Sometimes I know very little about an object. This week’s Nalbound Object of the Week appeared in news articles about شهر سوخته Shahr-e-Sookhteh, Iran’s “Burnt City” published in January of 2022. I also discovered that in 2018 there was a multidisciplinary project run by the Iranian Archaeological team during which there was conservation and micro analysis of the textile collection in Shahr i Sokhta. I’d be very interested in learning about the results of those examinations. Periodically I do another search on these fragments to see if more information pops up. Last July a new article turned up on the web with some very interesting references to try to track down.
Object: Fragment from شهر سوخته Shahr-e-Sookhteh
Description: There are apparently several fragments of Simple Looping with large multi-row bands of alternating color, light (cream) and dark (brown). The third & fourth articles linked below show the one fragment that first brought my attention to this artifact. The first and second links, one from the multidisciplinary project, include a photo that looks to be different fragments and a larger section of the same textile. These are some of around 47 fabrics (techniques unspecified but clearly including more than just the nalbound fragments), consisting of 265 fragments, that were found in Shahr-e-Sookhteh.1
Dated to: Shahr-e-Sookhteh was occupied between 3200-1700 BCE (early articles indicated the city was abandoned in 2100 BCE2, but later articles indicate the city was last occupied in 1700 BCE3)
Find location: شهر سوخته Shahr-e-Sookhteh, Iran’s “Burnt City.” شهر سوخته is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.4
Material: unspecified
Stitch(es) used: Z-crossed Simple Looping (analysis based on photograph by AnneMarieDecker), F1 O
Inventory number: unspecified
Current location: likely at the Iranian Cultural Heritage, Handicrafts and Tourism Organization (ICHHTO) multi-disciplinary Base at Shahr-i Sokhta
Link to museum catalog or other data: unknown
Some sources in which more information can be found:
1. https://amordadnews.com/172355 This is the most recent article released and it lists several references that look to be very interesting.
The web pages on which the earlier news articles were published are no longer live. The Internet Archive did save copies as part of their Wayback Machine project.
Photographs: There are a couple of interesting photos that were published, but as I don’t have contacts to request permissions, you’ll need to explore the links above to see them.
Please note that sharing to other venues will likely be intermittent. If you wish to receive these each week, please remember to follow the blog. Patrons on Patreon receive early access previews, occasional extra details, and priority requests.
The Nalbound Object of the Week features a pair of mittens from Valle, Setesdal, Norway, dated pre-1913, and currently located in the Norsk Folkemuseum. The mittens are decorated in the typical Valle style and are made of wool. They are recognizable from their use as the cover illustration on Nordland’s Primitive Scandinavian Textiles in Knotless Netting. For more information, visit the museum’s catalog.
Today’s Nalbound Object of the Week comes from Valle in Setesdal, Norway. This pair of mittens was apparently accessioned into the Norsk Folkemuseum’s inventory in 1913. They are more broadly recognized in the nalbinding community because one of them appears on the cover of Odd Nordland’s book “Primitive Scandinavian Textiles in Knotless Netting”1 which is the source of the second specific attempt at a classification system for nalbound structures.
NF.1913-0863AB mittens from Valle in Setesdal in Norway. Photo: Norsk Folkemuseum CC BY-SA
Object: Pair of mittens decorated with a nalbound strip and embroidery in the style typical of Valle in Setesdal, Norway.
Description: White mittens with red, and possibly light green based on related mittens, embroidery on the cuffs and thumb.2 The decoration also includes a separate chain of nalbinding that is attached with embroidery in a wavy pattern. The mittens are 27.5 cm long and 16 cm wide3 (10 21/64 inches by 6 19/64 inches.
Some sources in which more information can be found:
Nordland, Odd. Primitive Scandinavian Textiles in Knotless Netting. Studia Norvegica no. 10. Oslo: Oslo University Press, 1961. No ISBN listed in Book.
Photographs:
NF.1913-0863A mitten from Valle in Setesdal in Norway. This is most likely the specific mitten used for the image on the from of Nordland’s “Primitive Scandinavian Textiles in Knotless Netting.” Photo: Norsk Folkemuseum CC BY-SA
Please note that sharing to other venues will likely be intermittent. If you wish to receive these each week, please remember to follow the blog. Patrons on Patreon receive early access previews, occasional extra details, and priority requests.
