In a landscape where small rural communities or even remote self-sustaining farmsteads were the norm, however, the domestic tasks that were mainly the domain of women were clearly far from unimportant. Photo by Wolfmann, Wikimedia CommonsĪs we are largely dependent on piecing together their lives mostly through burials, the accompanying grave goods, and the occasional runestone that mentions women (or was commissioned by one), we know a fair amount about Viking Age women’s clothing, jewellery, and personal items but much less about their effective ‘power’ or the status they held. The man is wearing a tunic girded with a leather belt, and holds a sword. Female graves from this period often contained spindle whorls. A spindle whorl hangs from her dress, too, here probably added to indicate the role Viking Age women played in textile production. The woman is wearing a white shift or underdress, a red overdress (hangerock or smokkr) and two characteristically Viking oval brooches – also known as tortoise brooches – linked by a chain to fasten her overdress. Reconstructions of Viking Age clothing as found on display at the Archaeological Museum in Stavanger, Norway.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |