This topic frequently comes up amongst both my fibre arts and my SCA/Viking Age friends.  People often ask me what the history is, and my research in this area is very limited, but I absolutely need to share Anne Marie Decker's (Magistra Sigrid Briansdotter in the SCA) work, and new blog, on the topic.  https://nalbound.com/

I got a chance to look at the pages and pages and pages of inspirational research she had last summer (and am honored that she let me geek out over it).  She spoke earlier this year about naalbinding at a conference at the Centre for Textile for Research in Copehagen (she has a link to her session on her blog).  I highly recommend taking a look at her new page if this art interests you!

A couple of weeks ago I sifted through Danish Inhumation Graves of the Viking Age to get an idea of the average number of beads in grave assemblages in that area and made a post discussing my findings.  This past week I have combed through the Birka material (both volumes of Birka I as well as the Birka Grave Catalog online).

I used the same criteria that I used for the second half of my previous review of the Danish material, that being oval brooches, as that is my real interest in this.  I covered 147 graves with oval brooches, 5 of those had some issue with provenance, exceptional fire damage or other things resulting in inconclusive data, causing me to eliminate them from my final count.  3 graves had both cremation and inhumation burials, so they were included in the total, but not in the breakdown of graves by type.

• 142 total graves with oval brooches had 3252 beads, with an average of 22.74 beads per grave.  The number of beads per grave ranged from 0-306.
• 22 cremation graves with evidence of oval brooches had 248 beads, with 14 average beads per grave, and a range of 0-72 beads.
• 120 inhumation graves with oval brooches had a total of 3004 beads, with an average of 25 per grave and a range of 0-306.  26 of the graves had no beads at all.
• EDIT 3/19/19: Per my comments below, I went back and looked at the graves and found that when I take into account location of beads in the 120 inhumation graves, and remove those that were obviously found elsewhere in the grave (such as at the feet), the average number of beads drops to 17 and the range is 0-194. Note that this still includes items that might be a separate necklace in addition to brooch swag if it was still found in the upper body area.  ​

Both of the sets of beads above were from Birka 508.  What is critical in this grave is the context.  I had a total of 306 beads but ONLY 77 of them were worn near the brooches, the remainder were found near the feet.  Photo credit to Historiska museet.  Eventually, I will recalculate the totals with that type of context in mind.

Birka 526 is another grave that has a very large number of beads, but not all of them were part of the assemblage with the oval brooches.  In that grave 194 of the beads were located near the brooches.

Something that I found interesting that I plan to address soon, is the color difference between image in Birka I, drawings from the period, and actual photos.  The first is very dull, while the other two are radiant with color.  Below are examples from Birka 550.

Location:  Peel Castle, St. Patrick Island, Isle of Man
Date:  10th Century
Type of Find: Burial
Date of Excavation: 1984
Context: All beads were found in neck area with the exception of the two largest amber ones, which were found at the waist
Beads: 73 beads, 8 of which were broken
 
Several weeks ago in another post, I noted I would soon talk at more length about the Pagan Lady of Peel and her fabulous necklace.  Since then it has been announced that the necklace will go on display in York, and numerous people have sent me the news articles for that, so I guess now is really the time to do this one.
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Excavations began in the Peel castle in 1982, with the Viking graves being discovered in 1984.  There are additional graves from both before the Viking Age and during the middle ages also found in this area.  The excavations produce a total of 7 pagan graves from the Viking Age, with 5 being adult and 2 for children.  Only one of them was female, and it is considered to be one of the wealthiest female graves found in the British Isles.  The lintel grave was professionally excavated and well documented so I consider it a reliable source (especially given the amount of attention this one has also received since then).