Knotless Netting is an older term used to describe nalbound structures prior to the borrowing of the term Nalbinding into English. It was used to differentiate nalbound structures from netted structures. However, it did not apparently recognize that nalbound structures are also types of knots; just loose knots compared to the hard knots used in netting. ↩︎
Color based on data and color pictures of related objects as neither Nordland nor the museum’s online record specify the colors of this particular pair of mittens. ↩︎
Larry Schmitt initially used a modified Hansen’s classification moving the connection stitch to the front to recognize that the connection to the previous row occurs prior to the intralacing of most stitches. I have continued this practice in my translations between classification systems. Technically Nordland’s 632 could be either F1 UOOO/UUUOO or F1 OUUU/OOOUU as it only describes the number of loops before a change in intralacement, not the order of intralacement, but the first is more likely given the predominant intralacing patterns. ↩︎
Our next Nalbound Object of the Week can be found on display in the V&A Museum in London. A rare example of a complete pair of Late Roman Era1 (formerly dated to the Coptic Era2) nalbound socks from the burial grounds of the Greek colony of Oxryhyncus in Egypt. By the 5th century, Oxryhyncus was a notable monastic center.3
Description: A complete pair of red socks on red conservation mounts. The socks have split toes to accommodate wearing with thonged sandals. The ankles have an overlapping slit and the remains of attached ties for closure.
The conservation mounts and foreshortening of photographs tend to cause these socks to look much thinner and longer than they actually are. The conservation mounts are rounder than a foot which narrows the profile. They are intended to be supportive of the fabric more than providing a foot shape that would stress the fabric. As can be seen in the photographs prior to conservation, the proportions are well within the average ratios for this type of sock and would have fit a normal human foot quite nicely.
Nalbinding Stitch(es) used: S-crossed8 Cross-knit Looping, F1B1 U (specific determination confirmed by Anne Marie Decker)
A pair of madder red socks confirming a theory regarding a particular construction detail on the Oxryhyncus socks. Completed by Anne Maire Decker on 17 August 2020. Not to gauge.
Some sources in which more information can be found:
Burnham, Dorothy K. “Coptic Knitting: An Ancient Technique” in Textile History, Vol. 3 December 1972. edited by K. G. Ponting and Dr S. D. Chapman. The Pasold Research Fund LTD, England, 1972; pgs. 116-124. No ISBN/ISSN provided. DOI: 10.1179/004049672793692237
De Moor, Antoine, Cäcilia Fluck, M. Van Strydonck, and M. Boudin. “Radiocarbon dating of Late Roman woolen socks from Egypt,” In Textiles, tools and techniques of the 1st millennium AD from Egypt and neighbouring countries. Proceedings of the 8th conference of the research group ‘Textiles from the Nile Valley,’ Antwerp, 4-6 October 2013, ed. Antoine De Moor, Cäcilia Fluck, and Petra Linscheid, p. 131-136. Tielt: Lannoo Publishers, 2015. ISBN 9789401432405.
Kendrick, A. F. Catalogue of Textiles From Burying-Grounds in Egypt: Vol. II. Period of Transition and of Christian Emblems. Victoria and Albert Museum, Department of Textiles. London: Publ. under the Authority of His Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1921. No ISBN.
Köstner, Barbara. “Roman and Late Roman nalbinding socks from Egypt: Bringing ‘Egyptian fashion’ to the North” in Excavating, analysing, reconstructing: Textiles of the first millennium AD from Egypt and neighbouring countries. Proceedings of the 9th conference of the research group ‘Textiles from the Nile Valley’, Antwerp, 27-29 November 2015. ed. by Antoine De Moor, Cäcilia Fluck, and Petra Linscheid. Tielt: Lannoo Publishers, 2017. ISBN 9789401443999.
