RAW MATERIALS and SPINNING 125 Bast, Vines, Tough Stalks, and the Like - All Fairly Pliant and Strong - Which Could Be Used in Their Natural State Or Twined Or "Spun"

124 MARGRETHE HALD: ANCIENT DANISH TEXTILES FROM BOGS AND BURIALS

Fig. 116. Greek women working with wool. Lekythos with black figures c. 560 B.C. (after Bulletin of the Metropolitan Museum of Art 1931). Gra:ske kvinder ved uldarbejde. Lekythos med sorle figurer fra ca. 560 f.Kr. (efter Bulletin of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1931).

CHAPTER III RA W MATERIALS AND SPINNING

It is difficult to say with any certainty how old the art of textile manufacture is in Scandinavia because the evidence is obviously very incomplete. Textiles are made from easily perishable raw materials which are relatively quickly worn out through use, and which only avoid de- struction when in contact with soil and moisture if the circumstances are particularly fortunate. Archaeological finds yield little information as to the tools used for making textiles, but we have to turn to these sparse sources if we are to gain some impression of how the first textiles were made and with what. A useful supplement is provided by those peoples nowadays and in the recent past whose textile handicrafts have avoided modern influences, and whose skills are often close to those which existed in prehistoric times. Moreover, the working methods still to be traced in peasant cultures often shed light on ancient textiles, as pre-industrial techniques have survived in out of the way places and been faithfully handed down from generation to generation. I use the term "textile" (derived from the Latin texere = to plait) in the broadest sense, em- bracing not only plaiting and weaving but sewing, preparatory steps, carding and spinning etc. We cannot assume that a fully developed handicraft has reached us from another cultural environment. Textile skills have evolved out of different stages at different times in different parts of the world. The types of textile made in a given locality would depend on the raw materials to hand. In the present chapter, then, the first subject to be discussed will be the different materials from which we suppose yarn was spun in prehistoric Denmark.

ANIMAL AND VEGETABLE FIBRES Certain tools were necessary, for example baskets and carrying nets, even when Man lived by hunting and fishing, or by gathering edible plants and berries. Nets, snares, and lines were needed for trapping and fishing, and a bow had to have a string. The kill not only provided meat, it met other needs, also as far as textiles were concerned. Plants supplied strips of bark, CHAPTER III. RAW MATERIALS AND SPINNING 125 bast, vines, tough stalks, and the like - all fairly pliant and strong - which could be used in their natural state or twined or "spun".

SEWING THREAD People living in arctic climates have to wear skins, and these are sewn into garments with tendon thread collected from the carcases of various large animals. In some regions reindeer tendons are used, while in others the tendons of seal and whale are also utilised. Several accounts of how the tendons are prepared exist1), and the one written by Gudmund Hatt may be summarised as follows. The tendons are stretched on an osier and dried. When they are to be used, they are roughly split possibly after softening by beating with some hard object, after which the lengths are finely split and smoothed with the teeth, moistened with spit and twisted with the hand against the thigh. Several threads are twisted together into a long thong which is then doubled and twisted against the cheek2). Strips of skin are still used for sewing both among the Indians of North America and farmers in Norway and Sweden; the Giljak folk use strips offish skin3). G. Hatt considers that threads of tendon indicate a later stage than strips of skin, and I agree with his suggestion. According to U. T. Sirelius the Ostjak and Wogul people used both tendon thread and nets of nettle fibre as late as 1904, and both materials were prepared by a beating process, among other things, for which the same type of club was used4). A number of skin garments recovered from Danish bogs are sewn with strips of hide, while in other cases the "thread" appears to be of some other substance. According to analyses made by C. Overgaard Nielsen it is possible that tendon and gut have been used as thread as well; unfortunately the condition of the skin capes is such that no definite conclusions can be drawn. Little is known about the use of gut. Nicolaes Wits en wrote in 17055) that the Samoyeds sewed their garments of skin with gut thread, but G. Hatt6) considered this information to be based on a misunderstanding; however, Hatt presented no argument to bear out his repudiation. Falk and Torp write that the basic etymological meaning of "garn" (yarn) is a cord of gut7), and we all know that gut has always been widely used for various musical instruments. Through the latter usage it is known that gut stands a considerable direct strain, but that it is extremely sensitive to moisture. Perhaps, then, if gut were the original sewing thread it would have been superseded by a more resistant substance8) - the question remains an open one. NETTLE AND OTHER PLANT FIBRES The fact that nettle thread and tendon thread have existed side by side through the ages is extremely interesting. And a number of things would seem to indicate that under certain natural conditions the nettle is a far older spinning material than wool or flax, and in reality belongs to the same culture stage as the tendon thread. Briefly told, the Wogul and Ostjak people prepare the nettles for thread as follows: the nettle plants are thoroughly dried, they are then moistened and split with a knife of pine or bone (nimmiids). The pith is removed from the woody stalks with the teeth, and other useless organic matter is discarded. The outer fibrous part, the sclerenchyma, is then softened by beating - either with a club or by pestle and mortar, the tow is removed by rubbing the fibre between the hands or with a sort of scraping knife9). U. T. Sirelius thinks that the same tools were used in Finland for preparing flax in the past, and even in 1921the Mordvin used a stamp or mortar to brake flax 10). The striking part of 126 MARGRETHE HALD: ANCIENT DANISH TEXTILES FROM BOGS AND BURIALS this description is that no retting is done; the fibres are simply separated from the rest of the plant by beating, scraping and rubbing. It is reminiscent of an account collected by the Natio- nal Museum's Ethnological Surveys in 1942 on the use of nettle fibresll). An old man related how as a boy he had watched over cattle grazing in woodland, and how when his whip went to bits, he picked dry nettle stalks and rubbed them between his hands until only the fibres remained, and these he used to mend his whip with. The method sounds rather primitive but people living close to nature would soon make use of it. Nettle fibres are used for spinning up to the present day, and nettle thread for sewing skin garments. According to Gudmund Hatt, the Giljak and Aino people sewed their dog furs and other garments - even footwear - with nettle thread 12), and it is as if they were unaware of tendon for thread. The Chippewa Indians used nettle fibres (Urticastrum divaricatum), too, and cords from this species are said to be very fine and strong. Plants dried in the field were the best, but freshly cut stalks were sometimes used. The finest yarn was for weaving but "nettle threads are used for much else besides, such as fishing nets, snares for rabbits and other ani- mals13)". Vegetable matter decomposes far quicker than animal matter in soil, and because nettle fibre is considered to be even less resistant to moisture than flax, there is little likelihood of finding much direct evidence of its earliest forms. Nevertheless, archaeological discoveries have yielded one or two scraps of evidence, for example at Siotsh\llj near Stege, in Denmark, clay bearing the impression ofafinely woven fabric was excavated, dating from the late Stone Age passage-grave culture (2000-1800 B.C.)14). We have seen that all Danish Bronze Age tex-

Fig. 117. Late Bronze Age nettle fabric. Voldtofte (26436). 1/1. Voldtofte. Yngre bronzealder. Nreldetl2lj. (26436). 'I •. CHAPTER III. RAW MATERIALS AND SPINNING 127 tiles are very coarse and woven with unevenly spun woollen yarn. Therefore the evidence of a finely woven Stone Age textile was surprising, but it sufficed to suppose that the impression was of a piece of linen, because a cow's horn shaped as a flaskI5), excavated in a Stone Age settlement in South Funen, bore traces of an organic substance which Bille Gram identified as flax 16). However, the dating of this find to the late Stone Age has since proved uncertain, in that potsherds from the Iron Age have been recovered from the same site. And flax, according to Gudmund Hatt, has not been established with certainty among Danish finds prior to the pre- Roman Iron AgeI7), therefore we dare not reckon with flax as a spinning material in the Stone Age. On the other hand, the possibility that Neolithic folk in Denmark used nettle fibre seems more likely, and the finely woven fabric that has left its impression on the clay find from Slotshli'j could well have been woven from nettle thread. There are two more pieces of evidence which may show that the nettle provided thread in prehistoric Scandinavia. In Den- mark a find from Bohli'j near VoldtofteI8), now in the National Museum includes some scraps of fine fabric (Fig. 117), which Mogens Kli'ie has identified as a linen woven of nettlel9) - the Bohli'j find can be dated to the second period of the late Bronze Age. In addition, the Nor- wegian ship-burial from Kvalsund dated to the early Iron Age (only a couple of centuries later than Bohli'j) yielded a considerable amount of nettle stalks20). Professor Knud Jessen, who helped the Norwegian botanists in 1929, writes that certain details, for example the fact that the stalks were gathered in bundles, were an indication that they had been placed there for a special purpose, probably for some textile use. As nettle seeds have been found in Danish deposits dating from the transition between the last Ice Age and the early Boreal Period21), and as the nettle is a plant which needs no cultivation in order to thrive, it seems reasonable to assume that it was the precursor offlax as a spinning material in the cool latitudes ofthe North. Etymologists appear to have been the first to associate the nettle with spinning in antiquity, and to consider that already in the Indo-Germanic period nets were made of nettle fibre. The Swedish scholar, E. Tegner discusses the origin of the word "nettle" as follows: "nassla, also natla, natzla and nata, like nat, are developments of the same root meaning spin which we meet in the Latin neo and the later German nahen, but with a slightly different meaning. Wo- men have both spun and sewed, therefore the semantic similarity is near to hand. Women have used nettle fibres as a spinning material presumably before the introduction of cotton"22).

