Viking Treasure Trove Discovered in Swedish Garden

A Viking cache of silver coins recently discovered in Sweden included an extremely rare coin, pictured front (left) and back, minted for Olof Skötkonung, an ancient Swedish king.The hoard also included coins from present-day Iraq and Uzbekistan, demonstrating the breadth of the Vikings’ trade networks.

A thousand-year-old Viking treasure trove has been dug up in a garden in Sweden, archaeologists report. The hoard of silver coins from Europe, central Asia, and the Middle East was unearthed earlier this month by a gardener tending his vegetable patch on the Baltic island of Gotland (see Sweden map).So far 69 coins dating from the late 900s and early 1000s have been found, said archaeologist Dan Carlsson of Gotland University.The find contains rare early Viking money and foreign currency from present-day England, Germany, Ireland, Iraq, and Uzbekistan. Along with a similar cache recently discovered in England, the new find paints a picture of Vikings trading and looting their way across Europe and beyond. The Anglo-Saxon coins were likely either plunder or protection money known as danegeld, which was paid by regional rulers to keep Vikings from attacking, experts said.

The Asian coins are products of the Vikings’ extensive trade, which the Norse conducted by sailing south along Russia’s long rivers to reach the Middle East. Between 700 and 800 silver hoards have been discovered so far on Gotland, which was ideally located as a Viking trading center, Carlsson said.(See a photo of a Viking stash of Arabic coins found in Gotland in October 2006.)”Gotland was situated right in the middle between western and eastern Europe,” he said.”Most of the coins [found on the island] were actually Arabic coins [that came] up the Russian rivers.”"Remarkable” DiscoveriesGareth Williams, curator of early medieval coinage at the British Museum in London, said the concentration of early medieval coins in Gotland is “remarkable.” “We’ve got more surviving late Anglo-Saxon coins from Gotland than we have from Britain, despite the fact it’s not a very big island and quite a way away,” he added.

The newfound hoard, buried some 1,300 feet (400 meters) from the site of an ancient Viking settlement, also includes highly unusual coins minted for Olof Skötkonung, a regional Swedish king, Carlsson said. “He was the first king that minted coins in Sweden,” he said. “He obviously learned [coin-making] from England,” he added. “Many of the coins are copies of English coins, most of all Ethelred coins.” Ethelred II was England’s monarch from 978 to 1016. Also known as Ethelred the Unready due to his lack of reliable counsel, he paid massive amounts of “tribute money” to the Vikings and is featured on Anglo-Saxon coins discovered in the garden cache. Sihtric, the Viking ruler of Dublin, Ireland, was another king whose money turned up in the hoard.Williams noted that a number of the Gotland coins show knife marks left by “pecking,” a practice used to test whether they were genuine silver or counterfeits made of lead.”

A huge amount of coinage was making its way through there, more than the locals could ever possibly have had a use for,” Williams added. Many researchers believe these hoards functioned like safe deposit boxes: Viking cash deposits were hidden in the ground for safety until needed.Other experts suggest that the caches had a religious significance and were saved up and buried by their owners for use in the afterlife. (Read related story: “Vikings Filed Their Teeth, Skeleton Study Shows” [February 3, 2006].)Huge Haul Found in EnglandThe new find follows the discovery earlier this year of a major Viking hoard by amateur treasure hunters in northeast England.That hoard was said by experts to be among the most important ever found in Britain.

Unearthed by amateurs using metal-detectors in a field near Harrogate, North Yorkshire (see map), the treasure included a rare gold armband, jewelery, and more than 600 coins collected from as far away as Afghanistan. The hoard was stashed inside a decorated gilt silver vessel thought to have been looted from a monastery in France. The treasure is dated to between 927 and 929, when the Anglo-Saxons regained control of northeast England from the Vikings. A number of Viking hoards found in the region were buried around this period, according to Williams, of the British Museum. “This was probably linked to the Anglo-Saxons pushing northwards,” he said. The Harrogate treasure likely belonged to an important Viking chieftain, he added. Researchers can only speculate why he never retrieved it. “He could have been killed in battle, forced to leave the region, or died of old age before he had a chance to recover it,” Williams said.

