland and Labrador. {maybe!}
Hayeur Smith, M. 2015. Dress, Jewellery and Textiles from the Textile Specialist’s perspective. Pp. 25-
43 in Bláklædda konan – Ný rannsókn á fornu kumli (Bundled in blue – the reinvestigation of a
Viking grave). B. Sverrisdóttir (ed). Reykjavik: National Museum of Iceland.
Holm-Olsen, I. M. 1976. Noen gravfunn fra vestlandet som kaster lys over vikingtidens kvinnedrakt.
Viking XXXIX, Tidsskrift for norrøn arkeologi, Norsk arkeologisk selskap, Oslo. pp. 197-206.
https://www.duo.uio.no/handle/10852/37601 Last accessed 1 September 2015. {Some graves
from the west country that shed light on Viking Age women’s costume.}
Ingstad, A. S. 1982. The Functional Textiles from the Oseberg Ship. Pp. 85-96 in Textilsymposium
Neumünster: Archäologische Textilfunde, 6.5. - 8.5. NESAT 1. L. B. Jørgensen and K. Tidow (eds).
Neumünster: Textilmuseum Neumünster.
Ingstad, A.S. 1999. Kaupang – Funnene Bind II Textilene Del C. Nordske Oldfunn XIX. Pp 219-269 in
Kaupang – funnene I. (Norske oldfunn, XIX). Blindheim, C., B. Heyerdahl-Larsen, and R.L. Tollnes
(eds.). Oslo: Universitetets oldsaksamling. {Kaupang – Finds I.}
Jensen, M.A. 2016. Enestående fund fra den vikingetidige gravplads ved Bryndum kirke.
https://sydvestjyskemuseer.wordpress.com/2016/11/07/enestaaende-fund-fra-den-vikingetidige-g
ravplads-ved-bryndum-kirke/ Date Last Accessed: 20 April 2017. {Outstanding find from the Viking
age graveyard at Bryndum church.}
Larsson, A. (Curator if not author). 2014a Bucklor på behagen – vikingatida kvinnodräkt berättar
(Buckles on Bosoms: A Viking age women’s costume speaks). [The top-level web page no longer
works, but the individual links to all 6 parts are given here
http://www.arkeologi.uu.se/Forskning/Forskningspresentationer/annika-larsson/ Last accessed 3
August 2015.
Lindblom, C. 1993. Køstrup - en nordvestfynsk vikingetidsgravplad. Fyndske minder, Odense Bys
Museer, Årbog, Pp 143-166. {Køstrup - one northwest Funen Viking burial place.}
Løngborg, B. 1993. Vikingtidens kvindedragt. Fyndske minder, Odense Bys Museer, Årbog, Pp. 169-
174. {Viking Women’s clothes}
Lukešová H. 2011. Fragmenter fra kvinnedrakter fra Vikingtiden – Metode for identifikasjon av gamle
tekstilfunn. Viking LXXIV, 149-164.
http://www.uib.no/sites/w3.uib.no/files/w2/fr/fragmenter-av-kvinnedrakter_2.pdf Last accessed
18 August 2015,. {Fragments of female costumes from Viking Age - Method for the identification of
ancient textile findings.}
Lukešová H. 2015. Old Fragments of Women’s Costumes from the Viking Age – New Method for
Identification. Pp 145-154 in Aspects of the Design, Production and Use of Textiles and Clothing
from the Bronze Age to the Early Modern Era. K. Grömer and F.Pritchard (eds.) NESAT XII. The
North European Symposium for Archaeological Textiles, 21st – 24th May 2014 in Hallstatt, Austria.
Archaeolingua Main Series 33. 145-154. {not as thorough as the 2011 publication, but it is in
English!}
Nockert, M. 1994. Textiliema frå Tuna i Badelunda. Pp. 112-117 in Tuna i Badelunda: Guld, Kvinnor,
Båtar, 1., E. Nylèn and B. Schönbäck (Eds.). Västeriås Kulturnamnds Skriftserie 27, Västeriås.
{Textiles from Tuna in Badelunda}
Orfinskaya, O. and T. Puškina. 2011. 10th century AD textiles from female burial Ö-301 at Gnëzdovo,
Russia. Archaeological Textiles Newsletter 53: 35–51.
https://www.academia.edu/3379755/Olga_Orfinskaya_and_Tamara_Pushkina_10th_century_AD_t
extiles_from_female_burial_%D0%A6-301_at_Gn%C3%ABzdovo_Russia Last accessed 18 August
2015.
Øye, I. 2015. Production, quality, and social status in Viking Age dress: Three cases from Western
Norway. Pp. xx. in Medieval Clothing and Textiles 11. G.R. Crocker and R. Netherton, eds. Boydell
& Brewer.
Parsons,A.J., C. Paterson, C. Howard-Davis, N. Johnson, and RM. Newman. 2014. Shadows in the
Sand: Excavation of a Viking-Age Cemetery at Cumwhitton. Oxford Archaeology North: Lancaster.
Rasmussen, L. and B. Lønborg. 1993. Dragtrester i grav ACQ, Køstrup. Fyndske minder, Odense Bys
Museer, Årbog. pp. 173-182. {Costume Remains of grave ACQ, Køstrup.}
Russell, I. and M.F. Hurley (eds). 2014. Woodstown: A Viking Age settlement in Co. Waterford. Four
Courts Press.
Silkjær, S.L. 2016. Unikt vikingefund i Bryndum. http://jv.dk/artikel/2417874 {Unique Viking finds in
Bryndum}
Speed, G. and P. Walton Rogers. 2004. A Burial of a Viking Woman at Adwick-le-Street, South Yorkshire.
Medieval Archaeology 2004; 48(1), 51-90. DOI: 10.1179/007660904225022807
http://archaeologydataservice.ac.uk/archiveDS/archiveDownload?t=arch-769-1/dissemination/pdf/
vol48/48_051_090.pdf Last Accessed 28 July 2015.
Stalsberg, A. 1984. Skandinaviske vikingetidsfunn fra Russland med særlig vekt på kvinnefunnene,
Unitekst 6(1984): 86-103. {Scandinavian Viking finds from Russia with particular emphasis on the
female finds.}
Walton Rogers, P. 2014. Appendix 2: Textiles. Pp 225-233 in Shadows in the sand. A.J. Parsons et al
(eds).
Wielandt, H. 1980. Præparat FSM 3502 x 494. Analyse af textiler fra grav ACQ. Analyserapport,
Odense Bys Museer. Odense. {Preparation FSM 3502 x 494. Analysis of textiles from burial ACQ.}
Zubkova, E.S., O.V. Orfinskaya, and K.A. Mikhailov. 2010. Studies of the Textiles from the Excavation of
Pskov in 2006. Pp. 291-298 in NESAT X. Oxbow Books: London. (before the paper was published, a
report was temporarily published in Russian as Zubkova, E.S., O.V. Orfinskaya, and D.S. Likhacheva.
2006. Tkanoe sokrovische (nachodki tekstilia v kamernom pogrebenii X veka, 2006 god.
http://pskovarheolog.ru/68.html This site no longer exists and has never been accessed by me.
q.v., Kies 2007 and Beatson 2007)