s-sp

Fig. 120. Differently spun a c d yarn in warp and weft produces an even finish in the Fig. 118. Fragment of neolithic Fig. 119. a: Z-spun, b: S-plied, c: . completed textile. bast net from Ordrup Mose. S-spun, d: Z-plied. Forskelligspundet garn i krede og Fragment afbastnet fra stenalderen. a: hlJjrespunden, b: venstretvunden, skud giver ensrettede snoninger i Ordrup Mose. c: venstrespunden, d: hlJjretvunden. det frerdige produkt. 128 MARGRETHE HALO: ANCIENT DANISH TEXTILES FROM BOGS AND BURIALS

Fig. 121. Iron Age whorls of different materials (amber, sandstone, and glass). C 20803, 12192, C 1578,9827, C 195,5191. TenviEgte fra jernalderen af forskelligt materiale (rav, sandsten og glas). (C 20803, 12192, C 1578,9827, C 195,5191).

"Net" (nat: to knot) is the word describing an open-work fabric made in a method which depends primarily on the hands and the manipulation of threads: handiwork. Among primitive textile handicrafts we find several extremely simple netting techniques which require the minimum of tools, clearly at an early cultural stage textiles were produced without complicated equipment, and from a typological point of view , a net should be considered an earlier textile phenomenon than a woven fabric. Jn Switzerland, a variety of netting techniques have been determined among Stone Age finds, and one of the two pieces of textile from the Danish Stone Age is a scrap of net (Fig. 118) made in a simple looping technique. S. Pi'llsi, moreover, in his paper entitled" Ein Steinzeitlicher Moorfund"23) mentions the remains of a knotted fish-net in Finland which can be firmly dated to the early Stone Age. In all, twenty pieces of plant fibre were preserved in this Finnish find, and Palsi writes that the net and cords for the tone weights of the net are of a coarse fibre which, when microscopically examined, resembles lime or nettle bast. In any event, it is a find which dates back to before all agriculture, and which includes a net that may be of nettle fibre. Another Finnish discovery related to fishing, and of interest in the present context, is a net sinker tied with a cord that has been identified as lime bast by Dr. Harald Lindberg, Helsin- ki24). Finally, a Stone Age find from Narva in Estonia included the remains of a net and some cords from net sinkers; here, too, the material is thought to be lime bast25). The Ostjak and Wogul people used nettle fibre, as we have seen, and at the beginning of the 1900s they still used material gathered from buckthorn, root fibre from cembra pine, and wil- low bast for cords26), whereas the Chippewa Indians used basswood fibre, rush (scirplis I'alidlls vahl), cedar and elm27). Lime bast is fairly frequently found among Danish Bronze Age finds, used for sewing together bark boxes with. Another Danish textile find of plant fibre is a strange fringe or net from Vester Doense28), dated to the late Bronze Age, unfortunately no accurate identification has been made because it is too decomposed29). The scrap of net mentioned earlier dating from the late Stone Age came from Ordrup Mose, and according to Bille Gram's analysis the material is wood bast. Likewise, Mogens K\2lie has identified as plant fibre, most likely bast, some scraps of cord found in the lugs of a late Stone Age pottery vessel (probably carrying straps). CHAPTER lIT. RAW MATERIALS AND SPINNING 129

FLAX The impressions offlax seed in earthenware vessels from the Migration Period show that flax was cultivated in Denmark in the early Iron Age. Later, Gudmund Hatt's researches30) based on seed impressions on pottery have confirmed that flax was widespread in this country at that time, and evidently a common crop. The earliest evidence of flax is from a cremation in Vind- bires, and from a settlement in 0ster Lem, West Jutland, both dating from the pre-Roman Iron Age. Hatt has pointed out that in two cases the indications are that flax seeds may have been eaten. In Switzerland there is evidence that flax was used for spinning already in the Stone Age, but flax seeds have also been found in bread3'). According to Emil Vogt32) all the textiles from the famous Neolithic pile dwellings are made from flax. The Swiss species of flax is a perennial not found in Scandinavia. Flax may also have served a dual purpose in prehistoric Denmark, although it is represented in only five textile finds: HimLing¢je (Mus. no. 7672-84) 3rd century A.D., Lousgaard (Mus. no. C 5701-11) late Germanic Iron Age, Brekkegaard (Mus. nos. 2389 and 2583) late Germanic Iron Age, S¢lIested (Mus. no. 25594) first half 10th century A.D.33). The Himling¢je find is therefore the oldest, although it is about six hundred years later than the earliest trace of flax in 0ster Lem, and there seems to be no evidence yet to show whether flax first gained a foothold in Denmark as a textile plant. Danish archaeological finds give no indication of how it was prepared for spinning. Various tools from the Swiss Neolithic sites have been interpreted by Emil Vogt34) as flax brakes, flax combs and bats, several balls of yarn have also survived, and the latter demon- strate that yarns of very varying thickness were spun. In Norway a flax comb dating from the close of the Iron Age was found in Hedemarken35), and the Oseberg Viking ship-burial contained some objects which are evidently tools for preparing flax36), for example two club-like instruments for crushing the stalks. The beating process may have preceded the flax braking or may have actually been the braking. In Den- mark a wooden club with a cylindrical head, found in the lower stratum of the ditch defending the Borremose earthwork, could well have been an instrument for beating plant fibres into spinning materials3?). In Sweden, too, but far more recently, are examples to show that special stones were used (bostesten), and even tree stumps: tools so primitive that they are difficult to identify even when found with other objects during an excavation38). It cannot be denied that they are reminiscent of the Siberian peoples' methods for beating nettles. An interesting detail in this context is a special tool used by the Chippewa Indians when making basswood fibre: the pelvic bone of a bear, the bone has a circular hole through which the bast is pulled to make it smooth and supple39). The process is fairly similar to that for scutching flax tow in Als, Denmark, where the tool, called a "rasper", is a piece of wooden board carved into three broad teeth over which the tow is rubbed40). The transmission of customs up to the present day may perhaps provide the best idea of how flax was prepared for spinning by the earliest methods. On the basis of research to date we must assume that flax was not used for textile purposes until a relatively late period in prehistory in Denmark.

HEMP To date no hemp has been identified among Danish finds. This is surprising because a certain amount of hemp has been excavated at the Viking settlement in Birka, Sweden41), and some traces of it have been found in Norway42), i.e. scraps of hemp textile from a ship-burial on the 130 MARGRETHE HALD: ANCIENT DANISH TEXTILES FROM BOGS AND BURIALS

Fig. 122. Iron Age whorls of different materials (burnt clay, amber, lead, and sandstone). C 1238, 12119, 13854, C 10197, C 1290, C 19903. Tenvregte frajernalderen af forskelligt materiale (brrendt ler, ray, bly og sandsten). (C 1238, 12119, 13854" C 10197, C 1290, C 19903). island of Karm, and some hemp seeds from the Oseberg ship-burial. According to Gertrud

Sage43), a hemp cord was found in a late Stone Age find at Thaingen, Silesia.

HOP

The hop plant is believed to have been used as a textile fibre in Ancient Peru44), and because pollen analyses show that hops were grown in Denmark at the time of the Maglemose CuJ- ture45) (c. 10,000-5,000 B.C.), we cannot exclude the possibility that at some time during our prehistory it was used for textile purposes. Hop vines are tough and pliant and would be easy to twist or plait without great foregoing preparations. In any event, we know that if treated in much the same way as flax, hemp and nettle, it yields useful fibres. In a Danish textbook on housekeeping published in 1802 with the promising title "Magi for Fruentimmere" ("Magic for Ladies") the following instructions are given for the preparation of hop fibres: "In the autumn the hop vines are gathered and cut into 4 ft lengths, these are then shaken either in water or from roofs where there is steam or smoke, or shaken in the snow. After drying for the whole winter the vines can be swung like flax and then combed, because there is no need to brake them. The vines are best shaken after laying them out for several nights in the dew, and afterwards rinsing them in running water. After hanging them to dry in the open they can be treated like flax, and the linen woven from hop yarn is stronger than flax or hemp. "46)

SILK The earliest analyses of textiles from the Viking Period in Denmark established that a few pieces were of silk. Later examinations have not unfortunately added to our knowledge on this point.

