Woven into the earth : textiles from Norse Greenland
Entry/Object ID
GT1100.O76
Description
This book tells the story of one of the 20th century's most spectacular archaeological finds: the excavation of the Herjolfsnaes graveyard in 1921 where -- because wood has always been extremely scarce in Greenland -- bodies had been buried in multiple layers of cast-off clothing instead of coffins. The occasional thaws had permitted crowberry and dwarf willows to establish themselves in the top layers of soil. Their roots grew through clothing and corpse alike, binding them together in a vast network of fibres -- as if the finds had literally been woven into the earth.
Acquisition
Source (if not Accessioned)
Kristina Lantz
Notes
Gift of Kristina Lantz, August 2021.
Lexicon
Search Terms
clothing and dress--greenland, northmen--clothing, textile fabrics--greenland, textile fabrics--medieval, weaving--greenland, weaving--medieval
Legacy Lexicon
Category
Book
Book Details
Author
Else Østergård
Publisher
Aarhus University Press
Place Published
City
Aarhus, Denmark, Oxford
Date Published
2004
Call No.
GT1100.O76
ISBN
8772889357, 9788772889351
LCCN
2005297765
Notes
Length: 296
General Notes
Note Type
Contents
Note
Finds of Norse textiles in Greenland -- The excavations -- The textile finds from Greenland - overview -- The source of raw materials -- Processing of the raw wool -- The production of thread -- The warp-weighted loom -- Techniques -- Greenlandic textiles -- Flax and linen -- Fibres and dyes in Norse textiles -- The production of garments -- Decoration of garments -- Accessories -- Implements -- Other uses of textiles -- Furs and skins -- Textile fragments from Greenland -- Catalogue of the Herjolfsnaes finds -- Radiocarbon datings of Norse textiles -- Naalisaaneq (summary in Greenlandic).