Köstner, Barbara. “Wearing socks in sandals: The height of Roman fashion?” in Small Finds & Ancient Social Practices in the Northwest Provinces of the Roman Empire edited by Stefanie Hoss and Alissa Whitmore. Oxford & Philadelphia: Oxbow Books, 2016. Pages 16-27. ISBN 978-1-78570-256-3.
Levey, S. M. “Illustrations of the History of Knitting Selected from the Collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum” in Textile History, Vol. I No. 2 (December 1969): pgs. 183-205. ed. by K. G. Ponting. Great Britain: David & Charles Ltd., 1969. Also available in the combined Vol 1. Nos 1-3 set published in 1971 as ISBN 0-7153-5166-4.
Turnau, Irena. History of Knitting Before Mass Production. Translated by and Agnieszka Szonert. Warsaw: Institute of the Archaeology and Ethnology Polish Academy of Sciences, 1991. ISBN 83-900213-2-3.
Photographs:
The socks on display in the V&A. Photo credit: Anne Marie Decker 15 October 2019A view of the toes and slits. Also note how the angle at which the photos are taken affects the perception of length. Photo credit: Anne Marie Decker 15 October 2019.A side view showing better proportions. Photo credit: Anne Marie Decker 15 October 2019.Anne Marie Decker taking photographs of the pair of red socks. Photo credit: Ruth Decker 15 October 2019.
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De Moor et. al. “Radiocarbon dating of Late Roman woolen socks from Egypt,” 2015. Pg. 136 ↩︎
The dating to Coptic Era was based on older art historical dating methods. It generally referred to what are now defined as Late Roman Egypt (3rd−4th centuries) and Byzantine Egypt (4th−7th centuries), but differed in exact dating by author. While still used colloquially, the term has lost favor in academia in large part due to its imprecision. ↩︎
https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O107787/pair-of-socks-unknown/ Accessed 21 January 2024. The museum record only states “Nålbindning (sewing stitches)” “sometimes called knotless netting or single needle knitting.” It does not specify the specific stitch variant used. Barbara Köstner does specify S crossed in “Roman and Late Roman nalbinding socks from Egypt: Bringing ‘Egyptian fashion’ to the North” 2017, pg. 193. ↩︎
The patterned fragment from Dura-Europos has always fascinated me, so today it too joins the Nalbound Object of the Week collection. The fragment was excavated by the Yale-French Excavations at Dura-Europos sometime between 1928–37. It is only 5 7/8 by 6 11/16 in. (15 × 17 cm). Given the standard ratios of socks of this type and analysis of the fragment itself, what remains is 3/4 of the original circumference of the sock ankle.
Anne Marie Decker’s theoretical reconstruction of what the Dura-Europos patterned fragment may have looked like when the sock was whole based on standard ratios found in examinations of socks worked in Cross-knit Looping found in Egypt and surrounding regions. The fragment itself is in the background.
Object: Patterned fragment from Dura-Europos
Description: The patterned heel cup and ankle of a fancy Cross-knit Looping sock. The pattern consists of a vertical column of knit wales followed by a purl background with two pomegranate shapes placed one over the other (one is missing). Then another vertical column, a tree of life pattern that goes up the center back of the sock, and another vertical column. This is followed by another purl background with two pomegranates and ending with a final vertical column. The fragment has a few perpendicular stitches on the bottom right that are the remains of the mid-foot section. On the same side, a few lacing loops are preserved indicating that this sock likely had a tongue flap and lacing closure similar to that seen in the contemporaneous sock from Egypt currently in the V&A collections in London.
Rutt, Richard. A History of Hand Knitting. London: B T Batsford Ltd, 1987 ISBN 0713451181; reprinted Loveland, Colorado: Interweave Press, 1989 ISBN 0-934026-35-1, Library of Congress Catalog Number 87-46353; pgs. 28-30.
Pfister, Rudolf and Bellinger, Louisa. “The textiles: Knitting,” Rostovtzeff, M.I., et al. The excavations at Dura-Europos Final Report IV, Part II. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1945, 54-5.
Photograph:
1933.483 Patterned fragment from Dura Europos. Cropped and rotated to show original orientation. Original Photo Credit: The Yale University Art Gallery – Public Domain CC0 1.0 Deed
Please note that sharing to other venues will likely be intermittent. If you wish to receive these each week, please remember to follow the blog. Patrons on Patreon receive early access previews, occasional extra details, and priority requests.