WOOL Sheep were to be found in Denmark already in the late Stone Age, and with them the wool that provided the raw material with which to make textiles by more elaborate methods. However, no wool textiles have survived from neolithic times, but our Bronze Age oak coffin burials CHAPTER III. RAW MATERIALS AND SPINNING 131 have yielded an abundance of textiles in such good condition that it has been possible to carry out zoological examinations. Professor Bille Gram published the results of his scientific research into prehistoric animal hairs and wools in 189147), and for many years this paper remained the authority within its sphere. His tests established that pure wool was only used in special cases, for example some men's caps and the Borum Eshy;j hair-net. In virtually all the Bronze Age textiles and in all the Iron Age textiles, in addition to sheep's wool quantities of short stiff hairs were found, presumed to be from some species of deer, and evidently used to eke out the pure wool. This hypothesis was in no way far-fetched because we know that until recently peasants in poor districts carded mixtures into wool, for example nettle fibre48), goat hair, hare wool and the wool from a foal's first moult49). However, when the Skrydstrup burial was excavated in 1935 Professor C. M. Steenberg50) examined samples of hair and found that the short stiff hairs were not from deer but simply the coarse outer hairs from the fleece of primitive species of sheep. Stuffed natural history specimens of extinct breeds of sheep bear out this conclusion, for example a breed formerly common on the Faroe Islands. These species were small and horned and evidently related back through time to the sheep of the late Stone Age and Bronze Age51). The earlier theory has to be abandoned, but some mystery still remains about these coarse hairs, as C. Overgaard has examined the textiles described in the present book, and time and again he mentions the possibility that the rough hairs could well be cow hair. No firm conclusions can be drawn, though, as the specimens are limited but the idea of using cow hair to mix with pure wool is not an alien one. Cattle which spend the greater part of the year out-of-doors often grow a rough coat, and on young animals it is soft and fairly elastic. In any event it seems more likely as hair from a

Fig. 123. Reconstruction of the spindle used by itinerant folk in Jutland in the 19th century (after H. P. Hansen). Rekonstruktion af krelttingefolkets ten. Efter H. P. Hansen. 132 MARGRETHE HALD: ANCIENT DANISH TEXTILES FROM BOGS AND BURIALS domestic animal is easier to collect than from deer - first to be hunted and then killed - and not primarily prized for skin. Moreover, the modern textile industry spins animal hair with wool for carpets and other coarse materials. We know very little about the preparation of wool for spinning in prehistoric times, but old methods in certain Norse areas, for example the Faroe Islands and Iceland, are again useful sources of information, and likewise primitive sheep-farming communities. The method still employed in the Faroes, for example, where wool is plucked by hand from the sheep when "ripe", i.e. during the moulting season normally in June. This undoubtedly has its advantages as the fleece is full length52). Wool from the creature's legs which sometimes cannot be plucked out is cut away with a knife53). That wool was sorted can be seen from the finds, and it has been established that for particularly choice fabrics such fine textured wool was used that it could only come from special parts of the young lamb's body54). Urine is still used for scouring wool in the Faroes and else- where55). Carding to disentangle the wool and partly to raise it is unlikely to have been done in the same way as nowadays. But it is perhaps worth remembering that the Swiss neolithic finds include the fragment of a tool which Emil Vogt believes to be a flax-comb56). This may be right but the comb is not unlike an instrument used for wool-carding which consists of a piece of wood with nails or hooks affixed to it, and the possibility that primitive cards for wool have existed cannot be entirely excluded57). Combing is another method of disentangling wool fibre, but it separates the longer fibres from the short staple which is combed away; thus a fine, firm and smooth yarn is spun from combed wool. The following description of wool combing in North Schleswig was recorded by C. H. Friis in 193358): "As far as I remember long wool was used. The combs were heated, one was tied to a post or the window sill. The wool was thrown over it and pulled through it by hand with the other comb, this produced fine roves for the spinning-wheel. Combed wool was considered of higher quality than carded wool and was used for fine women's wear, a "combed dress" was the expression used"59). In Iceland and the Faroes6o), too, the custom of combing wool was long-lived presumably with its roots far back in time. In Gretter's Saga an "ullkambr" is mentioned - a tool probably corresponding to the Icelandic "togkamb"61) nowadays, viz. a wool comb. Another stage in the preparation of wool that has passed down to the present day in Den- mark is beating. An old woman from East Jutland62) has told me that, when she was a girl, wool was put in a pile on the floor in an empty room and beaten thoroughly with thin sticks from which the bark had been stripped, after the beating it was thinly divided and light, and any dirt had been shaken out of it. The mixing of the wool like this was undoubtedly of the greatest importance if a textile were to be of uniform quality, especially if the finished cloth was to be fulled, a process which was very usual already in the Bronze Age. That beating wool was a very widespread custom in Scandinavia is borne out by the research of a number of scholars, Sven T. Kjellberg describes the process in various areas of Sweden63), and U. T. Sirelius64) records that it was done by the Woguls and Ostjaks, and that it is still remembered in South Karelia. However, there are accounts from Denmark and other countries that wool can be spun with-' out any special previous treatment65). For example ithas been said that women at Sundeved in North Schleswig spun wool' 'straight from the tuft" , although it should be added that the wool was for a special purpose, and could only be done with the long, homogeneous fleece of the back. It is said that a fine, firm thread is obtained, especially suitable for warp yarn66). This is CHAPTER Ill. RAW MATERIALS AND SPINNING 133

Fig. 124. Greek women working with wool. Unsigned vase painting, Duris. Berlin F 2289 (after Jahresh. d. osterI'. Inst. XII). Gneske kvinder ved uldarbejde. Usigneret vasebillede af Duris. Berlin F 2289 (efter Jahreshefte d. osterr. Inst. XII).

Fig. 125. Epinetron found in Attica. Dept. of Oriental and Classical Antiquities, National Museum, Copenhagen (1636). Epinetron fundet i Attika. Nationalmuseets Antiksamling (1636). 134 MARGRETHE HALO: ANCIENT DANISH TEXTILES FROM BOGS AND BURIALS understandable because the direction of the hairs in the tufts are not disturbed and the natural fall of the fleece is utilised, a smoothing which is otherwise achieved through combing. Another record in Denmark of a short cut in the preparation of wool for spinning is from a traveljournal, which also describes the island of lEn,), written in 1763 by J. A. DysseI67): "IEr~ women are simple, domestic and busy. In a number of places I saw them spinning wool, and much admired the fine thread they spun, but I thought it curious that the wool was so grey and grubby. Finally I enquired about it and they answered that the sheep were never dipped before shearing in that part of the country, instead a good bedding of straw was laid in the fold where they were to be sheared. The unwashed wool cut from the sheep had a natural oil which enabled it to be spun far more finely than clean wool, like flax which is easier to spin than other fibres because of the oil it contains, the flax comb is also oiled a little." A common practice in Jutland was to hang the spun balls of wool somewhere warm, near stoves or in a warm oven. The purpose was undoubtedly to get the natural oil of the wool to bind the hairs, which it would do by stiffening when removed from the warmth, with the result that the yarn is a firm one. The expression was to "brue" the wool.

SPINNING Spinning is a process in which a fibrous substance is drawn out and twisted into a long unbro- ken thread. If a stronger yarn is desired two or more threads are twisted together, this is called plying. Yarn is always plied in the opposite direction to that of the spinning. The accepted de- finition of spinning and plying directions, i.e. whether to the left or right, is illustrated in Fig. 119, from which it will be seen why the letter Z indicates right spinning or plying, and S indicates left spinning or plying. See also Fig. 120.

