Rain, storms and Vikings - that sums up our Denmark experience so far. The islands are firmly in the grip of a low-pressure system that has been a real washout, causing horizontal rain and more than uncomfortable temperatures. You don't want to get out of the bus, let alone drive hundreds of kilometres in precarious road conditions, so our planned visit to the Herning Textile Museum and in the open-air museum Den Gamle by into the water - for now (maybe it will work out on the way back).
The Ribe Viking Centre However, it was on the way to Sweden, so we made a stop here and it was really worth it.
The extensive grounds are lovingly designed and authentically revitalised. Denmark's oldest city between 710-980 AD is depicted. You can stroll around the market square, stop off at the harbour and visit various Viking houses - which was necessary due to the heavy rain.
Although the textile focus was clearly on wool, there were also repeated references to the use of flax and linen. Among other things, I became aware of the "Viborg Shirt" project - a linen tunic found during excavations of an 11th century settlement in Viborg Sรธndersรธ, which was very well preserved and represents a unique linen find in Europe. In several places in Denmark, special sites have been found where flax was produced on an almost industrial scale. Flax was also a commodity in the Viking Age.
Archaeologists and volunteers reworked the garment from the seed and documented their working hours and steps. You can read the paper here https://www.ribevikingecenter.dk/media/10424/Flaxreport.pdf
The experiment in figures:
Extension: 56 m2
Harvest: 54 kilos
After drying and fluting: 25 kilos
After breaking and swinging: 4.25 kilos
After panting, 2 kilos of long flax and 2.25 kilos of tow remain
In the end, 750 g of yarn was used for the shirt, which was spun in just under 200 hours with the hand spindle and woven in 107 hours, accounting for over 80% of the total labour time.
The researchers emphasise that this is their experiment and that the whole process can of course turn out differently with increasing skill and experience in cultivation and fibre extraction.
In layman's terms, I imagine that in 900 AD a woman could spare perhaps three or four hours a day to spin or weave. That would mean that the Viborg shirt took a small person 75 to 100 days to make - not including cultivation and fibre extraction. What an achievement!
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