The Yale Univeristy Art Gallery dates the fragment to c. AD 200-256 https://artgallery.yale.edu/collections/objects/5962. Dura Europos was sacked and never reoccupied, so we are fairly certain the sock pre-dates 256 CE when that occurred. The only other example of a sock with lacing loops in the corpus has been carbon dated to a very similar timeframe. ↩︎
The collection of Peruvian nalbinding is full of beautiful figural work. This week’s Nalbound Object of the Week is one of my favorites: a small cap with a dog nursing her puppies.1
Photo: The Textile Museum – Public Domain
Object: Peruvian cap with puppies
Description: The cap is a slightly ovaloid shape just under 6 inches in diameter (5.5 x 5.75 inches) and 1.5 inches high (3.81 H x 14.60 W x 13.97 D cm).2 On top of the cap is a striped “dog” nursing three striped “puppies” worked in 3 dimensional figural nalbinding.
We know of several other caps from Peru in this time frame with figural work on them. One in purple and white stripes with a chicken head. Another in red and yellows with two birds on top.
Material: camelid5 (meaning unspecified fiber off the alpaca or llama or other variety of camelid animals6)
Stitch(es) used: S-crossed Simple Looping, B1 U, (museum record says Cross-knit Looping,7 but image shows a surface texture of Simple Looping or possibly Pierced Looping)
Some sources in which more information can be found:
Rogers, George (Author). “Calendar” in The Textile Museum Bulletin, The Textile Museum Bulletin, Washington, D.C., 1990, vol. Spring, p. 8.
The Textile Museum. An Introduction to Textile Terms, Washington DC: The Textile Museum, 1997.
Please note that sharing to other venues will likely be intermittent. If you wish to receive these each week, please remember to follow the blog. Patrons on Patreon receive early access previews, occasional extra details, and priority requests.
Looping in An Introduction to Textile Terms, Washington DC: The Textile Museum, 1997. ↩︎
An interesting article regarding the difficulties in identifying between the 4 types of camelids in South America in the archeological record can be found in Paloma Diaz-Maroto, Alba Rey-Iglesia, Isabel Cartajena, Lautaro Núñez, Michael V Westbury, Valeria Varas, Mauricio Moraga, Paula F Campos, Pablo OrozcoterWengel, Juan Carlos Marin, Anders J Hansen (2021) Ancient DNA reveals the lost domestication history of South American camelids in Northern Chile and across the Andes eLife 10:e63390 at https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.63390/ ↩︎
Structure: https://collections-gwu.zetcom.net/en/collection/item/165/, but the diagram in An Introduction to Textile Terms, Washington DC: The Textile Museum, 1997 for Looping, which is illustrated with this cap, shows alternating rows of S- and Z-crossed Simple Looping, not Cross-knit Looping. ↩︎
Our next Nalbound Object of the Week is one of the Ancient Puebloan socks from what is now known as the Southwestern United States. There is not a lot of detail available about this sock. What differentiates it from the other socks found in Ancient Pueblo contexts is the very interesting detail of its material.
Ancient Puebloan Sock as on display in July of 2019 at the Bata Shoe Museum. Photo: Anne Marie Decker 7 July 2019
Object: Ancient Puebloan Sock
Description: A dark brown above ankle sock with a light brown tie at the ankle laced between the stitches. According to the Bata Shoe Museum, it may have been worn alone or with sandals.1 However, unlike several in the Arizona State museum, this one is entirely Simple Looping and is not worked off a braided or woven sole.
Link to museum catalog or other data: Scroll through the online exhibition about socks to find the Ancient Puebloan sock: https://batashoemuseum.ca/socks/ (Click the next link 11 times)
Some sources in which more information can be found:
Arizona State University has a nice article on related Ancestral Pueblo Shoe–Socks, including some really lovely photos of some in their collection.
Please note that sharing to other venues will likely be intermittent. If you wish to receive these each week, please remember to follow the blog. Patrons on Patreon receive early access previews, occasional extra details, and priority requests.