If Gudmund Batt's theory68) that sewing with strips of skin represents an earlier cultural stage than spun thread, the art of sewing is then an older one than spinning. It is a convincing argument, nevertheless spinning can be traced further back in time through archaeological finds, because pottery was decorated with impressed plied thread patterns. Potsherds with these decorations in Denmark are from the neolithic Dolmen and Passage-Grave Cultures69). Although the amount of well preserved textiles from the early Bronze Age in Denmark bears witness to really fully developed spinning skills, extremely little is known about the tools used, and this is hardly surprising. Spinning can be done with the most simple of aids; indeed, as we have seen, even without help of any kind. The most usual primitive tool is the spindle or distaff, usually a straight stick with a thickening at one end, or with a weight or disc, known as a whorl, to steady the rotations of the spindle. The literature on the subject is comprehensive because to the present day spinning with these simple aids is still done in primitive circumstan- ces70). The oldest whorl found in Denmark is 4.8 cm in diameter and about 1.9 cm thick, it is dated to the close of the late Bronze Age and was recovered from a burial at B~je Taastrup, a suburb of Copenhagen. From the Roman Iron Age through to the close of the Viking Period traces of spindles are fairly common among finds recovered from women's graves, but usually only the spindle whorls have survived. Bog finds from the Migration Period reveal that the spindle was a wooden stick, thickest in the middle, with a notch or hook in one end in which the thread was wound during spinning. The spindle whorl was either at the top or bottom ofthe spindle71). The whorls have a variety of shapes and are made of different materials; they are usually conical, double conical, or disc-shaped pieces of pottery or sandstone, but the same shapes are found in amber, lead and bronze. Globular and hemispherical whorls of sandstone and glass also occur, the latter imported from the Roman Empire are sometimes very beautiful, CHAPTER III. RAW MATERIALS AND SPINNING 135 decorated with stripes or painted floral motifs in variegated colours. Spindle whorls cannot be dated by their shape alone as the different types can be found together. A selection is shown in Figs. 121-122. However, spindles with whorls are not the only type to be used, nor the first. Primitive spindles made from sticks were presumably used in the late Stone Age and early Bronze Age, and it is hardly surprising that these simple tools have almost never been found as they are unlikely to have been included among grave-goods. But one piece of evidence to have survived is the primitive spindle found in the Hjortspring boat, a votive offering from the first phase of the early Iron Age in Denmark. The spindle is fashioned from a hazel branch, thick at one end, the other end had broken off, therefore it is impossible to say whether there was once a hook or notch to hold the thread72). Ethnological material shows that even simpler types of implements are used to the present day, for example a spinning hook which need only be a forked stick with one side of the fork shortened to a hook73).In Denmark H. P. Hansen in "Hyrdeliv pa Heden "74) (" A Shepherd's Life on the Moors") refers to a description of gypsies in 1870 by J. Kierckebye75): "A group of all ages and both sexes had settled down on a fine summer's day to spin wool. All those spinning had a bundle of raw wool under a stone, they pulled out the wool with one hand and prepared it for the spindle held in the other. The spindle was a bent branch of heather (Fig. 123), a good six inches long, with a cleft at one end through which the thread passed during the spinning. The hand working the spindle (heather branch) twisted the branch round in circular movements and tugs outwards, whereby the thread was both spun and drawn from the pile of wool. Every time the thread was between six and ten inches long beyond the fork, spinning ceased while the spinner wound it round the middle of the spindle, work then proceeded. Every branch was used like this until the thread round the middle made it too heavy to rotate, or until the ball was the size of a walnut. This kind of spinning is very simple and can be copied after seeing it done once. The protruding ends of the heather branch were broken off, and a new branch was found ifthere was more wool to spin. Ifagypsy woman with a number of small bundles spun in this way was able to borrow a spinning wheel in the home of a friendly peasant woman, she could then ply the wool according to her needs for knitting or sewing". H. P. Han- sen considered this method to be typical of the gypsies in Jutland when he first observed it. But his later research showed that it had been a method common among shepherds in Central Jut- land until far into the 19th century. Some shepherds had to gather wool that had moulted or been torn from the sheep in the tall heather in order to give it to the farmer, others were allowed to keep the wool which they spun on a branch of heather into darning wool for their woollen hose. It is indeed surprising that the art of spinning, which has played such an important role, should have been and still is carried out with such simplicity. In South Europe, for example in Greece and Roumania, a spindle is used that isjust as primitive as the one from the Hjortspring boat, and in the geographic handbook published by G. Hatt and M. VahF6) an Ingorot woman is pictured making thread by rolling the bast across her knee. That a highly cultivated people like the Ancient Greeks prepared their spinning materials partly by hand and without tools is therefore not curious. Surviving pottery has provided the evidence, for example a vase painting (Fig. 116) depicts women arranging wool in baskets77), the wool has been drawn out into long thick coils. Another working method is shown on a vase (Fig. 124), where a woman sits with her right foot resting on a special kind of trestle rolling wool on her shin. This re- presentation is not unique, there is a pyxis (now in Boston) showing a woman working in the 136 MARGRETHE HALO: ANCIENT DANISH TEXTILES FROM BOGS AND BURIALS

same position likewise resting herfoot on a support of unusual shape78). The so-called epinetron, a pottery device for resting on the knee, was also used in the preparation of wool (Fig. 125). It had the advantage of keeping the wool away from the bare skin and c1othing79). F. Hauser considers that the vase paintings portraying women rolling wool on their shins show wool being made into roves. And as vase paintings also show spinning with spindles, it is a very plausible hypothesis.

SPINNING TECHNIQUES IN PREHISTORIC DANISH TEXTILES The fact that textiles recovered from Iron Age graves, and to an even greater degree those from later periods, are generally of higher quality than the Bronze Age textiles may be taken as a natural course of development. Although as we have already seen, the difference is not due to a lack of proficiency in spinning among Bronze Age folk, as there is ample evidence showing that they were excellent spinners and capable of producing very fine sewing thread. It is more likely that Bronze Age looms were not suitable for weaving light fabrics. Even a quick glance through the various groups of prehistoric Danish textiles reveals that the rules deciding the combination of spinning directions have varied from group to group (see tables on Pp. 140-143 at the end of this chapter). We know that the possibility exists of combining the direction of spinning in nine different ways, and in the Danish material five of the combinations are to be found: 1. S-spun warp and weft. 2. Z-spun warp and weft. 3. S-spun warp and Z-spun weft. 4. Z-spun warp and S-spun weft. 5. Mixed spinning in warp and weft. It would be interesting and satisfactory to be in a position to answer the question why spinning was combined in so many ways, and why certain combinations were chosen instead of others. No definite conclusions can be drawn from the present Danish material, but certain requirements probably played a role, for example, in regard to the finish intended for the completed textile: Different spinning directions of the warp and weft are still valued nowadays for the effect produced when a fabric is fulled. By this process a fabric is washed with water and a fulling agent, such as soap or urine; a heated solution causes the product to shrink. Fulling increases the textural fullness and softness of a fabric but the finished product has decreased in size80) . Different spinning directions in the warp and weft respectively also affect the cloth if it is dressed by teaselling or napping. When the nap on cloth is raised, the fibres of the wool are loosened to give a fluffy surface. This is done either by dressing the cloth with burrs of teasel (dipsacus fullonurn) or a fuller's comb - the modern machinery has small metal spikes on rollers. Fig. 120 illustrates how the variously spun warp and weft yarns combine so that the spinning directions are flush with each other, i.e. the yarn of warp and weft is uniform in rela- tion to the fulling appliance. The possibility that cloth was teaselled in prehistoric times cannot be ruled out. Textiles recovered after centuries in the soil have been exposed to tremendous pressure and decompo- sition which could well have destroyed the pile. The fibres of the wool are flattened even in fortunate cases when the condition of the textile is relatively good. A tool from the Swiss neolithic find published by Emil Vogt8!) may have been used for napping cloth. It consists of a CHAPTER III. RAW MATERIALS AND SPINNING 137

wooden board in which some thorns are affixed. According to Pliny, the Romans used a species of thorn (spina fullonia) to raise the nap on cloth82). On the other hand, it is very apparent that sometimes the pattern effect produced by various spinning combinations was deliberately utilised, this is demonstrated by the textiles in group 5. Patterns are composed here by alternately using Z and S spun yarns in combinations over large or small areas. It produces agood pattern effect but may be emphasised by changing the colour of the yarn (for example Figs. 68 and 73). DYEING There is no evidence to date that Danish Bronze Age textiles were dyed, but isolated finds indicate that dyes had gained ground during the Iron Age. The National Museum's excavation of a settlement in Ginderup, North Jutland, dated to the early Roman Iron Age83), yielded a vessel containing woad seeds (isatis tinctoria), and likewise the Oseberg ship-burial from the Viking Period contained woad seeds in a little bowl or box. But the blue dye so highly prized through the ages comes not from woad seed but from the foliage of the plant. It would be very interesting to be able to establish when costumes from dyed textiles started to be worn and the origins of the dyestuffs. Bj¢rn Hougen84) arranged for laboratory tests to be made of Iron Age textiles in Norway, the results showed that a considerable number of shades had their origins in bog, heather and bark dyes. No special mention of woad is made. The following report gives the results of an examination carried out at my request by M. Skytte Christiansen in 1945. "The examination of Danish prehistoric textiles was made to establish whether the fibres had been coloured with vegetable dyes. Woad was found on the following textiles:

Find no. 15. Daugbjerg II, cords of leg wrappers. Find no. 39. Vong, 611/42, dark cloth. Find no. 52. Tornebuskeh¢j, C 2827, bluish-green threads Find no. 58. Hj¢rring Pnestegaards Mark, C 2181, f, g, h. Find no. 74. FI¢jstrup, C 9266, dark tabby. Find no. 77. Hvileh¢j, C 4280 d.

