Oxbow Books - Woven into the Earth: Textile finds in Norse Greenland by Else Ostergaard

	Thursday 2 September 2010

Woven into the Earth: Textile finds in Norse Greenland

by Else Ostergaard

In 1921 Poul Norlund discovered dozens of garments from a graveyard in the Norse settlement of Herjolfsnaes, Greenland. Preserved intact by the permafrost, these medieval clothes displayed remarkable similarities to those worn elsewhere in Europe and which, until then, had been known only from illustrations, This volume reports on the reults of eighty years of research and scientific investigation into this remarkable discovery. Else Ostergard describes the events of the excavation, the materials and methods used in making the clothesm and the sophisticated weaving and sewing techniques despite the harsh conditions the women undoubtedly had to work in. 296p, b/w and col illus (Aarhus UP 2004)

Review Quote

This long-awaited and much-delayed reevaluation of the textile finds of Norse Greenland presents a comprehensive investigation of the artifacts, including the materials, the methods of production, and the most recent technological information on dating, dyes, and fibers. This book provides new color photographs of the garments and textile fragments; diagrams elucidating processes and techniques; tables cross-referencing the various registration sytems, garment types, and find sites; and patterns for these garments.[...]for those scholars seeking to gain a full understanding of the textile arts as they were practiced in medieval Greenland, this work represents a great leap forward...