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A Stitch in Time

Essays in Honour of Lise Bender Jørgensen

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GOTHENBURG UNIVERSITYDepartment of Historical StudiesGOTARC SERIES A. GOTHENBURG ARCHAEOLOGICAL STUDIESISSN1403-8293 No 4. A Stitch in Time: Essays in Honour of Lise Bender JørgensenRed. Sophie Bergerbrant and Sølvi Helene FossøyPrinting: Reprocentralen, Humanities Department, Gothenburg University, 2014Layout: Rich PotterCover: Rich PotterISBN 978-91-85245-56-9

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PrefaceTh e idea for this festschrift began with Antointte Rast-Eicher, who compiled the list of contributors and participated in the early stages of producing the volume. Unfortunately she was unable to contribute to the main work with the volume due to other commitments. However, we want to thank her for her initiative.

Th is book could not have been printed without the fi nancial support from Sparebanken Midt-Norges gavefond til Norges Teknisk-Naturvitenskaplige Universitet; Department of Historical Studies, Gothenburg University and the Department of Historical Studies, Norwegian University of Technology and Science. Dr Kristin Bornholdt Collins consulted on language-related issues and assisted with proofreading and revision, and we are grateful for all her help and language support through the various stages of producing the book. We would also like to thank Ragnhild Berge for helping us in Trondheim; Lena Hammarlund for consultations on terminology; Ulla Mannering for tracking down photographs of Lise; and Karina Grömer for providing an excellent opportunity to present the book.

Th ere is no Tabula Gratulatore in this book; this is due to Lise’s vast network of colleagues and friends within so many fi elds and countries. How could we possibly reach them all, and where would the line be drawn? It therefore seemed preferable to concentrate on the actual content, and to produce a worthy tribute honouring Lise for decades of hard work and her important role as a pioneer in textile research. It comes with heartfelt gratit ude, admiration and best wishes from all of her colleagues and friends, naming none but including all.

With this festschrift, the editors, authors, colleagues, friends and all the individuals at supporting institutions wish Professor Lise Bender Jørgensen a somewhat belated Happy 65th Birthday. Th e opportunity to present the book at the 2014 NESAT conference was too good to be missed.

Gothenburg and Drammen, 2014-03-03

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A Stitch in TimeSophie Bergerbrant

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Th e red thread Lotte Hedeager

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Lise Bender Jørgensen: research in textilesAntoinette Rast-Eicher

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Bibliography of Lise Bender Jørgensen’s publicationsAntoinette Rast-Eicher and Sølvi Helene Fossøy

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Science, Th eory, Methodology and Prehistoric Textiles

Experimental soil burial studies for archaeological textile preservation and research – a reviewElizabeth E. Peacock

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Implications of a web - considerations of a craft -oriented research perspectiveUlla Isabel Zagal-Mach Wolfe

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Speciality fi bres for special textilesAntoinette Rast-Eicher

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Prehistoric textile patterns: transfer with obstructionJohanna Banck-Burgess

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A rich seam: stitching as a means of interpreting Bronze Age textile fragmentsSølvi Helene Fossøy

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Tacit knowledge and the interpretation of archaeological tablet-woven textilesLise Ræder Knudsen

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Th e holistic nature of textile knowledge: fulling cloth in the seaCarol Christiansen & Lena Hammarlund

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Social Aspects of Prehistoric Textiles

Out of the dark… New textile fi nds from HallstattKarina Grömer, Helga Rösel-Mautendorfer and Hans Reschreiter

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Contents

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Italian textiles from prehistory to Late Antique timesMargarita Gleba

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Wool fabrics from Arditurri Roman mines, Oiartzun (Basque Country, Spain)C. Alfaro Giner

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A well-preserved household textile from Roman EgyptHero Granger-Taylor and Karen Finch

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Th rough Roman eyes: cotton textiles from Early Historic IndiaJohn-Peter Wild and Felicity Wild

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Tools of textile production in Roman Iron Age burials and settlements on Funen, DenmarkSophie Bergerbrant

Cloth, clothing and Anglo-Saxon womenPenelope Walton Rogers

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Th e textile interior in the Oseberg burial chamberMarianne Vedeler

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An exceptional woman from BirkaEva Andersson Strand and Ulla Mannering