The detection of woad Wascarried out as follows: the fibres seen under the microscope to be blue were boiled in slides in concentrate of sodium hydrogen sulphite and a little caustic soda. The blue dye dissolved and a microscopy showed the fibres to be yellowish (humus) and swol- len. The bleached fibres were allowed to dry on the slide after the removal of the cover slip. The fibres turned blue again. The new indigo blue shade was more even and regular than the earlier blue and occurred on all fibres, whereas before treatment there were among the blue fibres a number of fibres in a natural shade (yellowish-brown). The reaction to the test proved without doubt that the blue dye is woad which, when in a solution of reducing agent, turns into indigo white which dissolves in the alkaline solution. The drying process oxidizes the indigo white into insoluble indigo on the fibres. The fibres in a few textiles bore traces of blue but these were too weak to be reproduced after the sodium hydrogen sulphite treatment. However, the fibres corresponded so closely with those with a positive reaction, both the traces of woad and the way in which the dye was 138 MARGRETHE HALD: ANCIENT DANISH TEXTILES FROM BOGS AND BURIALS dispersed over the fibres (apparently concentrated round small holes in the surface of the hair filament), that I am certain these textiles have also been dyed with woad: Find no. 70. Lousgaard, Bornholm, C 5602, piece of cloth in broken lozenge twill. Find no. 76. Mammen, Viborg, C 136a. Band. One of two shades. A number of the wool threads in the other textiles had fibres which were black/blackish- brown and withstood the application of reagents, including oxalic acid. I have compared these fibres with new wool from black sheep and find that they are identical with each other, both the microscopy and the reaction to chemical application. These fibres occurred in threads from the following textiles: Find no. 77. Hvileh\Zlj,C 4280c, twill. Find no. 76. Mammen, C 144, cushion. Find no. 49. Tubular woven fabric, unnumbered. Find no. 51. Borremose, scrap of cloth. The fibres were found in small amounts in the threads of several other textiles. Apart from woad, no other dye could be established with any certainty. I have applied the same reagents to all the textiles as those used by Bj\ZlrnHougen (Snartemofunnene 1935)without result. The existing colour of the fibres is undoubtedly from humus substances which cannot be removed. I attempted to dissolve the humus substances in a dilution of natrium hydrogen (l %0), the humus substances dissolved but so did the fibres." This means that on the basis of the burial finds, woad was used as a dyestuff in Denmark in the first century A.D., as the Tornebuskeh\Zlj find is from the first half of the first century A.D., and the rest of the finds are evenly divided through the following centuries A.D.: Hj\Zlrring Pnestegaards Mark 3rd century, Lousgaard 7th-8th century, H\Zljstrup first half 9th century, Mammen and Hvileh\Zljabout the year 1000. The bog textiles from Daugbjerg (II) and Vong are unfortunately not easy to date, but I attribute the first to the "Huldremose group". Some of the textiles in the Vong find are in three-shaft twill, a weave not yet found before the Viking Period, but usual during the Middle Ages, therefore these textiles are presumably of a fairly late period. That six of the eight samples of woad dye are among burial finds and only two from bogs may support the theory that dyestuffs played no role as far as the costumes of the last centuries B.C. - and earlier- are concerned in Denmark. But I feel that the material to hand is too sparse for any definite conclusions to be drawn. We know that woad was used as a body dye in the last centuries B.C. Caius Julius Caesar records in his accounts of the Gallic wars that" ... all Britons paint themselves with the juice of the woad plant, which produces a dark blue dye, and makes them the more terrifying in battle"85). The reason for the absence of dyestuffs among bog textiles is perhaps because cloth which has lain for centuries in a bog is less suited to laboratory tests. We have evidence that in the Celtic Iron Age patterns of checks and stripes were favoured, revealed by the Huldremose find - for example the skirt (Figs. 29-30) and scarf (Fig. 31). The photographs show the changes of shade in the various striped zones, but whether the effect was achieved by the natural colours of the yarn or by dyes is at the moment an open question.

ANIMAL FIBRES The following laboratory tests were carried out by C. Overgaard Nielsen. "The methods to determine the animal fibres are as follows: . CHAPTER III. RAW MATERIALS AND SPINNING 139

1. Hair. The sample is degreased in ether, and after drying dipped in 1% potassium hydroxide (1.6-1 minute) to remove alien organic material. The sample is then cleaned in 1% hydrochloric acid (1.6-2 minutes), and rinsed in distilled water twice. The sample is then immersed in 70% alcohol, and then in 96% alcohol at a thermostatically controlled temperature of 370 centigrade (up to 1.6 an hour). The sample is then removed and immersed in warm glycerine (370 C). After a quarter of an hour the sample has set in the glycerine jelly. To examine the structure of the hair's cuticle the following treatment was made in the given order: 1% potassium hydroxide, 1% hydrochloric acid, distilled water, 70% alcohol, 96% alcohol, ether. After the ether the sample is dried and affixed to a slip cover with a thin layer of glue (diluted with acetone if necessary), the coating of glue should correspond to half the diameter of the hairs in the sample. The hairs are removed from the slip cover with tweezers, leaving their impression on the slip cover which is mounted on a slide. The examination was largely based on comparative recent material, but the results were not helpful as very little attention is paid in these recorded sources to the variations that are to be found. Even very comprehensive comparative material is uncertain, partly because prehistoric cattle and sheep had different hair and wool types to present-day races. For instance, there is no doubt that the fleece of prehistoric sheep was far coarser, with a well developed top coat of coarse hair, than that of modern animals. Another uncertain point is that we do not know from what part of the body the hair in our sample has been collected (the most important difference, for example, between the back and the abdomen). 2. Silk. Fibres of silk were treated in the same way as the hair, with the exception of the coat of glue. 3. Thread and fabric. After the material was cleansed in potassium hydroxide and hydrochloric acid the individual hairs could be isolated and treated as above. 4. Sewing materials. These were examined directly in the gelatine, partly whole and partly frayed. The method was not entirely satisfactory. Cleaning in potassium hydroxide, even a weak solution, destroyed the samples. The results as a whole were unsatisfactory. The coarse strips of skin could be identified with the naked eye, none of the other samples produced definite evidence. It is possible that tendons were used as thread but no definite proof has been found because the fibres are so decomposed. There is also a possibility that twisted gut was used in a number of instances." 140 MARGRETHE HALD: ANCIENT DANISH TEXTILES FROM BOGS AND BURIALS

TABLE A Spinning techniques and thread numbers in textiles found in Danish bogs.

NO.1 NO.4 NO.5 NO.7 NO.8 s = left spun yarn Krogens Millie Mose Borre Mose Durup Fneer Rrebild Skovhuse D 1310 z = right spun yarn A D K N cloth patch

Direction of } warp .... s s s s s s s s s spinning weft .... s s s s z s s s s

Number of threads } warp .... 94 98 46 113 57 38 49 68 60 and 56' pro 10 x 10 cm weft .... 67 83 36 82 29 36 42 66

No. II No. 12 No. 14 No. 15 No. 16 No. 17 No. 18 Bredmose Stok- Daug- Daugbjerg Sjllrup Elling Krage- St. Arden holm bjerg II lund

I II III I Leg wrappers

Direction } warp .... s s s s s s s s s s z of spinning weft .... s s s s z s s s s s s

Number of threads \ warp .... 40 80 88 65 47 123 123 117 76 and 66' 114 pro lOx 10 cm Iweft .... 28 70 80 55 49 71 105 107 72

No. 19 No. 25 No. 26 No. 27 Grathe Hede Aalestrup Mose Karlby Huldremose

a b c I II III IV V VI C 3473 C 3474

Direction } warp .... s s s z z z sand z z z s s s of spinning weft .... s s s z z z sand z z z s s s

Number of threads \warp .... 76 and 96 and 86 and 76 72 and 62 and 82 64 and 70 and 98 96 81 pro lOx 10 cmf weft .... 94' 90' 68' 76 84' 76' ? 76' 92' 90 74 72

