Tools and Textile Production in the North Atlantic. In: Proceedings of the 17th Viking Congress (eds. V. Turner, O. Owen & D. Vaugh, 2016 (original) (raw)

Wool, yarn and textiles stand out as trademarks and special properties of the North Atlantic area – a legacy that dates back to the Viking period. Throughout this area, vaðmál was also a standard economic measure: commodity ‘money’, used for taxation and exchange in the Middle Ages. This system is best documented and lasted longest in Iceland, where production was also the greatest. During recent decades, several disciplines – archaeology, history, zoo-archaeology and environmental archaeology – have significantly contributed to knowledge about textile production in the Viking Age and Middle Ages. Based on archaeological and other types of evidence, together with the results of multidisciplinary projects, this paper discusses the scale and degree of standardisation in textile production in this area from the Viking Age into the Middle Ages. When did it start and how did it develop?