Cloth Making

All of the steps of making a set of clothing, from processing the fibers, to spinning, weaving, cutting, and sewing, were done by the women of the family. Since the process was so labor intensive, a set of clothing was highly prized and carefully maintained.

Clothing was commonly made from wool or linen. Other fabrics (such as silk) were known, but were costly and rare. It has been thought that outer garments were typically wool, while under garments were linen. More recent research suggests that linen was commonly used for outer garments as well.

Viking Raids



Evariste Vital Luminais (b.1821-1896), "Norman Pirates", 1897.

The Norse were looking for three things: new victims, new partners with which to trade and new land on which to settle. In many cases, Norse voyages included all three activities.

The raids were usually opportunistic, against targets that could be attacked, plundered, and departed from quickly. Vikings stayed along the coast or on navigable rivers; overland marches were avoided. The goal was to grab as much valuable booty as possible before an effective defense could be raised. Typical booty included weapons, tools, clothing, jewelry, precious metals, and people who could be sold as slaves.

Vikings invaded Europe for many years and Warriors from Nidaros were also among them. 

The Viking raids didn't come to an end with any singular event. Some would say the widespread conversion to Christianity in the Norse lands at the beginning of the 11th century signaled the end of the Viking age. The teachings of the Christian religion did not encompass the kinds of activities that took place on a typical raid.

Edward Matthew Hale (b. 1852-1924), "After the Raid", 1892.


In the year 1066, King Harold of Norway died trying to conquer England. It would be the last major Norse raid. In the same year, Polish tribesmen overran and destroyed Hedeby, the primary Norse trading center. The climate turned colder that century, making life more difficult in the north. The Norse influence in continental Europe gradually declined.

Viking Expansion Map

Viking Expanstion Map, Wikipedia. Retrieved 28 September 2011.

Map showing area of Scandinavian settlement in the eighth (dark red), ninth (red), tenth (orange) and eleventh (yellow) centuries. Green denotes areas subjected to frequent Viking raids.

Valhalla Rising

Photo: Valhalla Rising (2009) is a viking film from Bronson director Nicholas WInding Refn.

The movie will promote the theory that an expedition of Vikings from Scotland reached North America centuries before Christopher Columbus. Most historians now accept that Vikings beat Columbus to the New World. Voyages are described in Norse sagas and evidence has been found to prove their presence on the continent. “Valhalla Rising” will though be shot as a fictional movie, in Nicolas Winding Refn’s documentary style.

For years, One-Eye, a mute warrior of supernatural strength, has been held prisoner by the chieftain Barde. Aided by a boy, Are, he kills his captor and together they escape, beginning a journey into the heart of darkness. On their flight from bounty hunters, One-Eye and Are board a Viking vessel for Norway, but the ship is soon engulfed by an endless fog that first disintegrates as they sight an unknown land. As the new land reveals its secrets and the Vikings meet a ghastly fate, One-Eye discovers his true self.

'Valhalla Rising' Trailer HD

Viking Museums

Below is the list of Viking museums across the world 

Dublinia & the Viking World (Dublin, Ireland)

A heritage centre, located in central Dublin, at the heart of the medieval city. The exhibitions at Dublinia explore life as it was in the medieval city and the world of the Vikings.

Jorvik Viking Centre (Great Britain)

A ‘must-see’ for visitors to the city of York and is one of the most popular visitor attractions in the UK outside London.

Lofotr Viking Museum (Lofotr – Vikingmuseet) (Borg, Norway)

A historical museum based on a reconstruction and archaeological excavation of a Viking chieftain’s village in the North Norwegian archipelago of Lofoten, Norway.

Ribe Viking Centre (Ribe Vikingecenter) (Denmark)

A unique experience and new knowledge about the Viking Age. You can wander round the reconstructed life-size Viking estate, peopled with Vikings with whom you can work and talk.

Ribe Viking Museum (Museet Ribes Vikinger) (Denmark)

Thousands of archeological finds from the excavations show how the vikings lived and traded with Europe. From the year 800 down to the year 1100 the town is fortified several times with big banks.