No. 28 NO.29a No. 32 No. 33 No. 34-36 No. 38 Huldre- Auning Haraldskrer Moselund R\lnbjerg Vejen mose 2625 a-g broken lozenge twill + D 3505 C 3706< C 3706c1 C 5238-39 a-e h i g tablet weave

mixed sp. Direction warp .... s s z z z z and z s ply s of spinning weft .... s s z z s s z ply s s ply z

Number of threads lwarp .... 71 47 106 107 140 86 66 47 140 134 pro lOx 10 cmf weft .... 61 34 73 80 100 124 52 70 47 134

'signifies that it is impossible to define warp from weft. Cont. next page. CHAPTER III. RAW MATERIALS AND SPINNING 141

No. 39 No. 44 No. 47 No. 49 Vong Thorsbjerg Corselitze Finds of early 2nd century A. D. 3rd century unknown Three- Three- A. D. provenance shaft shaft twill tabby twill 24820 24821 24823 24823 24824 24824 7325 a 7325 b

a b c with a b a-b c loops

Direction } warp .... s sand z s z z z z z s z z s of spinning weft .... s s s s s s z s z z s

Number of threads } warp .... 88 and 100 and 72 and 72 82 114 113 130 90 and 114 104 88 pr. 10x 10 cm weft .... 74' . 80' 60' 80 94 102 105 60- 118 105 72

'signifies that it is impossible to define warp from weft.

TABLE B Spinning techniques in textiles from Northern German and Frisian bog finds.

Marx Marx-Etzel Obenaltendorf Stapel- Bernuthsfeld Reepsholt Mose stein s = left spun yarn S. 14 S. 15 S. 16 S. 32 S. 33 S. 38 S. 39 S. 47-48 S. 62 S. 63 S.63 S.63 z = right spun yarn Sleeve- Trou- Jacket Sleeve- Blanket Band Frag- 7 Large Piece of Band Patch Shirt less sers less ment of samples blanket cloth jacket jacket hose

Direction } warp ... z z z z z z z z z z z z z light yarn of spinning weft ... s s z z z z z z S s S S S z light and and z s dark

Number of threads } warp ... 9-10 pro I x I cm weft ... 12

Correlated after H. Hahne and H. A. Potratz. H. Hahne's conception of the spinning-terms being the reverse of mine. I have changed hiS terms to correspond to mine. in order to make them directly comparahle.

TABLE C Spinning techniques and thread numbers in Norwegian bog textiles.

Helgelandfundet Hordaland 3.-4.-5. Cent. C D G L 0

Direction \ warp .... s s s s s z and s of spinning f weft .... s s s s s

Number of threads } warp .... II and 12' 14 and 14' 13 and 13' 12 and 14' 6 and 7' 15 and IS' pr. I x I cm weft ....

'signifies that it is impossible to define warp from weft. Prepared on the basis of Bjorn Hougen: Helgelandfundet. 142 MARGRETHE HALD: ANCIENT DANISH TEXTILES FROM BOGS AND BURIALS

TABLE D Spinning techniques and thread numbers in textiles from Danish settlement and grave finds.

NO.51 No. 52 No. 53 No. 54 No. 55 No. 57 No. 58 s = left spun yarn Borre Tornebu- Bnende Lydinge Nortvig Brokrer Vester- Hjorring Prrestegaards Mose skehoj Lem Mark z = right spun yarn 3. Cent. I. Half 2. Half 1.-2. Cent. 2. Half 3. Cent. B.C. I. Cent. I. Cent. A. D. 2. Cent. C 2181

A B C C 9410 C 3290 a d e

Direction } warp .... s s z z s sand z z sand z sand z sand z of spinning weft .... s s s s s sand z z sand z sand z sand z

Number of threads } warp .... 88 and ? 120 150 ? 110 and 235 and 200 85 and 150 and 160 and pr. lOx 10 cm weft .... 72· 140 140 100· 190· 200 75· 130' 160·

(No. 58) No. 59 No. 60 No. 63 No. 65 No. 66 Hjorring Prre- Donbrek Kanni- Flade Vrangstrup Boge- stegaards Mark kegaard bjerg (3. Cent.) 3. Cent. 3. Cent. 3.-4. 4. Cent. 5.-6. (C 2181) C 5793-5810 A. D. Cent. C 23585a and C 23595a and e Cent.

a g 5805 C 952 18360 la lila lIIe C 3121- 24

Direction \ warp .... sand z sand z sand z z sand z z and s z and s z with of spinning Iweft .... sand z sand z sand z z sand z z ano s z and s z ana s z and s

Number of threads \ warp .... 225 and 155 and 78 200 and 170 and 120 and 140 and 180 and 130 and 190 z and pro lOx 10 cm J weft .... 200· 140· 66 180· 160· 140· 128· 140· 110· 160·s

No. 67 No. 68 No. 69 No. 70 No. 74 No. 75 Saltuna Brek- Brek- Lous- Flojstrup Sollested kegrd. kegrd. gaard 5.-8. Cent. 7.-8. 7.-8. I. Half I. Half C 2992-93 Cent. Cent. 9. Cent. 10. Cent.

a b e C 2583 C 2389 C 5602 C 9266 25594

Direction } warp .... z z z z z z z z and s ? ? z and s of spinning weft .... z z z z z z z

Number of threads } warp .... 220 and 100 and 500 and 80 and 160 and 190 and 145 and 220 and ? ? ? pr. 10 x 10 cm weft .... 220· 100· 220· 70' 70' 190' 125' 160'

·signifies that it is impossible to define warp from weft.

, CHAPTER III. RAW MATERIALS AND SPINNING 143

No. 76 No. 77 No. 79 Mammen Hvileh~j Jelling Close of 10. Cent. Cushion Close of 10. Cent. Cloak C 135 and 144 cover C 4280

C 135a C 135 b C 135d C 135e C 144 under c a Woollen cloth

Direction warp .... z z z z z z z l z and s of spinning J weft .... s z z z z z z

Number of threads } warp .... 240 and 205 and 200 and 160 and 110 300 and 215 and 95 and pr. IOxlOcm weft .... 200" 165" 190" liS" 78 100" 125" 55"

TABLE E Spinning techniques and thread numbers in textiles from Norwegian grave finds. s = len spun yarn Gjeite Blind- Setrang Veien Vestrum heim 2. Half 4. Cent. z = right spun yarn 3.-4. Cent. 4. Cent. c.400 c.400 I 2 3

Direction } warp .... z and s z sp.-S ply z and s z z z and s z z of spinning weft .... z and s z z z

Number of threads } warp .... 15 and c. 14 and 18 and 17 and 14 and c. 14 and 9 and 18 and pr. I x I cm weft .... 15- 10- 12* 17- 14- 14- 9- 20-

Vemmestad Snartemo 5. Cent. 6. Cent.

cloth fragment coarse light reddish PI. XIII,4 an upper-most large piece of coarse cloth fragment cloth by sword boss I 2 3

Direction z z z z s ply z z } warp .... z and s of spinning weft .... z z z z s ply z z

Number of threads 22 12 } warp .... 10 and 10- 13 and 13- 13 and 13- c. 7 and 8- c. 13 and 12* 7 and 9- pr. I x I cm weft .... 16 13

0vre Berge 6. Cent. Holmegaard Eveb~ sewn together 5. Cent. 6. Cent. I coarse fine

Direction } warp .... z z z z z and s of spinning weft .... z z z z

Number of threads pr. I x I cm } weft .... 8 and II- 14 and 14- 24 and 24- c. 9 and 12* c. 16 and 16-

-signifies that it is impossible to define warp from weft. Prepared from Bj~rn Hougen: Snartemofunnene. 144 MARGRETHE HALO: ANCIENT DANISH TEXTILES FROM BOGS AND BURIALS