This week’s Nalbound Object of the Week comes from Central Africa. There are quite a few of these beautifully fine Prestige Capes from the former Kingdom of Kongo now in museums around the world. I was honored to be able to examine this particular one closely. Until you are in the presence of one, it is hard to comprehend just how delicate and fine this complex compound nalbinding is; and then you add in the openwork patterning. Definitely breathtaking.
Photo Credit: Textile Museum Acquisition – Public Domain
Description: A stunningly fine raffia cape worked in a trebly intralaced compound nalbinding stitch with an openwork zigzag pattern. The neck opening has a layer of Simple Looping around the edge. The outer edges have raffia fringe knotted onto them. The front and back rows have strings knotted on every few stitches from which the handle-like tassels are suspended. This cape has one both front and back. Some also have them off the sides.
There is an illustration of an etching, based on a photograph, that was made ca. 1880 of a Chief in Full Dress Attire wearing a nkutu on page 73 of Kongo: Power and Majesty.
Stitch(es) used: B1 UU/OO/UU/OOU as determined by Anne Marie Decker during her examination of the object on 14 June 2023. The row heights are very fine for this compound of a nalbinding stitch; around 5/8ths of an inch. There is a single row of Z-crossed Simple Looping, F1 O, around the neck opening.
The Textile Museum specifies that the structure is “looping,” but not the specific stitch used.7 This type of cape has also been misidentified as sprang8 in other examples, but they are not.
So far, the only other place where we see other stitches in the same trebly intralaced family of stitches is in the Omani stitch sock as described by Peter Collingwood (the only example of that particular stitch out of Oman that has been found so far).
Please note that sharing to other venues will likely be intermittent. If you wish to receive these each week, please remember to follow the blog. Patrons on Patreon receive early access previews, occasional extra details, and priority requests.
For example, the British Museum’s Af1853,0713.1 lists its technique as sprang: https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/E_Af1853-0713-1, but also provides clear and close photographs that show it is worked in exactly the same interlinking nalbinding stitch as this one in The Textile Museum. ↩︎
The Uppsala sock now joins our Nalbound Object of the Week collection. I had the pleasure seeing this sock on display during my first trip out to view extant objects back in June of 1999.
Description: A light brown sock with a spiral heel (10 rows), slit at the ankle (7 rows), and a darker brown embellishment along the cuff/slit. The toe of the sock has 17 rows.1 The heel is worked in a beautiful perfect spiral; a photo of which is included in Anne Marie Frazén’s article “En medeltida socka i nålning” linked below (as well as other photos taken during conservation). The sock is 21 cm long with a 5 cm ankle shaft.2
Find location: Excavated in December of 1961 in plot 8 of the excavations of Duvan quarter in Uppsala, Sweden, amongst a large quantity of leather shoe remains.4
Material: now light brown S-spun Wool. The ankle decoration is a now dark brown S-twisted, fairly thick, wool yarn.5
Stitch(es) used: Mammen, UOO/UUOO [F2] (Frazén’s article shows a diagram of the stitch (upside down), but does not specify the connection used. However, she does say it is the same stitch found in the Mammen pennants and in the Egyptian sock described by Schinnerer in Antike Handarbeiten.)6
Franzén, Pgs. 40 & 44. However, Katrin Kania lists UOO/UUOO F1, which would be Korgen, in the entry in her book Kleidung im Mittelalter: Materialien, Konstruktion, Nähtechnik : Ein Handbuch. Köln: Böhlau Verlag, 2010. ISBN: 978-3-412-20482-2 on page 398 when citing from Anne Marie Franzén’s article. ↩︎
With my sincerest thanks to my Patrons, this week’s Nalbound Object of the Week is the Coppergate Sock. On display at the Jorvik Viking Centre, this sock goes by many names; all related to its find location. Coppergate Sock, York Sock, or Jorvik Sock, but they are all the same artifact.
