Examination and Execution of the B21 Brocade Tablet Woven Band from Birka, Sweden Circa 10^th Century CE

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Presented by Kerry Beckett

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International Congress of Medieval Studies 2023

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Full paper available at: https://tabletweavingfun.blogspot.com/

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(photo background is my woven example of the Birka B21 silk and wire brocade tablet woven band)).

Agenda

• Introduction
• History and social context of the Birka excavation site
• Methods and materials used in Birka B21 extant example
• Controversy regarding Birka B21’s origins
• Extant example archeological evidence
• Methods and materials used in the reproduction of the Birka B21 band
• Differences in methods and materials of reproduction from extant example
• Final thoughts
• Bibliography

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Forward from the presenter:��Kerry Beckett

Introduction

A brief overview on tablet weaving in Scandinavia and the B21 brocade band.

This presentation’s aim is the analyze the Birka B21 brocade tablet woven band found in grave #943 and the known details about the find and my recreation of the band, including:

• The details about the band, including the materials used in its construction.
• Information about the individual buried wearing the B21 band.
• What we know about the extant example, including the technique and tools used creating it.
• Controversies including the band’s construction and origin.
• The process I used to reproduce the B21 band.
• Personal challenges I had and theories I’ve developed regarding this project.

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NOTE: There is a controversial and potentially offensive symbol (swastika/fylfot) in the extant object, it has been hidden in this presentation and removed from my reproduction.

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Overview

• Tablet weaving is a technique dating from 8^th century BCE Europe that produces narrow bands referred to as narrow wares or narrow work.
• Tablet weaving, also known as card weaving, is named for the tablets or cards used in this technique to create narrow bands.
• The turning of the tablets/cards creates a band (or tape) as the weft thread passes through the warp threads.

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Brief Tablet Weaving Explanation

• Brocade tablet weaving uses a secondary/supplemental weft to create patterns or images in the woven fabric.
• The “brocade weft” is not integral to the structure of the weaving, the brocade weft floats under the top 1 or 2 threads of the weave. This means the pattern or image is only on one side of the woven band.
• Several historical examples, including the one we are examining today, use metal wire as the brocade weft.
• Tablet turning in brocade patterns is typically unidirectional or with minimal direction changes – this allows for a smooth band as turning would disrupt the spacing of a pattern or image.

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Brocade Tablet Weaving

• Tablet weaving examples are found in multiple excavated Viking-age burial sites throughout Scandinavia and Northern Europe, but the largest cache of brocade tablet woven bands was discovered at the trade center of Birka.
• Birka is located on the Swedish island of Bjorko and is a UNESCO historically recognized site.
• Archeologists have discovered approximately 3000 grave sites, roughly 1100 of which have been excavated.
• The graves are from the 8^th to 10^th centuries and contained goods from daily life such as tools, silk and other textiles, jewelry, and many examples of tablet woven brocade bands with gold and silver wire.
• Birka was well known for its involvement in the silk trade with the Byzantine Empire, the Abbaside Caliphate, and other trade hubs further east. This led historians to dub the trade post “The Silk Road of the North.”

Tablet Weaving at Birka / Regional History

Map of Silk Routes (including Birka)

History and social context of the Birka excavation site

Birka, its grave finds, and details about the tomb where B21 was excavated.

• Birka is located on an island in Lake Malaren off the coast of Sweden.
• Birka was a Viking-era trade post from 8^th to 10^th century where travelers converged to exchange goods.
• Most of the research regarding Birka has been focused on grave contents.
• Burials, both in native Swedish and foreign funerary traditions, comingle at the excavation site.
• Funerary traditions seen at Birka included cremation, coffins, boat shaped burial settings, and chamber graves.
• Graves at Birka likely belonged to local craftsmen, traveling merchants, soldiers, and their families.

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Birka, a Viking-Era Trading Post

• Grave 943, where the B21 band was discovered, belonged to a 10th century woman.
• The grave was a chamber tomb that contained a variety of textiles, tools, and items from daily life.
• Inhumation with belongings, such as grave 943, was commonly done in Sweden during this period though it was a burial tradition adapted primarily from other locales.
• The B21 brocade band was discovered lying on or attached to the head of the buried woman and was sewn to a piece of silk twill fabric.
• The silk twill fabric B21 was attached to is samite silk originating from the Byzantine Empire.
• Byzantine silks became wildly available in Scandinavia and Western Europe in the 9th-10th centuries and were known to be used as hair coverings.
• This style of headdress or silk veil mirrors the graves of Danish women from Hørning, Fyrkat, and Hedeby; it is thought that brocade bands were sewn to veils to assist with tying them back.

