PILLOWS AND MATTRESSES IN SCANDINAVIAN VIKING AGE GRAVE FINDS
Channel: European Association of Archaeologists
Date: 2021-02-08

In several Scandinavian Viking Age graves, remains of pillows and mattresses have been recorded. Particularly in the rich male burial from Mammen in Denmark, both an almost fully preserved blue coloured pillow and thick layers of feathers, probably belonging to a mattress, were found. Similar layers of feathers have been recorded in several rich female graves, e.g. in Hvilehøj in Denmark and Oseberg in Norway. What kind of grave furnishing do they come from? Was death seen as the eternal sleep and can the grave furnishing tell us anything about the use of mattresses and pillows for the living? The paper presents the latest analyses of the furnishing textiles found in the Mammen and Hvilehøj burials which are current being studied within the scoop of the Danish Fashioning the Viking Age project at the National Museum of Denmark. By making reconstructions of different textile qualities with different kinds of reconstructed tools, the project seeks to emphasize the great variation of the Viking Age textile production which was not only essential for the making of clothes, but also for sails and household textiles.


Author(s): Rimstad, Charlotte - Mannering, Ulla (National Museum of Denmark)