Object: Coppergate Sock, also known as the York Sock or the Jorvik Sock
Description: A fine wool sock that ends just below the ankle. The last row at the ankle is worked in a dyed yarn, unlike the rest of the sock, which either was meant to act as a decorative edge or could indicate a longer stocking leg in red is missing.1 However, we don’t have evidence of nalbound stockings going much past the ankle until a few centuries after this sock and even then they are not common in finds. Additionally, we do have evidence of Egyptian socks that have a single row of color at the ankle. Much of the heel is missing as well as holes near the toes and a damaged slit along the vamp. All pieces were connected, none loose. The pieces were drawn together during conservation in order to better show the original shape.2 There is evidence of patching having been sewn on the sock based on the outline of wool stitching. After conservation, the sock is 10 1/4 in. (260mm) long toe to heel (pre-conservation c. 9 1/2 in. / 0.23m). Circumference at ankle 12 7/8 in. (325mm) and at broadest part of foot 10 5/8 in. (270mm).3 Before conservation measurements are in Jean M. Glover’s, Senior Textile Conservation Officer at the North West Museum and Art Gallery Service, conservation report “Sock in nålebinding, 1309” in Textiles, Cordage and Raw fibre from 16-22 Coppergate. The Archaeology of York, The Small Finds 17/5. Published for the York Archaeological Trust by the Council for British Archaeology. 1989. Pg. 430-431. ISBN 0 906780 79 9.
Dated to: Period 4B is dated to 930-975 CE,3 10th century4
Find location: The sock was found in the backyard of one of the wattle buildings of Period 4B5 in the excavations of 16-22 Coppergate, York, England, UK. It was found in context with several other Scandinavian style textiles which may imply that they were imported on a Scandinavian visitor/invader or that they could be simplified copies made by the local Anglians.6
Material: Stable isotope analysis of the Coppergate sock indicates that the wool came from somewhere in the Ireland-to-south Scandinavia band. It is consistent with an origin of the British Isles, but Ireland and Denmark also give similar results.8 It is a smooth and even S2Z plied wool.9 (Two S spun singles plied together with a Z twist.) The missing patch (possibly flax or other vegetable fiber that has since decayed away) was sew on with Z2S plied wool10 1.5 mm in diameter.11 Based on the pictures, this repair yarn appears thicker in diameter than the yarn used for the nalbound fabric.
Color: Dark brown (potentially related to the many years of being buried).14 The last row of the sock at the ankle is worked in a smooth dark yarn that was dyed with madder. Test results were negative for dyes on the rest of the sock.15
The original diagram of the stitch used in the Coppergate sock. There is an issue with this diagram in that the needle shows the correct connection to the previous rows of F2, but the rest of the diagram shows an F3 connection. Image was originally published in the 1980’s and has been used repeatedly in multiple publications since.
Stitch(es) used: Based on analysis of the upper edge of the sock: York, UU/OOO F2.10 The foot portion could not be analyzed due to “heavy wear and felting on the inside.”11 Further analysis is obscured by the conservation tulle covering the sock.
Construction details: Examination of the pre-conservation drawings and the photographs available of the sock show a clear round start to the toe with quite a few stitches in it. According to Penelope Walton’s analysis, there is a single loop of yarn at the toe around which a circular row of loops is worked.12 The F2 connection combined with York stitch UU/OOO means that each subsequent row overlaps the previous row by half. Penelope Walton reported a gauge of approximately 36 rounds per 100mm.13 That’s about 36.6 rows per 4 inches or just barely over 9 rows to the inch.
Also shown are three areas of shorter row wedges in the heel. The first 7 rows deep coming off the mid-foot. The second, 3 or 4 rows are still remaining. The ankle has apparently 4 rows going around the entire ankle, cut only by the slit on the vamp. In the back of the heel are quite a few rows going parallel to the rows around the ankle. There was difficulty in this area for the conservators as they tried to draw the damaged areas together, because the rows were not as obvious in their orientation in this region.18 This is where the confusion regarding type of heel comes in, because if those were a third wedge in the style of the Egyptian or Swiss socks/stockings (which tended to have two at most), then one would expect longer rows followed by shorter rows with the ankle rows covering the ends. It is possible that the third wedge is worked in reverse, short to longer rows, to cup the back of the heel and give a more upright angle to the ankle opening (wedge heels tending towards a 45 degree rather than 90 degree angle between foot and leg). Figure 142a on page 344 of Textiles, Cordage and Raw Fibre from 16-22 Coppergate shows a drawing of how Penelope Walton thought the heel might have been reconstructed. It is important to note that she suggests the construction may be closer to the double wedges of one of the slightly later Swiss socks from Délémont/Delsberg than the spiral construction of the Uppsala heel or the rectangular heel flap and cup combination of the earlier Roman Egyptian socks. She does not appear to have known of the compound nalbound socks out of Egypt (only the cross-knit looping variety) that almost all have wedge heels, a few with two wedges, (the only exception being one that has a heel flap and cup style like the Cross-knit Looping style socks).
