07/10/2026
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Archaeologists have uncovered a Viking Age grave near Varde, Denmark, containing clothing fragments that survived for roughly 1,300 years.
Excavations revealed a cemetery where people of all ages had been buried with grave goods such as iron knives and glass beads.
Researchers found the fabric scraps in a grave with two oval brooches strongly associated with Viking Age women’s dress. Traces of textiles clung to both front and back of the jewelry. As the metal used to craft the brooches corroded, it released salts that inadvertently preserved the fabric fragments.
The textiles’ positioning on the brooches may help archaeologists determine whether they came from different layers of clothing and perhaps even how those garments were arranged.
Surviving Viking Age clothing is extremely rare, with most physical evidence limited to “small pieces of material preserved by chance,” the National Museum of Denmark notes. “Our knowledge about Viking clothes is supplemented by written sources, as well as clothes depicted on small figures and tapestries.”
To learn more about the fabric remnants, archaeologists recruited textile expert Lise Ræder Knudsen. She will investigate weaving techniques used to create the material, as well as its possible pattern. Researchers also plan to use radiocarbon dating to estimate the textile age.
One of the brooches found in the grave shows signs of repair, suggesting it might be a family heirloom that far older than the fabrics.
Ulla Mannering and Charlotte Rimstad, researchers at National Museum of Denmark who lead the Textile Colors of the Viking Age project, will analyze the samples to identify any remaining traces of pigment.
As Mannering writes, “Wool pigmentation and the use of fiber colors in textiles is a method as old as weaving technology in Denmark.”
Although archaeological evidence for Viking Age textile dyes and color use is fragmentary, surviving finds indicate that both dyed textiles and naturally pigmented wool were part of Scandinavian textile culture.
Viking Age clothing varied according to gender, age and economic status. Most clothing was made from wool and flax woven by Viking women. Men typically wore trousers and tunics, while elite women wore dresses over undergarments, with oval brooches securing the straps.
Archaeologist Michèle Hayeur Smith says that textiles were fundamental to Viking Age communities’ ability to withstand the harsh climate of the North Atlantic.
“Textiles and what women made were as critical as hunting, building houses and power struggles,” Hayeur Smith said.
Abridged from Smithsonian Magazine