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Grave 943

• The grave 943 woman was buried with other goods that connect her to Denmark:
• She was buried with a filigreed pendant similar to ones found in Danish finds.
• She was buried with an oval buckle brooch nearly identifical to one unearthed in a Fyrkat Danish burial.
• She was buried wearing a pendant that was fashioned from a Hedeby coin.
• During the time of the grave 943 woman, head coverings were generally important to Scandinavian women even prior to Christianity’s presence in the region.
• Covering your hair was a sign of status and a marker that the individual wasn’t an enslaved person.
• Wearing a veil with a brocade band affixed to it or used as a tie is thought to be common practice for elite in Scandinavia during this time period.

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Origins and Head Coverings

• The object numbered “6” (top right) in this grave drawing is the B21 brocade tablet woven band.
• Grave 943 is a 2.2 x 1.6 meter chamber with a depth of 1 meter.
• This grave and many others were discovered by Hjalmar Stope in 1881 in Hemlanden field zone 1A.
• Stope, a 19th century entomologist, was the first to speculate that the island might have been an important trading post due to the amount of amber located on the island.
• He began archeological excavations in 1871 that revealed a major settlement had existed on the island

Grave 943, continued

• The area highlighted in blue is the Birka 1A Hemlanden Field Zone, where grave 943 was discovered.
• While almost 1000 people were thought to live at Birka at its height, the trade post was thought to have been abandoned by the 970s.

Hemlanden Field Zone 1A

Methods and materials used in the Birka B21 extant example

The tools and materials B21 was created with, and the technique used to make the band.

• The brocade tablet woven bands found at Birka were catalogued in two groups based on motif, materials, and technique:
• Group I is the larger group of bands numbering B2 to B18 containing geometrical patterns. These bands have similar materials and technique utilized in their making.
• Group II contains B19 to B21, which are described as different artistically, and are woven in a more tentative, uneven way.
• B21, the brocade extant object, is unique Group II because the original pattern, while different from the typical shapes found in Group I, is extraordinarily clear and evenly executed.
• It was originally thought by Agnes Geijer, the initial documenter of the bands, that the Group I bands were imported whereas group II bands may have been created on site at Birka, however there is currently not enough evidence to determine if these bands arrived at Birka as finished goods or were created on location from imported silk.

Birka Brocade Bands – Catalogue Groupings

• The Birka B21 brocade band extant example (above with Geijer’s pattern drawing) is composed of silk warp, silk weft, and doubled silver wire for the brocaded pattern.
• The silver wire was likely produced from a draw plate, as there was a find of one at Birka.
• The band uses 17 tablets with all four holes containing reeled, unplied silk thread. This band is noted as having no border tablets or border pattern.
• The width of the extant example is 10 mm and the length is 25 cm.

Birka B21 Extant Object

• The band, itself is noted to have a flat, corded experience that is created by alternating the direction of the tablets.
• This means that B21 pattern tablets should alternate S and Z-threading.
• This direction of tablet rotation (or tablet advancement) only changed at one point on the band, but was otherwise advanced in a consistent direction.
• There has been speculation that the weaver may have had issues with the band tangling and had to readjust the turning method to correct this, though it was done only once.

Birka B21 Technique

• The only weaving tablet that has been unearthed at the Birka was a 4-holed bone tablet found in the dark earth excavation site.
• Wooden tablets would have been extremely common at Birka during the 9th and 10th centuries, as there are several existing extant wooden tablets such as those found in the 9th century Oseberg burial.
• Researchers have generally concluded that wooden textile tools were predominantly used and discarded (via kindling), broke, or decayed over time, so much of their use is only documented pictorially due to this.
• There have been no looms uncovered at Birka, but it is likely that weavers (foreign or domestic) used many of the tools available in Scandinavia such as back-strapped weaving, horizontal pole tablet weaving looms (such as the Oseberg loom), and warp weighted standing looms.
• Multiple warp weights have been unearthed at Birka and weaving tablet woven bands in conjunction with cloth on a warp weighted loom was known practice during this period.

Birka B21 Tools

Controversy regarding Birka B21’s origins

Was Birka B21 from Scandinavia, where it discovered, or was it imported?

• The largest topic of discussion regarding the Birka B21 band and other silk, brocade bands is whether they are entirely native to Scandinavia given the presence of foreigners and foreign and/or traded materials in the grave sites.
• Advanced tablet weaving is heavily documented in Nordic countries well before this period; however, no other silk tablet woven brocade bands exist in the area prior finds at Birka.
• Several brocade examples are expertly woven whereas others contain inconsistencies which caused some researchers to conclude that some of the brocade bands may be imported via Russia from Byzantium.

Where was Birka B21 created?

• Birka B21, as mentioned previously, belongs to a second group (Group II) of brocade bands that deviated from other unearthed bands.
• Birka B21 is created with a silk warp and weft unlike other Birka bands (Group I) which were composed of both linen and silk.
• Locals may have experimented with brocade with imported silk thread instead of purchasing expensive imported finished goods.
• Given that B21’s motifs are similar to some of the existing Group I bands, some scholars believe that it and the other Group II bands were created at Birka having been copied or adapted from existing examples, and that the materials, such as silk thread, were likely acquired by trade with the East.