Viking Museum (Vikingemuseet) (Aarhus, Denmark)

The newly renovated museum tells the story of the Viking Period in Århus and is a part of Moesgård Museum. The museum is located where the archaeologists of Moesgård found Viking houses. A visit in the museum is a tour back in time.

Viking Museum at Ladby (Vikingemuseet Ladby) (Denmark)

The central “artefact” of the Viking Museum is the unique Viking ship grave, the only one in Denmark and the only one in the world that is exhibited on its original site. The museum career of the ship grave began in 1937, when the reconstructed burial mound, actually an arched concrete building, was dedicated.

Viking Museum Foteviken (Fotevikens Museum) (Sweden)

The Viking Reserve of Foteviken is a unique institution. Here researchers, antiquarians and Viking re-enactors are working together, developing and establishing a settlement from the late Viking Age and early Middle ages.

Viking Museum Haithabu (Wikinger-Museum Haithabu) (Germany)

A museum near the site of Hedeby, a former medieval city in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany focusing on the Viking Age history of the region. The museum features reconstructions of various Viking Age dwellings, ships, and houses numerous artifacts discovered during the ongoing archaeological research of the area.

Viking Ship Museum (Vikingeskebs Museet) (Roskilde, Denmark)

Danish national museum for ships, seafaring and boatbuilding in the prehistoric and medieval period.

Viking Ship Museum (Vikingskipshuset) (Oslo, Norway)

The museum displays the Viking Age Oseberg ship, Gokstad ship and Tune ship alongside sledges, beds, a (horse) cart, wood carving, tent components, buckets and other grave goods.

Viking Helmets

Photo: Viking Stone Statue

Photo: Viking Stone Statue

Helmets are not, in fact, common artifacts of the Viking Age and horned helmets are historically depicted only as shamanic. Ideas to the contrary emerged from the eighteenth and nineteenth century enthusiasm for a romanticized view of Scandinavia's 'Goth' history.

Apart from two or three representations of (ritual) helmets – with protrusions that may be stylized ravens, snakes or horns – no depiction of Viking Age warriors' helmets, and no preserved helmet, has horns. In fact, the formal close-quarters style of Viking combat (either in shield walls or aboard "ship islands") would have made horned helmets cumbersome and hazardous to the warrior's own side.

Therefore historians believe that Viking warriors did not use horned helmets, but whether or not such helmets were used in Scandinavian culture for other, ritual purposes remains unproven.

Photo: Viking helmet from Gjermundby, courtesy Ancient Goths.

Photo: Viking helmet from Gjermundby, courtesy Ancient Goths.

The Vikings were often depicted with winged helmets and in other clothing taken from antiquity, especially in depictions of Norse gods. This was done in order to legitimize the Vikings and their mythology by associating it with the Classical world which had long been idealized in European culture.

Viking helmets were conical, made from hard leather with wood and metallic reinforcement for regular troops. The iron helmet with mask and chain mail was for the chieftains. The only true Viking helmet found is that from Gjermundbu in Norway. This helmet is made of iron and has been dated to the 10th century.

Clothing in Viking Era

As with many aspects of Viking-age material culture, our knowledge of Viking era clothing is fragmentary. The Viking people left few images and little in the way of written descriptions of their garments. Archaeological evidence is very limited and spotty. Thus, different scholars examining the evidence come to different conclusions. What is presented in this article represents only a range of possible interpretations.

Viking apparel was distinctive in style and originated in the Scandinavian and Germanic regions of Europe. The peasant dresses were mostly simple tunics worn more for functionality than for appearance. On the other hand, high medieval fashion clothes worn by nobility were highly ornate, decorated and embellished. Today, when people talk of medieval clothing it is not chain mail and armor, but the clothing that evolved during the latter part that they commonly refer to.

Norse people used worn out clothing for many purposes. Sometimes, it was coated with pitch and used to seal cracks in the shipbuilding process. In other cases, fabric was coated with pitch to use as a torch, but never lit. These pitch-coated fabrics have survived very well. At least one entire garment (a pair of men's trousers) has survived from the Viking era because someone used it in the process of building a ship.

Headwear was very much in use then as it is these days, with more variety. There were close-fitting coifs, wide brimmed straw hats, hoods, capes and jackets with hoods and hoods with a short cape just falling to the shoulders.