Notes

I) Niels Keyland: Sentriidsspinning, tenndragning och baltsmyckegjutning hos Lapporna i Norra Jamtland. Fataburen 1920, P. 145. Kaj Birket-Smith: The Caribou Eskimos II. Report of the Fifth Thule Expedition 1921-24, Vol. II, Pp. 114-15. Carl v. Linne: Iter Lapponicum. Kungl. Svenska Vetenskapsakademien V. 1913, Pp. 157, 173. M. Vahl and G. Hatt: Jorden og Menneskelivet III, 1925, P. 254; Fig. 117 shows an Ingorot woman making a thread by rolling the bast over her knee. Frances Densmore: Chippewa Customs, Bur. of Amer. Etnl. Bull. 86, 1929, P. 154. A detailed description of the Lapp method of spinning tendons is given in E. Manker: De svenska fjallapporna, 1947, P. 179. 2) G. Hatt: Skinddragter, P. 42. 3) Ibid. P. 43. 4) U. T. Sirelius: Die Handarbeiten der Ostjaken u. Wogulen, Journal de la Societe Finno-Ougrienne, XXII, 1904, P. 19. Cf. same author: Finlands Folklig Kulture (Swedish translation by K. K. Meinander) 1932. 5) Nicolaes Witsen: Noord en Oost Tartarye 11. (Amsterdam 1705), P. 888. 6) Hatt: Skinddragter, P. 43. 7) Falk und Torp: Etiim. Worterbuch, article on yarn d. E. Hellquist: Svensk etymologisk ordbok I, 1939& Ordbok over Svenska spraket, published by Svenska Akademien. 8) Gut as the underlay for gold thread embroidery see Sofus Larsen: Kvindeligt Handarbejde i Middelalde- ren, Aarb0ger 1915, Pp. 77-78. 9) These tools are depicted in Journal de la Societe Finno-Ougrienne XXII, Figs. 21,27,29, 30, and P. 18ff. 10) Suomen Kansanomaista Kulttuuria 11.P. 62, Fig. 60. It seems that flax is etymologically related to nettle. According to Paasonen the Finnish word for linen, pellava, originally meant nettle, which the Mordvin called paalaks. the Wogul poniil and the Ostjaka poten. all words with the same root and demonstrating that the nettle was known among the Finno-Ugrian tribes. Swedish translation II, P. 30. 11) Margrethe Hald: The Nettle as a Culture Plant. Folk-Liv, 1942, P. 36. N:elder og N:eldet0j, Kulturminder 1943, P. 71. Nettle fabrics are described by Max Tilke who gives examples in: Orientalische Kostiime in Schnitt und Farbe. 1923. PI. 24, Egypt; PI. 41, Baghdad; PI. 87, Kashmir; PI. 90, Punjab; PI. 96, India: PI. 105-6, Tibet; PI. 110, Turkestan. 12) Hatt: Skinddragter, P. 43. 13) Frances Densmore: Chippewa Customs. Bur. of Amer. Ethn. Bull. 86, 1929, P. 153-154. 14) 2000-1800 B.C. according to Br0ndsted's chronology, see Danmarks Oldtid I, P. 239 and P. 357. 15) Mus. no. A. 28154. 16) H. C. Broholm and Margrethe Hald: Danske Bronzealders Dragter, P. 293-94. Letter of 18.2.1914. 17) Aarb0ger 1938, Pp. 221-23; op.cit.: Landbrug i Danmarks Oldtid, 1937, P. 33. 18) 26436 and 20084. (F1emI0se parish, Baag herred). 19) Mogens K0ie: T0j fra Yngre Bronzealder fremstillet af N:elde. Aarb0ger 1943, Pp. 99-102. In connection with the photograph on P. 101, K0ie mentions that traces of beating can be seen. Cf. beating method of the Siberians in this context, P. 125. 20) Knud Jessen: Nelden i Kvalsund-Fundet. Bergens Museums Skrifter. Ny R:ekke II, NO.2, 1929, P. 22. 21) Knud Jessen and Jens Lind: Det danske Markukrudts Historie. 1922-23, P. 444. 22) E. Tegner: Plister. Svenska Studier tillagnade Gustav Cederschiold, 1914, P. 449. Hellquist: Svensk Ety- mologisk Ordbok, 1939, P. 718. 23) S. PaIsi: Ein steinzeitlicher Moorfund. Finska FornminnesfOreningens Tidskrift XXVIII. No.2, 1920, P. 17. 24) G. Topelius: Ett fiskstangsel fran stenaldern. Finska FornminnesfOreningens Tidskrift XXVI, No. 16, P. 230 and Fig. 4. 25) R. Indreko: Steinzeitliche Netzteile aus Narva. Eesti Rahva Muuseumi Aastaraamat, VII, 1931, P. 131. CHAPTER III. RAW MATERIALS AND SPINNING 145

26) U. T. Sirelius: Die Handarbeiten der Ostjaken und Wogulen. Journal de la Societe Finno-Ougrienne XXII, ,Po44. Also Ivar Arwidsson: Nagra ord om nat-tiilnar af granrotter. Fataburen 1913, P. 57. 27) Frances Densmore: Chippewa Customs. Bur. of Amer. Ethnl. Bull. 86, Pp. 152-157. 28) Mose: title no. 2 of Vester Doense, Vebbestrup p. Hindsted herred. 29) Danske Bronzealders Dragter, pp. 291-92, Fig. 74. 30) Gudmund Hatt: Aarb~ger 1938, Pp. 221-23. Same author: Landbrug i Danmarks Oldtid, P. 33. 31) Oswald Heer: Die Pflanzen der Pfalbauten. Neujahrsblatt der Naturforsch. Gesellschaft, 1866, Pp. 37 and 9. 32) Emil Vogt: Geflechte und Gewebe der Steinzeit, 1937, P. 43. Emil Vogt seems to support the thought that there is likely to be flax among Danish Bronze Age finds and refers toC. Schuchhardt: "Der germanische Mantel und das illyrische Rockchen". Sitzungsberichten der preussischen Akademie der Wissenschaften. Phil.-Hist. Klasse 1936. XV, Pp. 165-166, the latter author refers to W. v. Stokar: Forschungen und Fortschritten 10.5.1936, P. 177. W. v. Stokar in "Spinnen und Weben bei den Germanen", mannus Biicherei 59, P. 54, expands his assumptions. For example on P. 54 he maintains that a number of oak coffin textiles contain flax; P. 61 that a blue dye has been identified on a textile from Muldbjerg, and on P. 63 that flax was used in the Stone and Bronze Ages for warp yarns, and that mixing flax with warp yarns is a custom which has existed for as long as the upright loom has been used. As mentioned in Ch. III, it has not been possible to identify flax in Denmark prior to the early Iron Age. Schuchhardt and W. v. Stokar are clearly without any knowledge of the Scandinavian material. 33) According to Thomsen: Aarb~ger 1900, Pp. 266 and 268 two more scraps of textile contained flax, i.e. Bcekkegaard (C 2351) and Lousgaard (C 5608). 34) Emil Vogt: Op. cit., Pp. 47,48. See also napping and scraping P. 132. 35) P. v. Moller: Strodda utkast rorande svenska jordbrukets historia, 1881, Pp. 173 and 175, Fig. 35. Schiibeler: Die Culturpflanzen Norwegens 1862, P. 152, Fig. 3. N. Nicolaysen: Norske Fornlevninger, 1862-66, P. 68. O. Rygh: Norske Oldsager, 1885, Fig. 433 and P. 23: "All that is usually found of the "/inheklen" (flax combs) are their iron nails, as these were usually embedded in wood (16 finds are known)". Gabriel Gustafson: Norges Oldtid, 1906, P. 107 and P. 112, Figs. 471-72 under section on the Viking Period. The identification of some spatula-like scrapers have caused archaeologists some diffi- culty, cf. illustrations in Magnus Olsen and Haakon Shetelig: .•En indskrift med celdre runer fra F1~ksand i Nordhordland". Bergens Mus. Aarbok 1909, NO.7, Pp. 12, 13, Figs. 7 and 8, and G. Gustafson: Norges Oldtid, P. 113, Fig. 478. Some experts have taken them to be used for smoothing textiles, others have identified them as hide scrapers or meat knives. But the fact that they are always found in women's graves has to be taken into account. However M. Olsen and H. Shetelig identify two bone tools from a grave (probably 4th century A.D.) as "blades" or "knives" for meat. One, in Fig. 10 (op.cit.) is inscribed with runes among which the word "lin" occurs; it is likely, then, that they were textile tools. The Wogul tribe, for example, had bone knives for preparing nettles (P. 125), and the tool depicted (Fig. 7) resembles a pastry spatula; we must remember that primitive tools often have several uses. 36) Sigurd Grieg: Osebergfundet II, P. 183, Fig. III and 112, Pp. 184, 185 and Fig. 115. Another curious tool from the Oseberg ship-burial may have been used for the same task, a wooden object shaped something like a domestic iron with a flat base and handle at the top. 37) J. Br~ndsted: Danmarks Oldtid III, Fig. 49. 38) Albert Anderson: Linkultur i Halland. Goteborgs Kungl. Vetenskaps- och Vitterhets -Samhiilles Hand- Iingar, 33, Pp. 25 and 27, Fig. 6. Ragnar Jirlow: Om Iinberedning och linspinning hos svensk almoge. Fataburen 1924. P. 147. According to W. Dalgard: Linnets odling och beredning (Fataburen 1916, P. 19) the "club" was also used to remove the flax tow. Cf. Grace M. Crowfoot: Methods of Hand Spinning in Egypt and the Sudan. Bankfield Museum Notes, 2 Series No. 12, P.'20, and Plates 19,20, and 21. Fig. 9 shows wooden clubs, brakes and combs (Nahya Giza province, Egypt). E. Nordenskiold: Compo ethnogr. studies III. Map 28. A South American beater is depicted. 39) Frances Densmore: Chippewa Customs, Bur. of Amer. Ethnol. Bul. 86, 1929, P. 153, PI 59a. 40) Margrethe Hald: For Lud og koldt Vand. Kulturminder 1940-41, Fig. 6. and P. 118. 41) Birka III, P. 16. 42) Jens Holmboe: Nytteplanter og Ugrces. Osebergfundet V, 1927, P. 32. Johan Hjort: Unders~gelser af forhistorisk Uld og T~jrester. Stavanger Mus. Aarshefte 1908, P. 18. 43) Gertrude Sage: Gewebereste aus vorgeschichtlichen Eisengeriiten in Schlesien. Altschlesien, 4, 1932, P. 78. Eberts Reallexikon on hemp. 44) Gosta Montell: Dress and Ornaments in Ancient Peru. 1929. P. 184. 45) My thanks to B~rge Brorson-Christensen for this information. 46) Magi for Fruentimmere: Kbhvn. 1802. Stina Rodenstam: Om lin och niisslor som spanads iimne. Jiimten, 1917, P. 25. Margrethe Hald: The Nettle as a Culture Plant. Folk-Liv. 1942, P. 39, and note 65. 146 MARGRETHE HALD: ANCIENT DANISH TEXTILES FROM BOGS AND BURIALS