Foreign or Local?

Extant example archeological evidence

What materials and dyes were used for B21 and other Birka archeological band examples?

• The band and other items from grave 943 are on display at the Swedish History Museum in Stockholm.
• It was created with a silk warp, silk weft, and a doubled silver wire for the brocade weft pattern.
• No dye testing has been performed on B21 and any existing dye is no longer visible.

Birka B21 Material and Dye Overview

• The color of the silk fibers has not been documented due to the dyes decomposing while buried in the ground , but the colors of silk widely available at that time and location were shades of red, reddish-brown, blue, purple, beige, and white.
• Only three examples of silk dye have been documented in Scandinavian tablet weaving finds – Rocella tinctoria/lichen purple (lilac, pink, red, violet, ‘mock scarlet’ red), Rubia tinctorum/madder (bright red), and Kermes vermilio/kermes or kirmiz (scarlet red), though chemical testing has not been widely conducted for this region and period.
• Birka and other areas of Scandinavia have additional, non-brocade band archeological evidence of blue (Isatis tinctoria L. (woad)) and red (Rubia tinctorium L. (madder)) dyed silk extant textile examples.

Dye Evidence at Birka

Methods and materials used in the reproduction of the Birka B21 band

How I recreated the B21 band based on knowledge of the extant.

• I reviewed Geijer’s drawing and examples of existing Birka B21 reproduction patterns during my research.
• Per Geijer’s notes and review of the extant, there are no border tablets, and the patterned portion should have 17 tablets
• Most pattern examples I found had modifications or borders added, so I found that Geijer’s drawing to be the closest match for the extant pattern.
• Comparing Geijer’s drawing to the B21 extant, I discovered that Geijer had not fully incorporated the upper end of the extant pattern and had also neglected to include a couple of brocaded sections of the lower end of the pattern.
• I included the lower brocade sections in my pattern but did not include the upper section in my pattern draft, as this was likely an additional repeat of an offensive symbol.
• I also eliminated offensive symbols from the pattern seen drafted here on graph paper

Birka B21 Pattern Drafting

• One I had a pattern, I began recreating the Birka B21 band using the brocade method on a warp weighted loom setup:

Brocade Method

• Given the evidence of warp weights at Birka, I chose to recreate this band using a warp weighted loom approximation.
• I previously created my own warp weights using a pit-firing earthenware technique similar to what was done at Birka.
• The warp weights were created with similar dimensions to those found at Birka (left: Birka extant, right: my reproduction).

Loom and Loom Weights

• I selected red 30/2 silk for the warp and the hidden weft, and doubled 30 gauge dead-soft silver wire for the brocade weft.
• The threading is created with alternating S/Z threading using 17 pattern tablets.
• I used wooden tablets to create the band (based on what would have been commonly available).
• I selected red colored fiber for my final version due to the evidence of Rubia tinctorum/madder dyed silk at Birka.
• I also chose to weave starting in a backwards turning format (with a transition to forward turning later in the band) to reflect Geijer’s write up of the band turning and the evidence from other brocade finds (Hørning, Hvilehøj, and Mammen).
• The final object is woven in an upright format similar to how tablet weaving would have been done on a standing, warp-weighted loom.

Selected Materials

Process Pictures

Differences in methods and materials of reproduction from extant example

How my reproduction of the B21 band differed from the historical example.

• Exact colors of the extant example and weights/sizes of material used to create the Birka B21 band are not listed other than the material type.
• I chose a color and weight of the silk used that I believed would best mimic the extant example.
• Silk from the Byzantine Empire and further east was unplied during this period, however, unplied silk is commercially difficult to find in the size and weight used for in creating the extant object.
• A 2-ply (30/2) silk was utilized as a substitute, as the size and color are the closest to a period produced example.
• A red silk closest to shade 6 in image to the left was selected to closely match a Rubia tinctorum/madder dyed fiber.

Difference in Materials

• Since no loom has been excavated at Birka (only loom weights) and researchers disagree over where the bands were originally created and thus what loom would have been used, I was left with a difficult choice as to how to weave my final project.
• There is solid evidence surrounding brocade utilizing Oseberg-style pole looms, warp-weighted looms, and the backstrap (loomless) tablet weaving style.
• Given that Birka B21 was in the group most likely to have been woven locally versus imported, I chose to weave the reproduction using a setup similar to a warp-weighted loom, as there is evidence of their existence at Birka.
• My custom loom uses the core fundamentals of weaving on a warp-weighted loom, but doesn’t have the beams for changing the shed, so it achieves the goal of tablet-weaving in an upright/weighted manner without the fabric weaving elements that would go unused.
• I also created warp weights similar to the ones found at Birka, but the use of those weights in tablet weaving applications is theoretical.

