The Silk Road Textiles at Birka:

An Examination of the Tabletwoven Bands

By

Cathy Ostrom Peters

 

In the Viking Age (eighth-tenth century) town of Birka, on the Swedish Island of Bj–rk–, in Lake M”laren, Hjalmar Stolpe excavated approximately 1100 graves between 1871 and 1895. Of those 1100 graves, approximately one hundred and eighty had textile remains. The confusion surrounding the bulk of these extant textiles and the garments they may represent is due to their possible Near and Far Eastern provenance. The most controversial textiles finds are those in the male chamber burial graves. Among the finds were three small silk textile fragments supposed to be from a headdress with fiber content and weave structure unique to Chinese weaving traditions. Also, there were many examples of silver passementerie and stickerei believed to be of “eastern” origin. Five of the male chamber graves also contained tiny bronze buttons going from neck to waist and supposedly belonging to an “Oriental” tan.

     In addition, approximately twenty-seven graves, both male and female, contained tabletwoven bands of silk with drawn gold or silver wire threads. Three of the tabletwoven bands used both gold and silver threads. Drawn

threads of gold and silver were of “eastern” production. Western threads of gold and silver wire were hammered flat and then wrapped around a core material.The primary focus of this research has been to thoroughly examine the

“eastern” tabletwoven bands of silk with gold and silver drawn threads found in the male chamber graves at Birka. By establishing their provenance, a possible identification of the costume they represent and the occupation of

the men who wore them may become clear.

 

Cathy Ostrom Peters received her Masters of Art History from the University of St. Thomas, St. Paul, MN. The subject of her thesis was an in-depth examination of the male costume components designated as “eastern” but as yet unidentified from the Viking Age graves in the town of Birka, on the island of Bj–rk–, in Lake M”laren, 30 kilometers off the coast of Stockholm. Cathy is the Galleries and Exhibits Coordinator at Augsburg College and President of the Textile Council Board for the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, Minneapolis MN. She published “Islamic Prayer Rugs: A Creed in Color.” The Sacred Arts Exhibition Series catalogue, September, 2000 and has presented numerous papers and lectures on the unique “eastern” finds at Birka as well as on the various aspects to be considered in textile research.