47) Bille Gram: Unders~gelser af archreologisk Materiale. Aarb~ger 1891, P. 97 ff. 48) Margrethe Hald: The Nettle as a Culture Plant. Folk-Liv. 1942, P. 38. 49) Vivi Sylwan: Svenska Ryor, 1934, P. 58. Cf. G. T. Emmons: The Chilkat Blanket. Mem. of the Amer. Mus. of Nat. Hist. III, 4 (1907), P. 335, on warps of wool and cedar bast. 50) C. M. Steenberg: Unders~gelser over Haar fra Skrydstrupgraven. Nordiske Fortidsminder III, Pp. 31-42. Cf. Agnes Geijer: Litteratur och Kritik. Fornvannen 1937, P. 244. Agnes Geijer and Hjalmar Ljungh: Die Kleider der danischen Bronzezeit. Einige Bemerkungen tiber Material und Technik sowie mikroskopische Untersuchungen. Acta Archaeologica VIII, 1937, P. 266, Professor Steenberg discusses this in his article listed above, P. 41. Cf. Karl Schlabow's paper: Das Spinngut des bronzezeitlichen Webers. Offa IV, 1939, P. 109ff. An account based on C. M. Steenberg's article. 5!) Bunds~: En Yngre Stenalders Boplads paa Als. Aarb~ger 1939, IV, Dyreknogler ved M. Degerb~l, P. 143. Same author: Animal Remains from the West Settlement in Greenland. Meddelelser om Gr\

washed before spinning, a lye of corn-cockle (Agrostemna) is prepared, one part cockle equal to the weight of the wool to be washed. The cockle is coarsely ground or chopped and boiled to a lye with water. The wool is washed in the scalding lye". 6M) Hatt: Skinddragter, P. 43. 69) Cf. for example: J. Winther: Troldebjerg, 1935, P. 40, Fig. 36; P. 37, Fig. 32. Sophus Muller: S0nderjyl- lands Stenalder, Aarb0ger 1913, P. 266-69 and P. 276, and Stenalderens Kunst, 1918, Pp. 23-29. 70) A brief selection of the literature: Niels Keyland: Sentradsspinning, tenndragning och baltsmyckegjutning hos Lapparna i Norra Jamtland. Fataburen 1920, P. 145. Gerda Cederblom: Nagra afvara aldsta spanadsredskap och deras attlingar. Fataburen 1909, P. 1-14. Maria Collin: am primitiva spinnmetoder. Rig 1921, P. 75. Ragnar Jirlow: am linberedning och linspinning hos svensk allmoge. Fataburen 1924, Pp. 158-162. Frodin and Nordenskiold: Uber Zwirnen und Spinnen bei den Indianern Sudamerikas. 1918. M. Haberlandt and A. Haberlandt: Die Volker Europas und ihre volkstUmliche Kulture, 1928; P. 521 ff. Vivi Sylwan: Woollen Textiles of the Lou-Ian People, 1941, P. 23. G. Montell: Appendix to the same book, Pp. 109-125. G. Montell divides the development of spinning more or less as follows: 1. making thread or cord without a tool, the earliest stage and universal, 2. spinning thread and cord with the help of a weight, even an ordinary stone tied to the end of the ready-spun thread; later a whorl on the spindle, and various types of spindles widespread, 3. spinning with the help of a spinning-wheel, an instrument from South Asia which spread everywhere, and developing in the Middle Ages in Europe into more complicated and effective variations, concluding with the spinning machinery of the modern textile industry. 71) In Greek vase paintings the whorl is often depicted at the base of the spindle. Egyptian representations, on the other hand, depict the whorl at the top, as for example in the Faroe Islands. In one of the inhumations at Juellinge a glass whorl was found attached to a fragment of wooden stick. Sophus Muller: Juellinge- Fundet. Nordiske Fortidsminder II, P. 19. Vedel: Bornholm, P. 96, shows a collection of whorls. 72) Danske Bronzealders Dragter, Fig. 79. Costumes, Fig. 154. 73) G. J. Karlin: Studier tillagnade Oscar Montelius av Iarjungar, 1903, P. 200 ff. Two spinning hooks from Halland, Sweden, are in the Danish Folk Museum. Several Swedish scholars have reproduced photographs of the spinning hook. Cf. Grace M. Crowfoot: Methods of Hand Spinning in Egypt and the Sudan. Bankfield Museum Notes, 2. series No. 12, P. 9, PI. 3 and Fig. 1. Spinning with hooked stick, Plate 37, Fig. 5. A tool consisting of a straight wooden stick called "tvinntra" is used for spinning pine roots in Lapland. Ivar Arwidsson: Nagra ord om nat-talnar af granrotter. Fataburen 1913, P. 57. 74) H. P. Hansen: Hyrdeliv paa Heden. Danmarks Folkeminder No. 49, 1941, Pp. 43-44. 75) J. Kierckebye: Flere Tnek afNatmrendenes Liv i N0rre Jylland. Samlinger til Jydsk Historie og Topografi III, 1870-71, P. 133. 76) G. Hatt and M. Vahl: Jorden og Menneskelivet. III, 1925, P. 254, Fig. 117. 77) Attic Lekythos; published by Gisela M. A. Richter: A Stand by Kleitias and an Athenian Jug. Bull. of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, XXVI, 1931, P. 291. 78) Vase painting by Duris (Berlin F. 2289) reproduced after F. Hauser: Aristophanes und Vasenbilder. Jahreshefte des osterreich. archI. Institutes in Wien. XII, 1909, Fig. 50 and PI. I. Also in Beazley: Attische Vasenmaler, P. 205, No. 68. The pyxis mentioned is also illustrated on P. 83, Fig. 50. 79) Chr. Blinkenberg: Epinetro und Webstuhl, Athen. Mitt. XXXVI, 1911, P. 145ff. In the Faroe Islands for example, a piece of leather is put over the thigh and the spindle is rolled against it to rotate. 80) Cf. Margrethe Hald: For Lud og koldt Vand, P. 124. Danske Bronzealders Dragter, P. 315, and Chapter X, costumes. 81) E. Vogt: Geflechte und Gewebe der Steinzeit, P. 47, Figs. 72, 6 & 7. 82) Lillian M. Willson: Clothing of the Ancient Romans, 1938, 27-30. 83) Knud Jessen: Planterester fra den reldre Jernalder i Thy. Botanisk Tidsskrift XLII, 1934, P. 269 ff. Jens Holmboe: Nytteplanter og Ugrres i Osebergfundet. Osebergfundet V, 1927, P. 35 ff. Margrethe Hald: De Bolstre blaa, 1940, P. 31. 84) T. Dannevig Hauge: Kjemiske og mikroskopiske unders0kelser aftradpr0ver. In Bj0rn Hougen's: Snarte- mofunnene, 1935, P. 83. 85) From Bo Gr0nbech's translation into Danish "Gallerkrigen af Cajus Julius Cresar", p. 126.