[SCA-BMDL] Viking Garb

Tue Jan 5 20:04:40 EST 2010

I agree that I feel the Annika Larsson interpretation is not practical.  I have heard what the SCA does describes as “re-creational archeology” – meaning that we figure things out by re-creating them & evaluating how they actually work.

Hrefna has an excellent point about the possibility of “the archeologist's notes are wrong or even open to interpretation”.  I recall early in the day, a book described the garment that the broaches were found attached to as “pleated”.  I recall burning several fingers ironing down *pleats* in pieces of linen for a Viking underdress.  Several years later, when a new book actually published a picture of the find, it was obvious to the sewers that the fabric was just gathered as if as handful was scrunched to be pinned under the broach – very different!!!  Depends on your point of reference.

I have also heard the interpretation that Viking Valkyries had those pointy metal bras because male archeologists found these cup-like metal things somewhere on the chest of the bodies, and so assumed these *had* to have covered breasts.  Again, as Hrefna has posted, not at all comfortable or practical!

Amaryllis (who had discussions w/ Ellisef, and feel the interpretation she published makes the most sense – but I may obviously be biased!)

From: sca-bmdl-bounces+schwoegl=verizon.net at lists.andrew.cmu.edu [mailto:sca-bmdl-bounces+schwoegl=verizon.net at lists.andrew.cmu.edu] On Behalf Of Raven
Sent: Tuesday, January 05, 2010 7:51 PM
To: sca-bmdl at lists.andrew.cmu.edu
Subject: Re: [SCA-BMDL] Viking Garb

Apron dresses are easy to make.  If you are looking for an easy pattern, check out http://sca.uwaterloo.ca/mjc/sca/aprond.html. The pattern can be made to any length and produces few scraps.

Another common style requires only a rectangle of cloth plus some straps and loops. Simply wrap a wide piece of wool around your body.  The top which is above the bust should overlap between the broaches.  Add straps and loops to secure the broaches. 

A third type of apron dress which is popular in Europe is a tube of wool with the top pleated over the bust.  One find from Bergen suggests that the pleats extended under the arm.  These pleats are fine and shallow.  Pleats on museum recreations extend a few inches down the breast. Again add loops and straps to hold the apron dress up.

Regarding  he article: personally, I don't like Annika Larsson's interpretation because it makes at least one bead string a structural element, drags cloth in the dirt, and situated the broaches in an uncomfortable location. The next several paragraphs are clothing geekery, so skip to the end if you are not interested. 

<geekery>

Beads in the Viking Age were expensive and small.  Really small, think larger seed beads.* These things were also expensive luxury items. Ibn Fadlan mentions women pricing them at 10000 dirhams each.  Given that, would you want to put your most expensive possessions on the string that links the closers of your skirt? What happens if that string breaks? In Annika Larsson's interpretation, this would be easy with the bead string located about the waist and connecting the broaches.  For example, imagine if someone stepped on the skirt as you are walking. You continue forward while the skirt is stationary with only that thin string of beads to keep you in your skirt. Think it will hold? In this interpretation the bead sting is structural, necessary to keep the skirt from flying open.  Given where I've seen beads located in grave finds, and how long some of those strings at, I believe the bead strings are decorative only.

The train in the reconstruction is very plausible.  It probably comes from the images of women with trains on tapestries from the Oseburg find. These women are believed to be in a funeral processions. However, trains aren't practical. The working woman** would probably find them a nuisance feeding the pigs, cooking, or weaving.  The Oseburg find has an image of a woman wearing a mid-calf skirt and showing her feet. This is probably a more accurate depiction of everyday wear. 

As for the broaches, Annika Larsson's idea is that the location of the broaches in the grave is exactly where women wore them on their bodies.  She isn't taking into consideration that the grave might have been disturbed, that the corpse may have shifted as it decomposed, that the body may not have been placed in a straight posture, or that the archeologist's notes are wrong or even open to interpretation. She is right that if the broaches are located in the middle of chest then they could be located over the breast. However they would then swing relatively freely over a sensitive part of the body which would make the garment difficult to wear. Her location for the broaches is called further into question when you consider that the apron dress is believe to be descended from the peplos. On the peplos, the broaches are on the shoulders. So to get from the peplos to her interpretation, the broaches have to slide down the chest and over the swell of the bust. While the broaches certainly moved in the direction over time, I think she takes things too far.

</geekery>

Putting forth a new interpretation of clothing is a good thing.  Annika Larsson is brave for doing so.  However, one must be ready for that interpretation to be evaluated and critiqued. This is vital if our understanding of the past is to evolve and improve. Without attempting new ideas and examining them against surviving evidence, people would still believe that Viking wore horned helmets and dressed in furs.   

Hope this was helpful,
Hrefna in heppna

*There were many larger exceptions, but for the most part large seed beads were the norm.

** By working woman I mean every woman in the household.  There is little evidence for ladies of leisure in the Viking Age.

----------------------------------------------------------
And this above all to thine own self be true.
- Shakespeare, "Hamlet"

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From: Val Corbin <aeval4 at hotmail.com>
To: SCA LIST <sca-bmdl at lists.andrew.cmu.edu>
Sent: Mon, January 4, 2010 3:11:17 PM
Subject: [SCA-BMDL] Viking Garb

Does anyone have any suggestions for a viking apron dress pattern?  I found like a million online. Wondering whats the favorite out there.

Also did you guys see this????

http://www.fossilscience.com/research/Vikings_did_not_dress_the_way_we_thought.asp

If this lass finds more evidence... Our viking ladies may be a little more risque.  

Lady Aibell

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