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2/2 Herringbone twill fabrics in Early Medieval Poland: Imports or local production?Maria Cybulska and Jerzy Maik

Textiles of fi ft eenth- to seventeenth-century layers from Heidelberg and Kempten, GermanyKlaus Tidow, Textilingenieur, Boostedt

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A rich seam: stitching as a means of interpreting Bronze Age textile fragments

Sølvi Helene Fossøy, Independent researcher

IntroductionAmong the rich artefacts found from the Scandinavian Bronze Age, the seven Danish, fully preserved woollen costumes are exceptional and provide a useful baseline with which to compare other textiles (Broholm & Hald 1940; Bender Jørgensen 1986). Only preserved due to a special mound-building tradition in Jutland and Schleswig, they provide unique insights into the prehistoric costume tradition (Holst et al. 2001; Jensen 2002:164-192). In addition to the complete outfi ts, a large quantity of fragmented textiles have also been preserved from burials all over southern Scandinavia. Th ese textile fragments have a uniform appearance, which makes it almost impossible to identify the particular item of clothing represented by individual textiles (Bender Jørgensen 1986; Ehlers 1998). Th is paper will discuss how particular clothing types may be identifi ed from the traces of diff erent kinds of seams and embroidery on the textile fragments. Here the remains of hems, stitches and embroidery on textile fragments from the Scandinavian Bronze Age will be examined with reference to the complete Danish garments. From this, we glean new information regarding geographical distribution and time of use, in addition to showing a wider range of variation in the known groups of garments.

Bronze Age textilesIn 1986 Lise Bender Jørgensen published textiles from 185 diff erent Scandinavian Bronze Age burials and sites. Most are from the Early Bronze Age since the Late Bronze Age favoured cremation burials (Jensen 2002:227-230). Of the seven Danish oak-log coffi ns, three were female and four were male burials. All were buried in full garments, revealing two diff erent female costumes and two diff erent male costumes (Bergerbrant 2007). Th e males wore either a kilt or a wrap-around together with a cloak, while the females wore a short-sleeved blouse together with either a tight length corded-skirt or a long skirt (Broholm & Hald 1940; Bergerbrant 2007). Th e huge task of analysing the fragmented material was completed by Lise Bender Jørgensen and published in Forhisotirske textiler i Skandinavien in 1986.

Th e most common type of textile during the whole of the South Scandinavian Bronze Age, 1700-500 BC (Vandkilde 2004), is coarse tabby woven in one-ply yarn of brown wool (Bender Jørgensen 1986). Th e coarse tabby dominates the fragmented textile material and the preserved garments show that all larger clothes are made from this textile type, except for the corded skirt (Bender

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Jørgensen 1986; Broholm & Hald 1940; Fossøy & Bergerbrant 2013). Other textile techniques can be seen in the corded skirts and smaller items like belts and hairnets (Fossøy 2012).

According to measurements of thread count undertaken by Margrethe Hald (1940:160-163) the diff erent types of garment cannot be linked to tabby textiles of diff erent quality. Th e thread-count in one weave can vary and new analyses show that most of the tabby textiles have a thread diameter from 1-2 mm (Fossøy 2012:23). Visually, this makes the Scandinavian Bronze Age textiles a uniform group of coarse textiles. Due to this uniformity it is not possible to identify specifi c garments from the fragmented textiles on the basis of quality. Th e work of identifying the textiles is made even more diffi cult by the fact that a large quantity of the textiles were found in the late 1800s and early 1900s with few site records describing the fi nd position and context (Jensen 1998). Together with the poor state of preservation and the uniformity of the textiles the possibility of identifying a specifi c garment in the fragmented material is quite limited. Th e opportunity arises, however, in cases where there are textiles with stitches or embroidery present. A close look at some of the less recognized, fragmented textiles with seams seen in comparison to the seams and embroidery on the preserved garments holds potential for identifying specifi c clothing types.

Construction seamOn archaeological textiles seams can be used to identify the original garment, but to do so with certainty the seam should be accompanied by information on the context or the textile shape (Vedeler 2007:55), details which are rarely found among the fragmented Bronze Age textiles. Most of the Bronze Age garments involve some sort of construction seam but these are most often rough stitches (Broholm & Hald 1940). For example, the long skirts belonging to the women and the cloak and kilts of the men are made from one or two large textiles. Th e other garments are often sewn together from several pieces with the use of ordinary overcast stitches. Th e female blouses are sewn together from one large piece that was cut up and sewn into a short-sleeved blouse. Th e male wrap-arounds consist of two larger pieces and several smaller fragments. Apparently, a lot of stitching and work was put into the wrap-around to make use of several smaller textiles (Broholm & Hald 1940; Eskildsen & Lomborg 1977). Unlike the basic textiles that were only rarely made with one-ply yarn, the seams in Bronze Age garments are mostly made with two-ply yarn (Broholm & Hald 1940). As the same kind of overcast stitches or running stitches were used for all construction seams on all kind of clothes1 (Broholm & Hald 1940), the construction seams cannot be used alone to discuss what original piece of clothing the fragments derive from. For example it would not be possible to distinguish a fragment from two combined pieces on a wrap-around from a skirt consisting of two textiles.

1 Terminology on stitches according to Wikipedia.

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Embroidery on women’s blousesSeveral of the Bronze Age garments do have seams that can be regarded as having had a more decorative purpose (Broholm & Hald 1940; Nielsen 1988). Embroidery is defi ned here as seams that extend beyond what is necessary for the practical construction of the clothing and therefore have a decorative eff ect. Individual attempts have been made to identify textiles on the basis of embroidery (Bender Jørgensen et al. 1985; Bender Jørgensen 1986; Nielsen 1988; Ehlers 1998:162). Th ese, along with the full garments from the oak-log coffi ns, form the basis for identifying and discussing further examples below.

SkrydstrupTh e best known example of Scandinavian Bronze Age embroidery is the heavily decorated Skrydstrup blouse dated to period III (Bergerbrant 2007:54-55; Broholm & Hald 1940:88-94; Hansen 1980). Th e blouse has striped embroidery along the sleeves and at the neck opening. Th e seam around the neck opening is almost 2 cm wide consisting of 12 rows of detached blanket stitches. Th e fi rst row of stitches is fastened to the cloth while the next row passes into the loops of the fi rst row and so on, making a fl exible neckline. Each row of blanket stitches has three twining threads sewn on top. Th e twining gives a cord-like appearance to the embroidery. Th e yarn used is two-ply, giving an extra decorative eff ect, and estimated from pictures about 1 mm thick. Th e sleeves have squares with relief-like ribs made by stitches pulling the fabric. Stitches in three rows similar to those going around the neck outline the decorated squares on the sleeves (Broholm & Hald 1940:93; Hansen 1980).

Egtved and Borum EshøjTh e other two known blouses, from Egtved and Borum Eshøj, do not have the elaborate decoration seen on the Skrydstrup blouse. Not as commonly known is the fact that the Egtved and Borum Eshøj blouses are also embroidered with blanket stitches around the neck opening and the sleeve openings (Broholm & Hald 1940:68-71). Th e Borum Eshøj blouse has two rows of detached blanket stitches, while Hald is not entirely clear on the number of rows of stitches on the Egtved blouse (Broholm & Hald 1940: 85). Unlike Skrydstryp, the yarn on the two blouses with simpler embroidery is said to be of one-ply (Broholm & Hald 1940:85). Examination of photographs of the blouse on natmus.dk shows what appears to be one row of blanket stitches on the Egtved blouse. Unlike the Skrydstrup example, the rows of stitches on the Egtved blouse do only have one row of blanket stitches and no twining stitches on top, and might therefore have had a more practical function. For example, the stitching may have been to stop the cloth from unraveling as the neck hole was cut into the cloth (Broholm & Hald 1940: 85). Th e two rows described on Borum Eshøj can be interpreted as having had a more decorative purpose in addition to being functional.

