Textile resources in Viking Age landscapes

Eva Andersson Strand, head of Centre for Textile Research, has received funding for a DFF2 project Textile resources in Viking Age landscapes. This 3-year project is housed by Centre for Textile Research, Saxo Institute, in close collaboration with the National Museum of Denmark, Section for Evolutionary Genomics, UCPH, Nordjydske Museer, Roskilde Museum and Museum Sydøstdanmark.

The Viking Age is a period in which textile production gets a deep impact on society, clearly indicating a new consumption of sails that supported long distance travels as well as a new fascination and use of luxury clothing. The project hypothesis is that the use of sailcloth and the clear changes in textile production demanded physical labour as well as a large supply of raw material, which would result in an increase in land use for sheep grazing and large-scale cultivation of textile crops as well as changes in settlement structures. This project aims to provide important perspectives and understandings of the needs for textiles and its impact on the use of the Danish landscapes and influence on settlement structures using case studies around Limfjorden and East Zealand. Further to integrate the results and new insights in the study of Viking Age Society and make them visible and accessible to the study of socio-political and economic structures in Viking Age Denmark.

Contact Eva Andersson Strand.