Difference in Tools

Pole Loom (similar to Oseberg Loom) Warp-Weighted Loom

Loom Examples

Final thoughts

• The Birka gravesite brocaded band finds still leave many questions unanswered.
• Where did the brocaded bands come from?
• Were they created in the Nordic region or abroad?
• Discussion continues regarding the distinction between materials and motif in the Birka bands versus those in other parts of Scandinavia.
• New brocade finds in other parts of Scandinavia are also still being unearthed and studied.
• Limited excavation is still occurring on Sweden’s Bjorko Island to this day and researchers continue to find more clues and remnants that may shed further light on the Viking-era trade post.

Final Thoughts

Thank You!

Bibliography

Arbman, Holger. Birka. Die Gräber I. Uppsala: Almqvist & Wiksells boktryckeri-aktiebolag, 1943.

Ambrosiani, Björn. Birka, in: Pulsiano, Phillip (ed.) Medieval Scandinavia, An Encyclopedia. New York / London: Garland Publishing, 1993.

Berge, Sara. “From Byzantine to Bispeallmenningen - With pomp and splendor in Old Oslo.” NIKU Archeological Society, (2018).

Collingwood, Peter. The Techniques of Tablet Weaving. London: Faber and Faber Limited, 1982.

Culler, Jenn. “Beyond the Aprondress.” 30 August 2017. < http://awanderingelf.weebly.com/blog-my-journey/archives/08-2017>.

Dekel, Suzanne. “Perfect reds from madder (rubia tinctorum).” 17 January 2022. <https://www.suzannedekel.com/post/perfect-reds-from-madder-rubia-tinctorum>.

Eisenschmidt, Silke. “The Viking Age Graves from Hedeby” Viking Settlements and Viking Society (16^th Viking Congress), 2009, pp. 83-102.

Geijer, Agnes. Die Textilfunde aus den Gräbern. Birka: Untersuchungen und Studien III. Uppsala: Kungl. Vitterhets Historie och Antikvitets Akadamien, 1938.

Grupa, Malgorzata. “Wooden Textile Tools from Medieval Poland.” Fasciculi Archaeologiae Historicae. Fasc. 31 (2018):145-153.

Gruszczyński, J., Jankowiak, M., & Shepard, J. (Eds.). (2020). Viking-Age Trade: Silver, Slaves and Gotland (1st ed.). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315231808

Bibliography

Oddy, Andrew. “The production of gold wire in antiquity.” Gold Bull (1977) 10: 79.

Ostrom Peters, Cathy. "The Silk Road Textiles at Birka: An Examination of the Tabletwoven Bands." Textile Society of America, 539 (2002): 16-26.

Pitchord, F., Wild, J.P. Northern Archeological Textiles NESAT VII. New York / London: Oxbow Books, 2005.

Priest-Dorman, Carolyn. “Colors, Dyestuffs, and Mordants of the Viking Age: An Introduction.” 1991.

“Seeress from Fyrkat?” National Museum of Denmark. 2020. < https://en.natmus.dk/historical-knowledge/denmark/prehistoric-period-until-1050-ad/the-viking-age/religion-magic-death-and-rituals/a-seeress-from-fyrkat/?fbclid=IwAR2I4scvbyiV-LKK9ibDtV4nDpoQsPAPMlD9sX3T8HNf1WqtkIAgg4aG1G0>.

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Spies, Nancy. Ecclesiastical Pomp and Aristocratic Circumstance: A Thousand Years of Brocaded Tabletwoven Bands. Minnesota: 2000.

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Taylor, G.W. "Detection and Identification of Dyes on Anglo-Scandinavian Textiles." Studies in Conservation 28 (1983): 153-160. (via ”Colors, Dyestuffs, and Mordants of the Viking Age: An Introduction” by Carolyn Priest Dorman).

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Thorin, Ida. “Weighing the Evidence-Determining and Contrasting the Characteristics and Functionality of Loom Weights and Spindle Whorls from the Garrison at Birka.” Department of Archaeology – Stockholm University, 2012.

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Bibliography

Vedeler, Marianne. Silk for the Vikings. Philadelphia / Oxford: Oxbow Books: 2014.

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Verberg, Rolf. “Apron dress trim inspired by the Birka bands 800-975 CE Sweden.” 2017.

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Voss, Olfert. “Høning-graven: En kammergrav fra o. 1000 med kvinde begravet I vognfading.” Mammen: Grave, kunst og samfund I vikingetid (Jusk Arkaeologisk Selskab). 1991.

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Wallace, Patrick E. Viking Dublin: The Wood Quay Excavations. Sallins: Irish Academic Press, 2016.