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MelhøjEmbroidery similar to that on the shoulders and sleeves of the Skrydstrup blouse is unknown both in the oak-log coffi n garment and in the fragmented material. But the embroidery along the neck-opening of the Skrydstrup blouse has formed the basis for interpreting textile fragments with similar characteristics. Lise Bender Jørgensen, E. Munksgård and K. H. Nielsen (1985) analysed the fragmented textiles from the Melhøj burial and discerned a clear parallel to the Skrydstrup blouse in an embroidered fragment. Th is female burial is dated to late period III. Th e decorated fragment has 12 rows of detached blanket stitches and just like on the Skrydstrup blouse each row of blanket stitches has been further decorated with three rows of twining stitches (Nielsen 1988:12-14), giving it the same cord-like appearance. Th e yarn used for the Melhøj embroidery is two-ply and only 0.6 mm thick (Fig. 1) (Fossøy 2012:49).

Name Place Period Burial

Borum Eshøj East Jutland Late PII Oak-log coffi n

Egtved South East Jutland Late PII Oak-log coffi n

Flintbek Schleswig Holstein PII Oak-log coffi n

Skrydstrup South Jutland PIII Oak-log coffi n

Emmedsbo Mark East Jutland EB Grave

Melhøj North Jutland PIII Inhumation

Table 1 Finds with embroidery from female graves (Bender Jørgensen 1986; Ehlers 1998; Bergerbrant 2007; Fossøy 2012).

Fig. 1 Close-up of the Melhøj embroidery. Photograph: © Fossøy

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Flintbek and Emmedsbo MarkTh e female burial of Flintbek in Schleswig Holstein contained several interesting textile pieces and bronzes. Th e bronzes connect the burial to the Lüneburg culture and are dated to period II. One of the fragments contains embroidery that may be from a neck opening. Th e embroidery seems to consist of blanket stitches with three twining threads, similar to those in Skrydstrup. Th e yarn also has similar qualities being two-ply and 1-1.3 mm thick (Ehlers 1998:163, Taf. 29; Bergerbrant 2007:55).

One of the textiles from the burial of Emmedsbo Mark from the Early Bronze Age is noted in Bender Jørgensen’s catalogue as having stitches of the same kind as the Skrydstrup blouse. Th e grave contains spiral arm-rings and fi nger rings strongly indicating a female burial (Bender Jørgensen 1986:193). In Scandinavia this form of complex embroidery seems to be unique for the neckline embroidery of the female blouse. It would therefore be reasonable to assume that the several rows of detached blanket stitches with twining stitches sewn onto them on the Emmedsbo Mark textile (Bender Jørgensen 1986:21) probably originates from the neckline of a female’s blouse.

Th e textile technology in the Scandinavian burials show a strong connection to the Lüneburg culture in northern Germany, indicating communication and networks between the two regions (Bergerbrant 2005, 2007, 2008; Bender Jørgensen 1986; Fossøy 2013). Bergerbrant (2008) has argued that the neckline embroidery represents a textile technique that was transmitted to the Scandinavian area through female contact networks from exactly these more southern regions. Th is spreading of textile knowledge is also indicated in the six female blouses that have now been identifi ed as having neckline embroidery with common traits. Th e oldest burials with blouses are Flintbek dated to period II and Egtved and Borum Eshøj dated to late period II. Flintbek has a clear connection to Lüneburg and might signal a foreign woman who brought new techniques north into Schleswig Holstein (Bergerbrant 2008:10). Th e necklines of the Egtved and Bourum Eshøj blouses are decorated with the same basic technique as Flintbek, but they are simpler. Th ey do not have the twining threads that are sewn over the blanket stitches. Th e embroidery from the Egtved and Borum Eshøj examples is also done in one-ply yarn producing a less decorative eff ect than the two-ply yarn used in the more advanced later embroideries. Th is may indicate that the technique of blanket stitches and embroidery was already in use in Denmark for practical purposes during the time Flintbek arrived in Scandinavia. Th e trend of further extending this technique for more decorative purposes, with two-ply yarns and more embroidery, might have spread from the south, and fi rst took hold in Denmark during period III as seen in Melhøj and Skrydstrup. If decorative embroidery started in the south, this might also suggest that the original technique of sewing blanket stitches originated in the south.