In addition to the necklace of 71 beads (glass, amber and jet), with 2 amber bead-amulets, the grave also contained three knives (one of which only a hilt remains and one is noted to likely have had some sort of specialized purpose), iron shears, an antler comb, remains of a leather pouch with metal fittings and two bronze needles, an ammonite fossil (thought by Saxons to be a fertility charm), a goose wing, herbs, a possible mortar and pestle, and feather filled pillow.  Additionally there were fragments of three textiles, one of which is believed to have been a sprang hairnet.  There was also an item initially believed to be an iron spit, but later researchers have compared it to similar items in female graves that are thought to be seiðr-staffs, indicating that the women interred might have been a seeress or sorceress of some sort.  (Price; Gardeła)
 ​

​The early reports on the grave believed that the lack of oval brooches indicated that the woman was Celtic or perhaps second generation of Norse and Celtic (with Norse immigrants marrying local women).  Later research and isotope analysis has determined that the middle-aged Pagan Lady of Peel migrated to the island herself, possibly originating from a Norse settlement in the British Isles or even Scandinavia (Symonds, et al.). 
 
Did she ever wear oval brooches?  We do know that by this time they were going out of fashion in Denmark, and if she perhaps came from a settlement in the British Isles, there already could have been adoption of local dress.  It is also possible that she wore them in life but was not sent into the next world with the jewelry for some reason.  Comparisons have also been drawn to her grave and many other status graves of the Viking age.
 
This particular grave is referenced in many other works, include the Scar boat burial in Orkney Scotland.  This grave dates to the late 9th or early 10th century, and contained an equal-arm brooch, a wooden handled sickle, textiles (included a brocaded wool cloth), a whalebone plaque, a comb, a weaving batten, shears, a box with metal fittings, whorls, and a sickle.  The wealth of this grave, as well as lack of oval brooches is the reason that comparisons are made between the two, however, the book covering the work at Scar repeatedly notes that there was an “otter disturbance” (that’s a direct quote) at the site that could have resulted in displacement or loss of the brooches.  I know that if I were an otter, I think I would very much love to have shiny brooches for myself.  Another correlation that could possibly be made is the völva grave from Fyrkat which also has no oval brooches.

​The Beads
 
71 one beads comprised the necklace, with 8 of them being broken.  Two additional amber beads (the largest in the find) were found near the waist.  The materials for the beads include glass, amber and jet and have origins in Scandinavia, Anglo-Saxon and the Mediterranean or Middle East. 

One bead is faiance, and is believe to be imported from the Mediterranean or the Middle East and may well have been an antique to the Pagan Lady.  There are amber beads, likely from the Baltic, in the strand, a long blue bead is considered to be an Irish ‘String’ bead.  Two of the glass beads incorporate millefiori, one of this is thought to be an Eastern import.
 
In her thesis, “Perler fra vikingtiden”, Hickey compares beads from Peel (and other sites) to those cataloged in the Guido’s The Glass Beads of Anglo-Saxon England.  Based on that possible origins for various beads include Rhineland, Rhenish, Frisian/Frankish, and more locally, Netherlands, and Scandinavia as well as many of local manufacture.
 
The beads were possibly collected over a lifetime and may even include some brought from her homeland in addition to prized imports.  I wish that I had a better analysis of each bead in this grave, and have one more book coming to me via ILL that might have more detail.  If indeed it does, I plan to post the additional information here.

If you want to see a very large image of the necklace, please visit the link for the Isle of Man museum here:  https://tinyurl.com/y4f2pzd4

Another site that is worth looking at is that of Glonney Designs.  The artist briefly discusses the necklace and also has two images (that I wish were much larger) of the beads laying flat, rather than strung.  It better allows you to get a sense of size and same for some of the beads. I am trying to source these items in a higher resolution version, ​glonneydesigns.wordpress.com/category/studio/the-pagan-ladys-necklace-project/

Resources:
 
Gardeła, Leszek.  “Viking Death Rituals on the Isles of Man”, Viking Myths and Rituals on the Isle of Man, University of Nottingham, 2014.
 
Goodrich, Russell.  “Scandinavians and Settlement in the Eastern Irish Sea Region During the Viking Age”, PhD Dissertation, University of Missouri-Columbia, 2010.
 
Guido, Margaret.  The Glass Beads of Anglo-Saxon England: c. AD 400-700, Boydell Press, 1999.
 
Hickey, Megan.  “Perler fra vikingtiden: A study of the social and economic patters in the appearance of beads from Viking-Age sites in Britain”, Master of Arts Research, University of York, 2014.
 