In Medieval Europe, sumptuary laws were enacted to dictate the types and colors of clothes people belonging to various classes could wear. This was done to help aristocracy retain their unique looks and distinguished styles. Though laws were enacted, enforcement was not simple or possible, giving people the freedom to wear different styles and colors of their choice.

Viking Slave's Clothing

We know little about the clothing worn by slaves, or how it differed from the clothing worn by free people. Most likely, it was similar to but simpler in design and execution than clothing worn by free men and women. Coarser, un-dyed fabric was probably used to reduce costs, with little or no ornamentation.

Viking Men's Clothing

Viking used more wool than anything else for making clothing. The Vikings made their own clothes from cloth woven from a loom by women and children in their own home.

Viking men were a long woolen Viking tunic that was tight fitting across the chest with a broad skirt and/or long trousers. The tunic was pulled on over the head. Men wore a tunic that was tight fitting across the chest. There were usually no fasteners, although some tunics had a simple button and loop of thread (left) to fasten the neck opening. A keyhole neckline was the most common, although many other shapes were used for the neck opening for both men and women. Men's necklines were high, since a garment that revealed the chest was considered effeminate.

Tunics of all but the poorest people were decorated with braid, at least on the neckline and cuffs. The tunics of the more wealthy were also decorated with braid on the hem of the skirt. Silk was also used to trim a tunic, although the cost of imported silk must have limited this kind of trim to only the wealthiest people.

Under the tunic, it's likely that most men also wore an undertunic (right). This was made most commonly from linen. (Linen was more expensive than wool, but more comfortable against the skin.) The construction was similar to that of the overtunic, except that the sleeves and skirt were made longer. It has been suggested that the undertunic was visible under the overtunic, so that people could see that one was wealthy enough to be able to afford an undertunic.

It appears that a wide range of styles of trousers were used in the Norse lands. Some were tight. Some were baggy. Some trousers were of simple construction. Some were complicated, using elaborate gores around the crotch area for freedom of motion, and built-in socks (like modern sleepwear for toddlers), with belt loops around the waist.

Trousers had no pockets and no fly. The lack of a fly meant that men had to pull up their tunic skirts and drop their trousers to relieve themselves. The lack of pockets in any Viking-era clothing meant that men and women had to carry their everyday items in other ways, such as suspended from the belt, carried in pouches, carried around the neck, or suspended from brooches.

In cold weather, Vikings wore fur or woolen hats, cloaks or sleeved jerkin. The cloak was simply a large rectangular piece of wool, sometimes lined with contrasting color wool. Cloaks provided protection from the cold, from the wind, and to a limited degree, from the rain. Some cloaks were made with very dense, very thick wool, which would have provided extra protection.



Fig - 5: 9th-10th century AD. A small penannular brooch with a flat, rectangular-section band with scrolled terminals and a long pin.



Cloaks were typically worn offset, with the right arm (the weapon arm) unencumbered by the cloak. Cloaks could be embroidered, or trimmed with tablet woven braid. Typically they hung to somewhere between the knee and the ankle depending on the wealth of the owner. The cloaks were fastened at the shoulder with a brooch or a pin at the right shoulder. The pins ranged from simple bone pins to elaborate gold jewelry.

Fig - 6:

On his feet he would wear socks and soft leather shoes or long leather boots suggest a certain elegance and style-consciousness. They were known to have worn puttee-like leg wrappings from knee to foot The wraps consistent of two long, narrow strips of cloth, typically wool, which were wound around the leg and foot. By starting at the knee and wrapping downwards, no clips or fasteners are needed. The wraps stay firmly in place, even during vigorous activity.

Most men wore long hair and beards as a protection from the cold weather. Caps were made of wool, or sheepskin, or leather and fur. Some had ear flaps for warmth.

Fig - 9:

In battle he would wear an iron helmet and a mail-chain to protect himself. The sword they carried seems lightweight and suitable for travel for warfare.










Source

Fig - 5: Lehtosalo-Hilander, P-L.,Luistari (Finland), A History of Weapons and Ornaments, Helsinki, 2000.