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Embroidery on men’s garmentsTh e four male garments that exist also contained pieces with stitches that qualify as embroidery. Th is includes four examples of spherical, piled caps with tightly sewn fl oss in very fi ne thread (0.2 mm) on the outside and a decorative spiral seam on the inside (Broholm & Hald 1940:13-19, 156 – 158; Bergerbrant et al. 2013:258). Smaller fragments with these characteristics are easily identifi ed as remains of spherical, piled caps even though the size is just a few centimetres, as for example textiles from the Danish burials Smørumovre and Toppehøj, both with material indicating a male burial (Fossøy 2012:48; Bender Jørgensen 1986:85). Th ese are like all known piled caps dated to period II (Bender Jørgensen 1986; Bergerbrant et al. 2013:258-59; CinBA database). Floss is also seen in a coarser type on male cloaks and has been used to suggest that a fragment from the Melhøj burial is a shorter female cloak. Th is sort of fl oss is made with thicker yarn and is sewn in a more dispersed manner onto the garment (Broholm & Hald 1940; Nielsen 1988:16-20). No other fragments with this sort of fl oss have been found, and therefore it has not been possible to identify any other cloaks.

MuldbjergA less recognized example of embroidery in the male garments from the oak-log coffi ns is seen in the sewn edges of one of the two preserved wrap-arounds. Th e wrap-around of the Muldbjerg man, dated to late period II, consists of nine pieces of textiles sewn together with coarse stitches. Th e wrap-around was folded around the body and secured with a triangular-shaped corner of the gown wrapped over the shoulder and pinned to a leather strap or tutulus. Th e other upper corner of the garment would have been folded under the arm (Broholm & Hald 1940:19-22). Two of the edges of the piece are the weaving edges. In addition to these two edges is the garment’s edge sewn with blanket stitches of two-ply yarn. Based on photographs the stitches seem to have been taken one per centimetre. Th e embroidery is a bit deteriorated but along the shortest of the two embroidered edges the stitches are sewn over with twining stitches as shown in Fig. 2, the same basic technique as was used for the simplest female blouses (Broholm & Hald 1940:19 – 22; National museum webpage). No stitches or embroidery of this sort are seen on any other garments from the four male oak log-coffi ns (Broholm & Hald 1940).

Fig. 2 Th e embroidery on the Muldbjerg garment. Illustration: Fossøy (aft er Broholm & Hald, 1940).

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Garderhøj Garderhøj, Gentofte2 was an oak-log coffi n burial on Zealand excavated by S. Müller in 1886, dated to period III. In addition to small textile fragments, the burial contained a sword, razor, tweezer, knife, fi bula, pin, double button, gold ring, leather cover and a wood stick (Aner & Kersten 1973: nr 369), revealing a very rich grave. It is on some of the few very fragmented textiles from the Gardehøj burial that a seam reminiscent of the Muldbjerg edgework can be found. Four centimetres of embroidery is preserved on one of the fragments, consisting of two blanket stitches with one thread of twining stitches sewn onto the seam along the textile’s edge (Fig. 3). As on the Muldbjerg embroideries, the yarn used on the Garderhøj textile fragment was two-ply, Z2s, and close to the same thread diameter, with 1.6 mm (Fossøy 2012:55). It is described that some tabby woven textile was found in connection with the sword and scabbard situated on the man’s left side, with the sword blanket on the man’s shoulder (Aner & Kersten 1973: nr 369). Th is indicates that the man wore textiles on the upper part of the body. Th e textile could have originated from a cloak, blanket or a textile wrapped around the sword. But, considering the placement near the shoulder and the close resemblance of the stitches to the embroidery on the Muldbjerg wrap-around, a wrap-around is a very probable interpretation for the textile.

HvidegårdTh e embroidery on the Muldbjerg wrap-around and the Garderhøj fragment provides the basis to interpret another debated Bronze Age textile. Th e famous burial of Hvidegård is situated just a few kilometres north of the Gardehøj burial on Zealand. Hvidegård is a cremation burial, and like Gardehøj is dated to period III. Th e excavation of the grave in 1845 by C. J. Th omsen revealed several fragments of textiles in addition to a unique burial assemblage. Th e burial included a sword with scabbard, razor, knife, tweezer, dagger with scabbard, fi bula and a special leather purse that closed with a bronze pin, in addition to other items. It has been argued that the purse held amulets (Aner & Kersten1973: nr 399; Lomborg 1981; Goldhahn 2012:242). Th e burial contained one textile of special interest, and this has also been interpreted in diff erent ways. Th e textile measures 26.5 x17 cm and has an asymmetric

2 Garderhøj is named Jægersborg, Nr 369 in Aner & Kersten (1973). In Bender Jørgensen (1986) it is numbered DK 081.

Fig. 3 Close-up of the Garderhøy embroidery. Photograph: © Fossøy.