Holgate, Barbara.  “The Pagan Lady of Peel”, St. Patrick’s Isle Archaeological Trust, 1987.
 
Mainman, A.J. and N.S.H. Rogers.  “Craft, Industry and Everyday Life: Finds from Anglo-Scandinavian York”, The Archaeology of York, Volume 17: The Small Finds, 2000.
 
Miller, Ben. “Child grave goods from the Isle of Man castle and Viking beach market discoveries head to Cornwall”, Culture24, 1/27/2015.
 
Morris, Carole. “An Irish ‘String’ Bead in Viking York”, Bead Society of Great Britain Newsletter, 58.
 
Owen, Olwyn and Magnar, Dalland.  “Scar: A Viking Boat Burial on Sanday, Orkney”, Tuckwell Press, 1999.
 
Price, Neil.  The Viking Way: religion and war in late Iron Age Scandinavia. Aun 31. Uppsala, 2002.
 
Richards, Julian D. “Pagans and Christians at the frontier: Viking burial in the Danelaw”, The Cross Goes North: Processes of Conversion in Northern Europe, AD 300-1300, 2003.
 
Ruffoni, Kirsten.  “Viking Age Queens: The Example of Oseberg”, Master’s Thesis, University of Oslo, 2011.
 
Symonds, Leigh, et. al. “Medieval Migrations: Isotope Analysis of Early Medieval Skeletons of the Isle of Man”, Medieval Archaeology, 58, 2014.
 
Vannin, Ellan.  “’Pagan sorceress’ Viking necklace on display in York,” BBC, 2/20/2019.
 

In 1937 there was a piece published in Acta Archaeologica titled "Danish Inhumation Graves of the Viking Age" by Johannes Brøndsted that surveyed, and provided summaries for, the contents of 320 graves.  This piece actually references some of the problematic work I mentioned before (especially that by Vedel), but even with the lack of detail here, there is some interesting information that can be extracted.

To take a step backwards, I want to mention that the reason I chose this direction at this time is that I once saw someone post that the average number of beads in graves in Denmark was 8. I always wondered where that figure came from (it was information that just kept getting passed around) but I suspected this was the source.  I think that I was correct in my assumptions as the book lists 48 graves with beads (most of which also have things like brooches or keys which are considered typical of female burials).  Unfortunately, 12 of those were graves covered by Vedal's work, and only list "beads" without a number.  The average number of beads per grave based on the remaining samples is 8.27 (with the lowest being 1 bead and the highest being 50).

Now, what I actually find more interesting is the number of beads in graves with evidence of oval brooches.  According to the summary of the book, there were 36 pairs of oval brooches, 22 single oval brooches and 4 unmatched pairs in the graves.  In graves containing some form of oval brooch, the average number of beads per grave goes up to 13.92 (based on those graves that have at least one bead).  There are many graves with brooches by no beads (only 21 graves had both brooches and beads).

Two other interesting bits of information jumped out at me as well.  One was that coins were used as pendants in 3 graves and bracelets appear in 11 graves (with two graves having multiple bracelets).

​I have some more materials coming soon and still have many things I need to go over but I hope to expand on this particular line of research as time goes on.

 htLocation: Denmark, modern day Fyn
Date: 9th/10th Century
Type of Find: Burial
Date of Excavation: 1980-1981
Context: Beads were found in neck area, oval brooches (JP51a) were present
Beads: 8 beads; 2 rock crystal and 6 glass

Grave Køstrup ACQ is perhaps most famous for its pleated aprondress.  Matthew Delvaux dates the grave to the mid-9th century based on the beads, Charlotta Lindbloom dates the grave to the 10th century.  Other grave goods include fragments of the pleated dress, a narrow wool brocaded tablet woven band, beads, an iron knife and key and a casket.  

Fairly recent excavation and reliable diagrams make this a good example of what a woman's necklace of the period might have looked like.  She had some wealth, and Delvaux suggests that her grave goods reflect a position of authority, even though she might not have had the wealth of someone in a more central location.  (I will, however, disagree that the pleated front of her garment is a sign of conspicuous consumption.  The pleats are only a few millimeters deep and do not represent a great deal of additional cloth.  Rather, I consider them a frugal option that allows one to resize a garment as needed to accommodate life's changes.)