Inventory number: Small Find 13517. Catalogue Number 1309.
Some sources in which more information can be found:
Glover, Jean M., Senior Textile Conservation Officer at the North West Museum and Art Gallery Service, Blackburn. “Sock in nålebinding, 1309” in Textiles, Cordage and Raw fibre from 16-22 Coppergate. The Archaeology of York, The Small Finds 17/5. Published for the York Archaeological Trust by the Council for British Archaeology. 1989. Pg. 430-431. ISBN 0 906780 79 9.
Walton, Penelope. “Production at Coppergate, York: Anglo-Saxon or Viking?” in Textiles in Northern Archaeology, Textile Symposium in York, North European Symposium for Archaeological Textiles Monograph 3, NESAT III, ed. by Penelope Walton and John Peter Wild. London: Archetype Publications, 1990. ISBN 1-873132-05-0.
Walton, Penelope. Textiles, Cordage and Raw fibre from 16-22 Coppergate. The Archaeology of York, The Small Finds 17/5. Published for the York Archaeological Trust by the Council for British Archaeology. 1989. Pgs. 341-345. ISBN 0 906780 79 9.
Walton Rogers, Penelope. Textile Production at 16-22 Coppergate. The Archaeology of York, The Small Finds 17/11 ed. by P.V. Addymann. Published for the York Archaeological Trust by the Council for British Archaeology. 1997. ISBN 1 872414 76 1.
Photographs:
Regia Anglorum was the first place to publish anything online regarding nalbinding that I can remember and they included Penelope Walton’s diagram and drawing of the Coppergate sock: https://regia.org/research/life/naalbind.htm
Astrid Bryde shared photos of the Coppergate sock from her visit to the Jorvik Viking Centre in 2018. The photo taken of the back of the heel is particularly interesting as it shows angled rows as if from a wedge style heel.
On May 7, 2019, Hacking Civilization published the following embedded YouTube video showing the Coppergate sock as it is currently displayed.
I recently ran across this video published by The JORVIK Group on Jun 6, 2016 also showing the Coppergate/York sock.
And more recently they’ve also posted:
This Facebook group, Nålbinding, is a closed group. If you join it and search for the Coppergate sock, you will find several interesting posts by a variety of people of photos taken of the sock on display.
Hilde Thunem’s article, Viking Clothing: hose and socks, includes several additional photos of the Coppergate sock on display. It also puts the sock in perspective noting that while there are multiple finds of socks/hose from the period and region, only the one is nalbound. Most are of cut and sewn woven cloth.
Acknowledgements: This extended Nalbound Object of the Week is brought to you by the generosity of my Patrons on Patreon. Your continued support helps to fund more detailed research and articles as well as longer blog posts.
Please note that sharing to other venues will likely be intermittent. If you wish to receive these each week, please remember to follow the blog. Patrons on Patreon receive early access previews, occasional extra details, and priority requests.
