While modern media often portrays the past as being a time of muddy colored clothing, and extant textiles are often darkened by time and low saturation in appearance, a closer look at the evidence suggests history was far more colorful. Research has been done into the use of textile dyes across many times and places, but for this project I have attempted to recreate the textile color palette of Norse settlements across Northern Europe at the end of the Viking Era. The textile samples I have sought to emulate include Scandinavian, Anglo-Scandinavian, and Hiberno-Norse finds. I focused primarily on the 10th century, however the archaeological evidence for some of these finds suggests they may be as early as the 9th century or as late as the 12th.
In this project, I utilized data from textile samples found in Dublin, York, Gokstad, Bjerringhøj (commonly known as the Mammen grave), Hvilehøj and Hedeby. The majority of the samples were wool, with silk being the second most common material, and one textile sample being an unspecified plant fiber that is most likely linen. The plant fiber sample did not show evidence of having been dyed. The earliest analysis data set I referenced was performed in the 1990’s using spectrophotometry, sometimes combined with thin layer chromatography (TLC). The more recent analyses referenced were done using reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography and photo diode array detection (HPLC-DAD). Across all of these samples, woad, madder, and weld were the most common materials identified. Evidence of yellow dyes of unknown origin were also identified, possibly from tansy or chamomile, but many plants native to these regions are well known to be easily extracted as yellow dyes. Evidence was also found of lichen dyes, walnut, and scale insect dyes like kermes.
Bjerringhøj Textiles
The Bjerringhøj burial mound is also known as the Mammen grave. The excavation of this grave was carried out in 1868. Within it was a man who was likely of high status in life. He was found resting on the remains of an embroidered cushion, wearing richly embroidered clothing of wool and silk. The remains of tablet woven bands brocaded with silver and gold threads were also contained within the grave. Fiber samples were taken from these textile and analyzed in 1950 (Hald), 1991 (Walton), and again in 2023 (Berghe et al).
Out of 43 wool samples that were tested for dye content, 7 indicated madder, 9 indicated weld, 10 indicated woad, 6 had tannins present without surviving dye, and 4 had unknown dye compounds. Some samples had no dye detected.
Out of 15 silk samples, 3 showed evidence of lichen dye, 3 had tannins present without dye, 7 indicated madder, 1 indicated madder combined with kermes.
Hvilehøj Textiles
Another high status burial mound excavation, the Hvilehøj grave was the grave of a noble woman in Jutland, Denmark near the town of Randers. This burial contained the remains of clothing and household textiles in both silk and wool. Fragments of tablet woven bands brocaded with silver thread were found that were likely embellishment for clothing.
The textiles found in this burial mound were sampled for analysis on three separate occasions in 1950, 2001, and 2023. These samples included wool threads, tablet woven band fragments, silk samite, silk twill ribbon, wool tabby, and wool twill. One plant fiber sample was also analyzed with no dye detected.
16 wool samples from Hvilehøj were analyzed. Of these 6 showed evidence of woad, 4 showed evidence of kermes, 2 showed evidence of both kermes and madder, 1 showed evidence of madder only, 1 showed both kermes and woad, and 2 had no dye detected.
7 silk samples were also analyzed. 1 sample showed woad alone, 1 with madder alone, 2 with madder and woad, 2 with woad and insect dye, 1 with madder and insect dye.
Hedeby Textiles
Hedeby, also known as Haithabu, was a major Viking Age port and trade hub on the eastern coast of the Jutland peninsula that was an active site from the early 9th century until the middle of the 11th century. The site spent most of the Viking Age under Danish control, though it sat along the border of the Frankish empire and eventually fell to repeated sacking by Slavic and Norwegian forces. Unlike the higher status textiles found in the burial mounds of Bjerringhøj and Hvilehøj, finds at Hedeby appear to represent the clothing and domestic textiles belonging to people at every level of society.
Unfortunately, at this time, very few of the finds from excavations around Hedeby harbor have been analyzed for dye content. Of the handful that have been analyzed, dye was only detected on one. That particular textile was analyzed in 1984 (Schweppe) and again in 2023 (Berghe et al). The initial analysis found juglone, suggesting walnut, but follow up in 2023 found only tannins, which may suggest an error, a difference between fibers in the same textile, or the effect of time and storage environment of the ability to detect dye compounds.
Danelaw Era York Textiles
Textiles excavated in York dated to the Danelaw period are an interesting case study in Norse fiber practices being influenced by the preexisting practices of the people who were already living in an area where Norse people set up settlements. The Danelaw was the stretch of time from the mid 9th century that extended until the Norman conquest in 1066 during which the northeastern coast of modern day England was controlled by a series of Scandinavian rulers and settled by their supporters and armies. This is also a location where extant textiles do not come from a single high status grave, and are instead representative of people that existed across a wide range of status.
There were 93 samples of fiber analyzed in a 1983 study conducted by G. W. Taylor. Of these samples, many did not have detectable levels of dye present. Taylor theorized that many of these samples may have been dyed with local plants that created fugitive dyes or dyes that were otherwise not lightfast, and had not survived the passage of time. 3 samples were suspected to be dyed with kermes. Around half of the samples showed evidence of madder, and between 6.5%-13.5% had detectable amounts of indigotin, suggesting woad.
Gokstad Ship Burial
The Gokstad Ship Burial is a high status grave of a man in Norway that is estimated to be from the end of the 9th or beginning of the 10th century. This burial is famous for containing one of the best preserved Viking Age ships ever excavated, but it was also a previously disturbed grave that contained surprisingly few grave goods for such a high status burial. A few textiles fragments were found in the excavations.
The textiles found with the Gokstad Ship were examined as sampled for dye analysis in 2021. Both silk and wool fibers were identified among the textile fragments. Only one dye was detected among the samples. They all had detectable quantities of madder present on them.
Viking Age Dublin
During the Viking Age, Dublin served as a major center for Hiberno-Norse trade. Excavations have turned up numerous textile finds in this area, but very little work has been done to date on identifying the dyes used on these textiles. I have included one review of textile finds from Hiberno-Norse Dublin that notes visible color only one two items, silk fragments that are believed to have been veils. One is thought to have been red and the other purple. I feel these items are of note, even in the absence of dye analysis because they demonstrate that this colorful palette for textiles extended across Norse settlements of this time, including locations as far away from Scandinavia as Ireland.
References
- Ina Vanden Berghe, Ulla Mannering, Charlotte Rimstad, “New dye analyses of Danish Viking Age textiles from Bjerringhøj , Hvilehøj, and Hedeby”, Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports, Volume 49, 2023.
- Taylor, G. W. “Detection and Identification of Dyes on Anglo-Scandinavian Textiles.” Studies in Conservation, vol. 28, no. 4, 1983, pp. 153–60.
- Vedeler, Marianne. “Textile Dyes from Gokstad Viking Ship’s Grave.” Heritage (2021): n. pag. Web. (https://www.academia.edu/51474503/Textile_Dyes_from_Gokstad_Viking_Ships_Grave ) Accessed 11/02/2023.
- Wincott Heckett, E. “Irish Viking Age silks and their place in Hiberno-Norse society” Silk Roads, Other Roads: Textile Society of America 8th Biennial Symposium, Sept. 26–28, 2002, Smith College, Northampton, Massachusetts.