Viking Children's Clothing

There is little surviving evidence to help us determine what sort of clothing children wore, but there is little to suggest that children's clothing was anything other than adult clothing cut to fit the child's smaller frame.

Tunic and trousers were probably typical for boys, and a dress for girls. Their tunics were plain striped rough homespun wool, with trousers below. They both wore cloaks over their tunics.

Viking Women's Clothing

In general, women's clothing was made from the same materials as men's clothing. Typically, a woman wore an ankle length linen under-dress or shift, with the neck closed by a brooch. Over it, she wore a shorter length woolen dress suspended by shoulder straps fastened by brooches. This kind of suspended dress is sometimes called a an apron-skirt. Some interpret the outer dress as two separate panels, but more likely, it was a slightly flaring tube-shaped dress, longer at the back than the front. The details of how these garments were constructed is highly speculative. Inga Hägg's article  in Cloth and Clothing In Medieval Europe There is also evidence for an overdress similar to the one worn by the woman on the right, completely covering the shoulders and requiring no brooches, sometimes joined by a chain or string of beads to hold it in place. (left) Inga Hägg's article  in Cloth and Clothing In Medieval Europe which shoes of the inside of a pair of tortoise brooches that were found at Birka.

Belt buckles or other fastenings are rarely found in women's graves, as they are in men's graves, suggesting that women's belts were woven fabric, rather than leather.

Head coverings were typically worn by women, perhaps as simple as a knotted kerchief over the head (left), which even women of the lowest class wore a headdress. Some noble women ma have worn elaborate headdresses, which may have been worn like jewelry on special occasions. It has been suggested that the type of headdress worn served to distinguish married from unmarried women.

Women's shoes were similar to men's shoes in virtually every particular. Her legs and feet were covered with thick woolly socks and soft leather shoes.

Both men and women wore fur or woolen hats and cloaks in cold weather. The cloaks were fastened at the shoulder with a brooch or a pin.

Some evidence suggests that women's clothing was worn long. Images of women in picture stones and jewelry (right) show long, trailing skirts on female figures. Trailing garments would get soiled while working around animals and would be awkward around the fire burning on the floor of every longhouse. Perhaps high status women wore such long clothing on special occasions. As is often the case with Viking material culture, we are reminded of the limits of the available evidence.

Reconstructed Buildings

Photo of the reconstructed buildings in
Norstead Viking Port of Trade Site, L'Anse aux Meadows, Northern Peninsula, Viking Trail, Newfoundland, Canada.

Chemical Analysis on Textiles from the Viking Age

Through the use of modern chemical analysis it can be demonstrated that certain plants, chemical coloring agents, and classes of colorants were known and used on textiles from the Viking Age.

Based on chemical analyses of actual wool textiles, the following plants were more or less certainly used to dye wool textiles of the Viking Age.

• Galium boreale (northern bedstraw)
• Isatis tinctoria L. (woad)
• Juglans regia (English walnut)
• Rubia tinctorium L. (madder)
• Xanthoria parietina (common yellow wall-lichen, also called shore lichen)
• at least one lichen that yields purples, possibly from Ochrolechia tartarea

Based on chemical analyses of actual imported silk textiles, the following dyestuffs were more or less certainly used to dye imported silk textiles available in the Viking Age.

• Kermes vermilio (a red Old World bug dye)
• Reseda luteola (weld)
• Rubia tinctorium L. (madder)
• indigotin from woad or indigo
• a lichen purple, possibly from Rocella tinctoris

The following additional plants were most likely used to dye textiles of the Viking Age. Either they sport appropriate chemical proportions of the colorants listed below, or they have been found in Viking Age archaeological contexts suggesting use as dyestuffs.

• Calluna vulgaris L. (heather)
• Diphasium complanatum (also called Lycopodium complanatum, a type of clubmoss probably used as a mordant due to its aluminum content)
• Genista tinctoria L. (broom)
• Reseda luteola L. (weld)

The following unidentified colorants were definitely used to dye textiles of the Viking Age.

• "Yellow X" (see below)

And for the chemists among you, the following chemical colorants were definitely used to dye textiles of the Viking Age.