Walton, Penelope. “The sock in nålebinding, 1309” in Textiles, Cordage and Raw fibre from 16-22 Coppergate. Pg. 343. ↩︎
Glover, Jean M. “Sock in nålebinding, 1309” in Textiles, Cordage and Raw fibre from 16-22 Coppergate. Pg. 431. ↩︎
Glover, Jean M. “Sock in nålebinding, 1309” in Textiles, Cordage and Raw fibre from 16-22 Coppergate. Pg. 430. ↩︎
Walton, Penelope. Textiles, Cordage and Raw fibre from 16-22 Coppergate. Pg. 418. ↩︎
Walton, Penelope. “The sock in nålebinding, 1309” in Textiles, Cordage and Raw fibre from 16-22 Coppergate. Pg. 341. ↩︎
Walton, Penelope. “The sock in nålebinding, 1309” in Textiles, Cordage and Raw fibre from 16-22 Coppergate. Pg. 341. ↩︎
Walton, Penelope. Textiles, Cordage and Raw fibre from 16-22 Coppergate. Pg. 418. ↩︎
Walton, Penelope. “The sock in nålebinding, 1309” in Textiles, Cordage and Raw fibre from 16-22 Coppergate. Pg. 342. and Glover, Jean M. “Sock in nålebinding, 1309” in Textiles, Cordage and Raw fibre from 16-22 Coppergate. Pg. 430. ↩︎
Walton, Penelope. “The sock in nålebinding, 1309” in Textiles, Cordage and Raw fibre from 16-22 Coppergate. Pg. 341. ↩︎
Walton, Penelope. “Catalogue” in Textiles, Cordage and Raw fibre from 16-22 Coppergate. Pg. 435. ↩︎
Glover, Jean M. “Sock in nålebinding, 1309” in Textiles, Cordage and Raw fibre from 16-22 Coppergate. Pg. 430. ↩︎
Walton, Penelope. “The sock in nålebinding, 1309” in Textiles, Cordage and Raw fibre from 16-22 Coppergate. Pg. 342. and Glover, Jean M. “Sock in nålebinding, 1309” in Textiles, Cordage and Raw fibre from 16-22 Coppergate. Pg. 430. ↩︎
Walton, Penelope. “The sock in nålebinding, 1309” in Textiles, Cordage and Raw fibre from 16-22 Coppergate. Pg. 342. Diagram on page 343. ↩︎
Walton, Penelope. “The sock in nålebinding, 1309” in Textiles, Cordage and Raw fibre from 16-22 Coppergate. Pg. 342. and Glover, Jean M. “Sock in nålebinding, 1309” in Textiles, Cordage and Raw fibre from 16-22 Coppergate. Pg. 430. ↩︎
Walton, Penelope. “The sock in nålebinding, 1309” in Textiles, Cordage and Raw fibre from 16-22 Coppergate. Pg. 342. ↩︎
Walton, Penelope. “The sock in nålebinding, 1309” in Textiles, Cordage and Raw fibre from 16-22 Coppergate. Pg. 342. ↩︎
Glover, Jean M. “Sock in nålebinding, 1309” in Textiles, Cordage and Raw fibre from 16-22 Coppergate. Pg. 431. ↩︎
Anne Marie Decker with the Tarim beret as it was taken out of the display case for her to examine in order to determine the stitch used. 21 June 2000.
The Tarim Beret is a beautifully fine example of what kinds of designs are possible using even the simplest variants of nalbinding. This hat was on display in 2000.
Object: Tarim Beret
Description: A finely nalbound brown wool beret stretched over a felt roll. The stitch patterning leaves a visual impression of four striped quarters, but it is worked in the round.
Dated to: ca. 1000 BC (wood of the tomb calibrated C14 results date to 2960 ±115 years Before Present* (published 1999))
Find location: Zaghunluq Cemetery, Chärchän/Qiemo County, Tarim Basin (central southern edge thereof), Xinjiang, China
Material: Wool
Stitch(es) used: Space patterned Z-crossed Simple Looping, F1 O (as determined by Anne Marie Decker 2000)
Current location: 新疆维吾尔自治区博物馆 Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region Museum, 581 Xibei Rd, Saybag District, Ürümqi, Xinjiang, China, 830000
*王炳华 = Wang, Binghua. 新疆古尸 : 古代新疆居民及其文化 = Xinjiang gu shi: gu dai Xinjiang ju min ji qi wen hua = The ancient corpses of Xinjiang : the peoples of ancient Xinjiang and their cvlture [i.e. culture]. Wulumuqi-shi: Xinjiang ren min chu ban she, 2001. ISBN 7-228-05161-0
