Work packages
WP1. Landscape of Textile resources: Post-doc 1 (PD1) + research assistant (RA)
To what extent was the landscape used to provide the raw materials for clothing, sails and furnishing textiles in the Viking Age? The production of one large sail would demand wool from 100 sheep which needed 3-5 hectares of well-fertilized land to grass on, or more than 1 hectare of land for cultivation of plant fibers (Bender Jørgensen 2012; Fröier & Zienkiewicz 1991). In WP1 we will investigate the uses of the Viking Age textile landscapes. Data from the selected landscapes will be compiled by PD1 in close collaboration with Dr. Morten F. Mortensen. New pollen and macrofossil analyses will be conducted by PD1 and RA to get detailed knowledge on the use of those landscapes, including infields and backwoods, as well as land for grazing. Landscape analyses by means of GIS will further contextualize any zoo-archaeological evidence of sheep management, wool production, and flax and hemp cultivation. An investigation of available dye plants in combination with recent textile dye analyses will indicate use of dyes as well as the trade of dye plants. The results from WP1 will be essential when discussing both the access to and cultivation of textile raw materials as well as the trade of such.
WP2. Tools, textiles and contexts: PI Eva Andersson Strand, Post-doc 2 Charlotte Rimstad (PD2), student assistant (SA)
Textile tools are one of the most frequent artefacts from Viking Age settlements excavations and the analyses indicate what type of textiles have been produced with the use of specific tools. WP2 will investigate what type of textile production was performed in the different settlements by recording and analyzing the function of textile tools and their find contexts. This work will be done by the PI together with the SA.
Even if textiles are found in different contexts, textile analyses have until now primarily focused on textiles for clothing in grave contexts (Bender Jørgensen 1986). However, this study combines studies of textiles from different contexts with tools and landscape analyses and will provide a new holistic view of Viking age textile consumption. This will enhance the possibility of exploring local production in contrast to the previous focus on imports (e.g., Bender Jørgensen 1986). Analyses of textile find including fiber and dye analyses from the selected areas will be performed by PD2. They will also collect information on already analyzed textiles and compile with new results.
Spatial analysis (GIS) will be used to explore the distribution of textile tools and textile production constructions, in order to identify the space where production took place and identify potential textile workshops. It will be possible to create density maps, to show and associate different classes of textile tools with their original contexts, in order to observe the production trends throughout different chronological phases of a specific site. By combining results from tools, textile and context analyses we can discuss different types of organization modes but also local production vs. import.
WP3. Sheep and Sheep management (PhD, Jonas Holm Jæger, supervisor PI Eva Andersson Strand, co-supervisor professor Matthew Collins)
As the demand for wool increases, does this result in a change in animal management? When looking at the preserved fibres, does the wool indicate evidence of a switch from primary hairy female animals, as part of a mixed economy, to the use of castrated males?
Management of sheep in the archaeological record has been confounded by the challenges of discriminating sheep from goats, and previous analysis by Jæger (2020) of Late Iron Age ovicaprine teeth, demonstrated that many ‘goats’ were in fact sheep. In WP3 the increasing demand for wool within the Viking textile economy will be explored. Jonas Holm Jæger will conduct a large-scale screening of ovicaprine remains from the Early Iron Age through the Viking Age. Zooarchaeology by Mass Spectrometry (ZooMS) will be used to complement and cross-validate osteological identification of sheep, (Reed 1960; Halstead, et al. 2002; Zeder & Lapham 2010; Zeder & Pilaar 2010; Buckley, et al. 2010). Selected sheep molars will be subjected to a DNA analysis (collaboration with Prof. Dan Bradley, Dublin) to explore age and sex in order to explore mortality patterns of adult animals and scans will be made for possible genetic signatures of sheep breeding during the Viking Age. Analysis of mortality patterns will be made, based on estimates of age (tooth eruption and wear) and sex identification structures of flocks.
The synergy -Towards a new perception of Viking Age Textile landscapes
Study of animal remains and Archaeobotanical studies of plant fiber will provide new insights into landscape use in rural and outland environments. Together with context analyses of textile-production sites and settlements, this data will elevate the discussion of the use of the landscape and Viking-Age textile craft production, organization, and specialization with a new dimension of understanding.
Only through meticulous work in the three work packages, is it possible to expand and elevate the project to the level of dynamic collaboration that is necessary to fulfil the aim and objectives presented here. The work accomplished within and between WP1-3 will create the possibility of a fourth part in which their collective synergy will demonstrate how textiles and textile production can provide a new and essential understanding in the development of Viking-Age society. Integrating the results of sub-projects analyses (WPs) will yield new and important perspectives in both the environmental and the social impact of textile production and provide a foundation for further studies on resource exploitation and agricultural practices related to textile production. The synergy will answer the hypothesis if textiles or textile resources can be used as markers of large-scale production and exploration of land and give new insights and perspectives of the development of Viking Age Society.