• Alizarin
• Flavone (on silk)
• Indigotin
• Luteolin
• Pseudopurpurin
• Purpurin

The following mordants are fairly certain to have been used to dye textiles of the Viking Age.

• alum
• copper (from bronze dyepots)
• iron
• tannin (possibly from elm bark, Alnus glutinosa)

Colors on Wool

Wool, the chief textile fiber of the Viking Age, was available in white as well as many different natural shades of browns and greys. Such shades could be and often were spun and woven without ever being dyed. Wool dyes very easily, though, and many finds of wool from the Viking Age were dyed in once-bright colors. Sometimes a dyer might use a naturally pigmented wool rather than a white one.

A report on the analysis of 220 samples of Viking Age textiles mentions 90 samples which yielded evidence of dyes. The samples come from Dublin, Jorvík, and 19 sites in Norway and Denmark; the dyes mentioned are red from madder or bedstraw; a purple derived from lichens; our mysterious yellow X [from an unidentified plant]; and a colorant identified as indigotin, almost certainly derived from woad. The insect dye kermes has also been found, and luteolin, presumably from weld, but only on imported silks. (Walton 1988b, 17)

Yellow X is still unknown. Chemical testing has eliminated 25 possible dyestuffs, including weld, broom, buckthorn, heather, chamomile, and saffron (see Walton 1988a for a complete list of dyestuffs tested).

Blended colors are also represented. Indigotin was used in conjunction with other dyes to produce several purples (with madder) and a green (with the unidentified yellow). Madder and lichen used in conjunction yielded a red-violet result (Walton 1988, 18, figure 9). Some evidence of brown from walnut shells has also been found, as well as one or two pieces that were intentionally dyed very dark brownish-black with walnut shells and iron (Hägg 1984, 289).

The chemical evidence of textiles from several different sites seems to point to a preponderance of particular colors appearing in particular areas: reds in the Danelaw, purples in Ireland, and blues and greens in Scandinavia proper (Walton 1988, 18). This seeming preference could of course be explained by any number of variables--availability of dyestuffs, the differing site climates, or the sheer vagaries of archaeological discovery. However, although it is carefully hedged, there is a hypothesis in the scientific world that this might possibly reflect regional color preferences rather than archaeochemical factors. It is pleasant to think that this sort of "Viking heraldry" might have been practiced.

Colors on Linens

Linen does not take most historic dyes readily, even when a mordant is used. Accordingly, linen was often bleached or left its natural color (grey if dew-retted, straw if water-retted). Substantive dyes such as woad, however, are fairly successful; accordingly, blue linen may have been more common than we know. There are a few examples of woad- and madder-dyed linens from Birka.

Colors on Silks

Imported silks may have gotten their colors from plants or other materials not available in northwestern Europe, such as indigo or Tyrian ("royal") purple. No further consideration is given to this issue in this article.

Weaving Techniques



Recreated Viking Loom



The adoption of textile weaving techniques in Scandinavia only occurred in the Bronze Age, relatively late in the scheme of human development (Bender Jørgensen, 116). Nevertheless, as is evident in the remains from Migration and Viking Age burials, the art caught hold rapidly and took many elaborate forms



Decorative textile embroider of the Viking Age were composed not of embroidery but of wool-on-linen tapestry weaves. The same is true for household furnishings such as pillowcases, cushion covers, and tablecloths; all the evidence points to a strong tradition of decorative polychrome mixed-fiber weaving rather than one of needle-worked surface ornamentation.



Embroidery wasn't really adopted by the Vikings until the first half of the ninth century. At that point the pervasive influence of the foreign cultures with which the Vikings intermingled so freely began to assert itself in both technological and art-historical ways. In textile and clothing ornamentation, the Vikings began half-heartedly to imitate their neighbors at that time. Two distinctive embroidery styles emerged, a style influenced by the lands to the west (represented mostly by finds at Bjerringhøj and Jorvík) and a style influenced by the lands to the east (represented by finds at Birka and Valsgärde).



