Viking and Early Middle Ages Northern Scandinavian Textiles Proven to be made with Hemp

Bibliographic Data

ID23179018
AuthorsGit Skoglund (0000-0002-0045-5967, University of Bergen), Margareta Nockert (Uppsala University), Bodil Holst (0000-0001-6809-2579, University of Bergen)
Year2013
Volume3
Issue1
Pages2686-2686
Publication date2013-10-18
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueScientific Reports (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 2045-2322 • E-ISSN: 2045-2322
PublisherSpringer Science and Business Media LLC (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1038/srep02686
PMID24135914
OpenAlexW2059646397
LanguageEN
Citations received9
References cited12

Nowadays most plant textiles used for clothing and household are made of cotton and viscose. Before the 19th century however, plant textiles were mainly made from locally available raw materials, in Scandinavia these were: nettle, hemp and flax. It is generally believed that in Viking and early Middle Ages Scandinavia hemp was used only for coarse textiles (i.e. rope and sailcloth). Here we present an investigation of 10 Scandinavian plant fibre textiles from the Viking and Early Middle Ages, believed to be locally produced. Up till now they were all believed to be made of flax. We show that 4 textiles, including two pieces of the famous Överhogdal Viking wall-hanging are in fact made with hemp (in three cases hemp and flax are mixed). This indicates that hemp was important, not only for coarse but also for fine textile production in Viking and Early Middle Ages in Scandinavia.

Archaeology · Clothing · Composite material · Geography · Middle Ages · Pulp and paper industry · Textile · Viking Age · Viscose · Ancient and Medieval Archaeology Studies · Archaeology and ancient environmental studies · Engineering · Historical and Archaeological Studies · Materials Science

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