Valsgärde Embroideries

The cemetery of Valsgärde.

Valsgärde is the name of a farm just north of Gammla Uppsala, the ancient centre of the Swedish kings. The place is famous for its burial site, with graves dating from the sixth (the earliest ship burial) until the eleventh centuries. The site was excavated between 1928 and 1952, and its finds have been compared to other ship burials, including that of Sutton Hoo.

The cemetery yielded fifteen ship burials, eleven chamber graves and 54 cremation graves. In three of the Viking-period graves, dating to the tenth century, fragments were discovered of silver-thread embroidery on silk, worked in couching. The technique and designs have been compared to eastern and southeastern examples, including the Byzantine empire.

Source: BENDER JØRGENSEN, Lise (1992). North European Textiles before 1000 A.D., Aarhus, Denmark: Aarhus University Press.

Digital source of illustration (retrieved 29th October 2016).

Last modified on Thursday, 11 May 2017 20:22

Published in Fragments and panels