Loom weights


Also in the ninth century, the eastern-influenced style of embroidery was on the rise. This style, represented at Birka in Sweden, was more likely Byzantine, or Slavic in origin. Like other forms of eastern Viking ornament, it depended heavily on silver wire or thread for its decorative effect. In fact, eastern Viking embroidery (more properly, "textile surface decoration") involved only one or two techniques which are likely to have been worked with a needle, i.e., stemstitch, surface couching, and possibly some forms of ösenstich (mesh stitch), of which several varieties have been identified.

Definitions of Garb Layers

• "Smock"-- The undermost layer of garb; a long-sleeved, full-length tunic which can be made either T-tunic style (although separate sleeves are basic to the Viking repertoire) or in several pieces sewn together (e.g., shoulder seams, separate sleeves, and gores for fullness), depending on the time and place.
• "Gown"-- The layer we would most frequently refer to as a "tunic," it goes on top of the smock; long-sleeved and full-length, it was usually brightly-colored and ornamented with trimming or embroidery.
• "Apron-Dress"-- A more descriptive term than simply "apron," this is the traditional overgarment of a Viking woman; it's a complete overdress descended from the peplos garment of antiquity, not a pair of discrete strips of cloth held together by straps as so many artists would have us think. It was also apparently not very heavily ornamented, certainly not with metal-based trimmings.
• "Caftan"-- The outermost layer of garb, it's a long-sleeved long coat which was pinned together at about the solar plexus with a large brooch; it too was heavily ornamented.
• "Fillet"-- A fabric band worn around the head like a diadem or coronet, often of metal-brocaded tablet-woven silk. In nearby cultures, it was often worn either over a veil or as a foundation onto which the veil was pinned.
• "Coif"-- Best generic name for the Jorvík style headwear, which is a sort of square hood with a rounded upper back. It tied under the chin and extended for some way down the neck all the way around the head. Extant examples in undyed, probably locally-woven silk with linen ties.
• "Cap"-- Blanket term for a variety of headwear whose details are frequently obscure. In Dublin the caps were wool, basically rectangular, less-elegant cousins of the Jorvík coif, with points at the back of the head.
• "Scarf"-- Some (fairly small) purple fringed fabrics found at Dublin are thought to have been worn scarf-wise, possibly like the Anglo-Saxon headwrap.

General Construction Notes

• Linings--can be used on all layers except the smock.
• Seam Finishings--In the tenth century flat-felling and French seams were both used, also binding raw edges in the period version of bias tape. It is entirely possible that these finishings were also used in the ninth century, although they are not yet so documented.
• Embroidery Stitches--Stem, chain, herringbone, split, and couching are all documentable; finds of embroidery are minimal, with a couple each from Birka, Oseberg and Gokstad (Norway), Mammen (Denmark), and Jorvík (Danelaw). Mostly they are tenth-century.
• Trimming materials--Narrow (1-2mm) handmade braids, strips of wider diagonal braiding (also called "fingerweaving"), whipcording, bands of fancy cloth, tablet-weaving, or storebought trims with diagonal geometric designs on a single bright color with metallic threads are all appropriate.

Sources

Hägg, Inga. "Viking Women's Dress at Birka: A Reconstruction by Archaeological Methods." Cloth and Clothing in Medieval Europe, ed. N.B. Harte and K.G. Ponting, pp. 316-350. London: Heinemann, 1983.

Roesdahl, Else, and Wilson, David M., eds. From Viking to Crusader: The Scandinavians and Europe 800-1200. New York: Rizzoli International Publications, Inc., 1992.

Who Were the Vikings?

The term, "Viking Age" covers the period A.D. 800 to the 11th century (800-1066) in northern Europe. Scandinavians left their homelands to seek their fortunes elsewhere. These seafaring warriors--known collectively as Vikings or Norsemen "Northmen"; began by raiding coastal sites, especially undefended monasteries, in the British Isles and the areas bordering the Baltic and North Seas.

Over the next three centuries, they would leave their mark as pirates, raiders, traders and settlers on much of Britain and the European continent, as well as parts of modern-day Russia, Iceland, Greenland and Newfoundland. The international trade enjoyed by these areas permitted the free flow of dyestuffs, mordant’s, and textiles across wide distances; accordingly, textile products throughout northern Europe shared a basic set of dyestuffs in the Viking Age.