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triangular shape with two cut edges and one edge that is fragmented, as shown in Fig. 4. Th e weave is tabby, and goes from balanced in the fragmented end to unbalanced at the narrow tip of the cloth (Fossøy 2012). Here the transverse threads only have three threads per centimetre while the threads going in the direction of the tips have fi ve threads per centimetre, suggesting that this edge would have borne some sort of weight that stretched the fabric. Blanket stitches are found around the two cut edges. Th e embroidery yarn is two-ply Z2s and quite thick, with a 1.8 mm thread diameter as shown in Fig. 5. Th e stitches are sewn approximately one centimetre apart. Th e same yarn was used to sew one row of twining stitches on top of the blanket stitches, making the seam visibly more decorative (Fossøy 2012: 51-52); this was the same kind of seam used on the Muldbjerg wrap-around.

After the excavation in 1845 the Hvidegård fragment was interpreted as the corner of a cloak (Herbst 1848), though this idea was later abandoned when the Bronze Age cloaks were discovered to be oval (Lomborg 1981). Both Broholm and Hald (1940:145) and Bender Jørgensen (1986) have interpreted the textile as the shoulder corner of a wrap-around based on the shape, but another interpretation was put forward by Ebbe Lomborg (1981). Inspired by the unique burial goods in the Hvidegård burials, Lomborg suggested that the individual was a man of magical powers. According to Lomborg, the man’s position was communicated by a special wizard’s costume similar to that found on the Grevensvænge fi gurines (Fig. 6). Lomborg has argued that these fi gurines from the Late Bronze Age wear special garments on the upper part of the body that open at the sides and end in a long tip at the front. Lomborg defi nes this

Fig. 4 Close-up of the Hvidegård embroidery. Photograph: © Fossøy.

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Fig. 5 Th e textile fragment form Hvidegård. Photograph: © Nationalmuseet Copenhagen

Fig. 6 Th e Grevensvænge fi gurine as drawn by Christian Brant in 1780. Illustration © Fossøy aft er Christian Brant, from Danske leksikon.

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as a male blouse (Lomborg 1981), and claims that the triangular shape of the Hvidegård textiles is unlike any other known Bronze Age clothing and therefore must represent the low tip at the front of the Grevensvænge blouses.

However, a close look at the textile and the Grevensvænge fi gure (Fig. 6) would suggest another use for the Hvidegård textile. In the following the shape of the Grevensvænge garment will be interpreted very directly from how it is depicted on the fi gure. Th e front and back piece of the blouse would have parallel sides with and oval end. It must have been broad enough to cover half the chest and the narrow front and back piece goes from the fi gure’s armpits down to its lap (Th rane 1999). Th e Hvidegård textile’s tip is narrow and 11 cm long and 2.5-6 cm wide, and the whole textile is very asymmetrical. Lomborg (1981) argues that the Hvidegård textile is pulled out of shape, but looking at the threads in the weave (Fig. 4) it is clear that only the weave in the narrow tip is pulled. Th e rest of the textile has been cut in its preserved shape. Th ese properties are not compatible with it deriving from a blouse as pictured on the Grevensvænge fi gurine. However, the Hvidegård textile bears a great visual resemblance to the shoulder piece of the Muldbjerg and Trindhøj wrap-arounds. Th e asymmetrical shape and measurements would fi t for this use. Th e use as a shoulder strap could also explain the unbalanced weave, caused by the shoulder piece carrying the weight of the costume. Another argument for this being a piece from a wrap-around is that the embroidery parallels the embroidery of the Muldbjerg costume and on the Gardehøj fragment, and is not known in any other male garment. Based on this evidence it seems better to interpret the fragment in accordance with known garments from period II than to rely on bronze fi gurines from a later period.

Table 2 Finds with embroidery from male graves (Comis 2003; Bender Jørgensen 1986; Goldhahn 2012; Aner & Kersten 1973).

