Blue Skirts Golden Belts - Sinihameet Kultavyot

Blue Skirts Golden Belts - Sinihameet Kultavyot Muinaispukunäyttely

An exhibit of ancient Viking Age Finnish textiles, at the craft museum in Tampere, Finland.

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In October 2003 I had the chance to visit the fascinating exhibit of ancient Finnish textiles, in Tampere, Finland. The Sinihameet kultavyöt exhibit featured both textile fragments found at various archaeological gravesites from the Viking Age in Finland, and modern recreations of those textiles.
Weavers and textile artists at Pirkanmaan Kasi ja Taideteollisuus Ry and Opintotoiminnan Keskusliitto put together the exhibit, wove the fabrics and produced a book about these textiles.

sinihameet-kirja.jpg, 8648 bytes Sinihameet kultavyöt Suomalaisia muinaispukuja
The Book can be ordered from Verkaranta

Viking Age in Finland
Very few textiles have been found at archaeological sites, because textiles decompose fairly easily. Also cremation was an early practice. At the Finnish grave sites, partially preserved textiles have been found in the women's graves, because the women wore jewellery and ornaments made of bronze. The bronze gases helped to preserve the textiles. Because the men's graves had swords and tools made of iron, their clothing did not survive the dampness. The use of bronze ornamentation was unique to Finland and other Baltic regions'. In Scandinavia and elsewhere in Europe, gold and silver were predominant.
At the archaeological site, the placement of the clothing and textiles were carefully recorded. From these, the purpose of the clothing could be determined. The textile fragments were analyzed for fibre content, yarn twist and sett. Where the fabric had deteriorated, the dust residue was analyzed to determine its content.
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