I love that there are not enough beads to stretch between the brooches, allowing some of the stringing material to be seen when worn.  I feel that this is more common full strands (and definitiely more so than multiple strands) and makes for a wonderful impression.

I recommend looking at Delvaux's discussion on ACQ, as he also includes a great image of beads from another graveyard in the region that he dates a bit later.  This can help one form a better picture of what styles of ornament were available to the people of this time and place.


​

I think anyone that has poked around my blog realizes that I love compiling data for archaeological finds.  I can spend months digging through all of my materials for instances of cord sewn to edges or looking for stripes and plaids in textiles.  I have dozens of excel sheets set up for any number of topics (from embroidery to tablet weaving to tapestry to width of hems) to collect information as I read because eventually I will have enough of the sources covered that I can publish some useful information on it here (or add it to one of my classes).

This week a friend told me she was urged to start a survey of a certain practice in period and here is the advice that I offered:

Define
To start, I recommend you sit down and work out the exact definition of the item is for your study. If you are doing embroidery, for example, what would qualify in terms of your survey? Would the stickerie metal work at Birka count? Would a single like of stem stitch across a hem count? Are you doing figurative motifs only or more simple as well? If you are doing tablet weaving, are you only counting metal brocade, or will it be all tablet weaving?  Do starting borders from a warp-weighted loom count or are you only collecting information on bands?

Timeframe
Next you need to define your time. Viking Age (by which definition)? Iron Age (which definition/culture)? A solid set of years (example 500-1000CE, or 100-1000CE, or just 9th and 10th century)?

Location (or Culture)
Then determine geography... British Isles, Northern Europe, Eastern Europe, all of Europe? What do you do with pieces that might have been moved across borders. Do you count it based on likely origin or where it was found?  If the item you are studying is Saxon, are you looking at those items that were stolen and traded elsewhere, or just those within the British Isles.

Keep Notes
Once you have all that I highly recommend you start an excel sheet to keep a list of each item, making columns for the most relevant things (date of item, culture it originates from, stitch types, ground cloth, fibres used, colors, whatever, size of piece, whatever it is). Make sure you have a column there for the source of your data as well and keep a bibliography with it.   Sometimes I also keep a powerpoint for a category where I drop pictures and relevant data (and a note about the source) on each slide.  Later I can print these if necessary and shift through them to try to make sense of what I have.  (And beyond that, I made notes on the source documents themselves in Mendeley.com)

Context
And then there is the absolutely most important thing when it comes to a survey.... context. How was this thing used historically? Who used it? What was their status? Was it home goods, decoration or clothing? If you want to make resource that others can use as well and nothing is more valuable than that bit of information. An embroidery that was used as part of an ecclesiastical covering does would not be appropriate for lower class clothing.  Metal thread tablet weaving is very different in context than a starting border for a piece of cloth.  A coin repurposed as a pendant has a different significance than loose coins.  Context lets others know whether the item might or might not be applicable to the persona/kit they are building. 

Remember that you can always go back and change or add parameters to your survey later. For example, if you set your dates to 9th and 10th century and British Isles only then discover many examples in the 8th century that heavily relate to your initial material, you can expand on your original plan. You can also keep notes of things that might not fit the survey, but that are still relevant in some way and add them as peripheral evidence if that applies.

A friend just shared this blog post about SCA Research Papers and I have to say that I really like the way things are laid out.  I plan to use some of the notes in it for future organization myself.

https://sibellasays.wordpress.com/2018/07/17/writing-research-papers-in-an-sca-context/

Thanks to Baroness Sibella for the thoughtful resource!

There are certain books that you just need in your collection.  Some of them cover only one topic, such as Birka III (the textiles volume of the Birka finds), often though, the best gems are single articles within a larger book.  The entire series of the NESAT books (North-European Symposium for Archaeological Textiles) is worth looking at if you have a chance.  If you are in the US, most of them are available via ILL, and several are still in print or available as a Kindle edition.  Every single one of them has a valuable article for the Viking Age (or ever several).  I believe some of the articles in the older volumes are starting to show up on sites like Academia.edu for free download, but I still recommend taking the time to look at the books for yourself as even some of the peripheral topics can help you get a good feel for a period or a practice.

I will concentrate on Volume 7 and 10 here, and will cover the other still-in-print volumes (11, 12 and 13) later this week, hopefully.  13 was just released, so I have not yet gotten that one myself, but I will include some information on it as well.  (I will eventually review all of the books, but am starting with these.)

While I typically include bibliographies with specific articles that I post here, I also maintain master bibliographies.  They can be found under the "More..." button at the top of this site.  There is one for Sheep & Wool and I just started one for my Migration Era research.  There is a third for Viking Age research, and I will post there a link for my master bibliography excel sheet once it is updated (it is taking me some time, because I never kept a master bibliography when I started my studies).

I mentioned in my previous library post that I am starting to look into textiles and costume before the Viking Age.  I quite excited about this project, not just because it is "new" but because I also love to see how textiles and textile production changes over time.  I learned a lot (and made a great deal of mistakes, mostly in terms of organization) with Viking Age research, so I am hoping to apply the methods that worked better for me this time around (and spend less time reverse-documenting).

My first step in this adventure was to sort through my sources.  While collecting material for Viking costume research, I also was pulling articles and books for earlier periods because they were of interest even then.  Some of the items, such as Lise Bender Jørgensen's Prehistoric Scandinavian Textiles, I have already read, but some were just stuffed in random folders on my many drives waiting to be explored.

I decided I want my first costume to represent approximately 500CE Norway. The focus of my reading will be 0-600CE and center around Scandinavia and northern Germany, with other areas (and slightly earlier and later dates), serving as peripheral finds.

After gathering items in, more or less, on place, I needed to sift through what appeared to be most important and decide where to start.  For this, I opted for the Jørgensen volume mentioned above, as well as her book Northern European Textiles.  I have read both volumes several times, so it was a matter of refreshing my memory on the details of the earlier material.

It also gives me a quick overview of the textiles available during that time.  I opted to make some charts (similar to those I have in this blog for the Viking Age) based on the data available in these books.
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I pulled out several books that I have in hard copy to decide what I need to read or re-read, and have selected Iconic Costumes, Textiles and Textile Production in Europe: From Prehistory to AD 400, Ancient Danish Textiles from Bogs and Burials (and am keeping a copy of the new dating for some of the items with that one), the Cambridge History of Western Textiles and The Högom Find and Other Migration Period Textiles and Costume in Scandinavia.  I am also in the process of pulling out the most relevant articles from sources such as ATN and NESAT (an example being "Hammerum: the Find of the Century" from NESAT 11).

Over the next month I will be reading each of these items (and others) and taking notes as I go.  In an attempt to make myself less crazy later, I am adding them as I finish them to my master bibliography (which is annotated and allows me to place each work in a variety of sources).  For those that I have digitally, I am uploading them to my Mendeley account and highlighting and annotating them within the system.

Further, I keep an excel sheet of data points that I find interesting (this is how I managed all of my entries for my article on Viking Age plaids and stripes, as well as my notes on things like colored linen, or fine open weave wools that serve as head coverings).  You can see below an example of a book opened in Mendely and where I am adding a note, as well as how I tend to categorize things within a spreadsheet (so far this sheet has tabs for stitches, colored textiles, and interesting notes, and there will be more added as I find points of interest that I want to track).
​

I also often keep a project planning powerpoint, where I can drop images that directly related to the item I want to make (in this case a costume).  In this case there is a slide with the timeframe and location, the textile information/charts I craft, and slides that cover relevant visual items, such as screenshots of the Hammerum girl's dress.

It might seem like much, but the repetition is what helps to sort the material out in my brain, and allows me to remember it.  (And, in the event I cannot, I can now also just run searches on Mendeley or my spreadsheet to find something.)

For this project I have taken one additional step, and that is to create a Migration Era study group on Facebook where others interested can join in on the research and exploration.  I hope that the group grows and that everyone enjoys delving in.

​If you want to follow along here, I will be using the Migration Era/Iron Age category for my posts!