Emmer-ErfscheidenveenOutside of Scandinavia one textile is known that strengthens the connection between the wrap-around and blanket stitches with twining overcast stitches along the cloth’s edges. In Emmer-Erfscheidenveen in the Netherlands several fragments of textiles were found in relation to a bog body. Th e discovery was dated to the period between 1400-1130 f.Kr3 (Plicht et al. 2004:482) which

3 GrN-15459 (wood) 2980±35, GrA-19531 (Textile) 3110±50, GrA-19532 (hair) 2995± 45, GrA-19533(hide) 3020±40 (Plicht et al. 2004:482).

Name Place Period Burial

Muldbjerg Jutland PII Oak-log coffi n

Hvidegård Zealand PIII Stone coffi n

Garderhøj Zealand PIII Oak-log coffi n

Emmer-Erfscheidenven Nederlands PII-PIII Bog body

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is equivalent to Montelius periods II-III. Th e textiles are argued to be a wrap-around similar to the Danish ones on the basis of the shape of the textile. Th e textile fragments are similar in quality and technique to the regular generalized textiles of Scandinavia. Two-ply Z2s-yarn was used for the blanket stitch embroidery. However, the stitch-work diff ers from that on the Danish wrap-arounds by having three rows of detached blanket stitches, each row of blanket stitches sewn with three twining threads (Comis 2003:194 – 196). Th is is the same technique as was used on the more complex female blouses as Skrydstrup and Melhøj.

Th e two men in Hvidegård and Garderhøj were buried in the same area on Zealand, both died sometime with the same two-hundred year period, both burials are rich in bronze, and the indivduals were buried with several of the same artefacts: sword with scabbard, razor, tweezer, knife and several pieces of wool. If this material can be read as an indicator of identity, i.e. of the men having the same status, then it is also likely that they wore a similar garment representing this status, strengthening the interpretation of the Garderhøj fragment originating from a wrap-around. Th e two oak-coffi n burials with wrap-arounds, Muldbjerg and Trindhøj, were richer in bronze than the two with kilts, Borum Eshøj A and B (Broholm & Hald 1940). Th is material indicates an identity connected to wealth of bronze for the men wearing the wrap-arounds. While Hvidegård and Garderhøj are both located on Zealand, Muldbjerg and Trindhøj are on the Danish mainland, Jutland. Muldbjerg is north-west of Ringkjøbing in the north-west of Jutland, while Trindhøj is located inland, to the south-west of Kolding, in southern Jutland (Broholm & Hald 1940:13, 27). Th is suggests that the wrap-around may have been used across a large area comprising most of today’s Denmark. Th e identifi cation of Hvidegård and Garderhøj as fragments of wrap-arounds also demonstrates that the wrap-around was in use in period III as well as period II. Th e examples from Hvidegård, Garderhøj and Muldbjerg all have blanket stitches sewn in the same direction (Fig. 2) (Fossøy 2012), which according to Hald could indicate a sewing technique where it was customary to move from right to left (Broholm & Hald 1940:137). Th is could indicate a common handcraft tradition for the whole area connected to the knowledge involved in the application of embroidery.

ConclusionIt can hardly be assumed that the oak-log coffi ns should be representative of all clothing in the Early Bronze Age, but using embroidery known from the oak-log coffi ns as the basis for identifi cation of fabrics has given us more evidence of the distribution of the Bronze Age garment. Th is study has shown that both the male wrap-around and the female blouse existed for a long period of time, from period II into period III, over a large area, which comprised all of today’s Denmark and probably areas further south. Th e fact that these garments also existed without the embroidery, like the wrap-around, suggests that the

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embroidery was used as an identity marker, not uniform for everyone wearing this garment. Earlier studies (Bender Jørgensen 1986; Ehlers 1998; Fossøy 2012) have shown that textile technology and the visual quality of the fabric produced remained virtually constant and unchanging for most of the Bronze Age, common throughout the entire Scandinavian Bronze Age (Fossøy 2012; Bender Jørgensen 1986; Ehlers 1998). While there are some exceptions, like the garment in the Nybøl burial (Bergerbrant et al. 2013) and the clothing on the Grevensvænge fi gurines (Th rane 1999), some basic types of clothing persisted over several periods, suggesting an enduring system with diff erent identities strongly connected to certain pieces of clothing, and their embroidery.

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