Since the purple fragment went over so well last week, I thought that I would share this purple Roman Era Egyptian sock as this week’s Nalbound Object of the Week. It was excavated from the Christian burial grounds of Oxyrhynchus, present-day al-Bahnasa, by the Egypt Exploration Fund in the 1896-71 excavation season.
Description: A piece dyed2 purple (red and blue) split-toed sock for the left foot with a tongue and lacing loops closure, currently sewn through the tongue, and knit/purl ribbed patterning on the upper ankle cuff. Measurements on the online catalog record, length approximately 21.5cm, width approximately 8.4cm, and height approximately 10cm,3 reflect a sock that would fit a US Children’s size 3, Women’s 4.5.
Find location: The Christian burial grounds of Late Roman Era Oxyrhynchus.5 The present-day city of al-Bahnasa in Egypt.
Material: S2Z plied wool.6 Originally a light natural color, the sock was piece dyed red and blue, resulting in a purple sock.
Stitch(es) used: S-crossed Cross-knit Looping variant of nalbinding.7 Gauge is reported as 9 stitches per inch by 12 rows per inch8 or 3-4 stitches by 5 rows to the centimeter.9
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.
Photographs:
There are a few additional photos in the museum’s online catalog entry.
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Kendrick, Catalogue of Textiles From Burying-Grounds in Egypt: Vol. II. Period of Transition and of Christian Emblems. 1921. pg. 88. ↩︎
The sock appears to have been dyed after it was created instead of dying the wool and then nalbinding the sock. The interior of the yarn is still a light natural color and the red and blue appear to be on the surface only. ↩︎
Today’s Nalbound Object of the Week is the Dublin fragment E190:7430. It is a purple nalbound fragment that is not large enough to give any indication of its original size, form, or function. It was found outside a house dated to the 10th century in the excavations of Viking Age Dublin carried out by the National Museum of Ireland from 1962 to 1981. Frances Pritchard had the opportunity to examine the textiles found and published an article in 1992 entitled “Aspects of the Wool Textiles from Viking Age Dublin” which includes most of what is known about this fragment (including the only published photograph). 1
Image of a portion of the Dublin fragment with one row of stitches highlighted in a rainbow progression by Anne Marie Decker. Base photo provided by Frances Pritchard is a slightly tighter image than that published in her article “Aspects of the Wool Textiles from Viking Age Dublin” taken by Jon Bailey, Historic Buildings and Monuments Commission for England.
Object: Dublin fragment
Description: Original size unknown. Current size unknown, but the photo published in Frances Pritchard’s article is scaled 2:1.2 That published photo does not show the complete fragment, so the complete dimensions cannot be calculated. It is the only nalbound example found amongst the hundreds of wool textiles and a good number of silk textiles found during the excavations.3
Color: Dye analysis by Penelope Walton indicates it was dyed with lichen purple4
Dated to: The excavations date to Viking Age Dublin, c. 917 to 1169 CE.
Material: Two-ply Z/S-ply7 wool yarn.8 Diameter calculates to approximately 1-1.5 mm based on the photograph and scale.
Gauge: Row height calculates to roughly 0.75 cm and there are approximately 3.5-4 stitches to the cm based on the photograph and scale. It’s a fairly open worked binding.
Stitch(es) used: The stitch used has not been formally determined by examination as the fragment is currently inaccessible.9 My examination of the photo available leads me to believe that it is the stitch colloquially referred to as half-York, but could better be called Dublin stitch: F2 U/OO.
Further research is indicated. At the time of Frances Pritchard’s article, it was thought that nalbinding was only usual in Scandinavian and Baltic countries of the time and thus probable it was made by a Scandinavian settler, much like the Coppergate Sock found in York.10 Of the other known Viking Era finds in Scandinavia, none use York family style intralacing. The York family style intralacing is found in similar stitches in Egypt, France, Spain, and Greece so far. Thus the nalbound artifacts in the Isles may have more in common with the nalbinding of Southern Europe/North Africa than of Scandinavia.
Link to museum catalog or other data: The National Museum of Ireland does not have online catalog information for this artifact.
Some sources in which more information can be found:
Pritchard, Frances. “Aspects of the Wool Textiles from Viking Age Dublin” in Archaeological Textiles in Northern Europe Report from the 4th NESAT Symposium 1. – 5. May 1990 Copenhagen, edited by Lise Bender Jorgensen & Elisabeth Munksgaard, Tidens Tand, Nr. 5, 1992, pages 93-104. Copenhagen: Kongelige Danske Kunstakademi, 1992. ISBN 87-89730-04-6.
Wallace, Patrick F. Viking Dublin: The Wood Quay Excavations. Irish Academic Press, 2016. ISBN 978-07165-3314-6. (A brief mention of the fragment is found on page 263.)
Photographs: There are no photos in the National Museum of Ireland’s Image Library for this reference or reg number.12 The only known image is the partial one published in Frances Pritchard’s article.
Documenting attempts to determine the stitch variant used:
In 2016, Katherine Walsh, posted to the Nalbinding Facebook group asking if anyone knew which stitch was used to make this fragment.13 Her initial thought was maybe Oslo, but she wasn’t sure. At the time, I suggested Loop & Twist with a carried thread and connecting around the post instead of in between stitches as the fragment shows a very distinctly vertical wale, not the diagonal more commonly found in Loop & Twist. Not long after this, I realized that it was not Loop & Twist, but U/OO F2 instead.
Katherine provided several samples testing out the theory which she later appears to have developed into a small handout entitled “Nalbinding in Fishamble Street.”14
In April 2019, Kathrine posted in the Léine Medieval Crafters Facebook Group showing some further experimentation including the back side of her theoretical construction which clearly shows the “purl” effect of the F2B connection.15 This type of connection to the previous row is sometimes referred to as encircled.16
The Loop & Twist theory unfortunately does not seem to have quite the correct angles to match the image of the Dublin fragment.
Further experimentation led me to believe that the Dublin fragment is most likely U/OO F2. It’s the F2 connection that causes the vertical stacking on the intraconnections. If it is U/OO F2, that is actually quite interesting as it is very similar to the York17 stitch (UU/OOO F2), only off by one loop, which is, in and of itself, and as a family style of intralacing, unusual in the Scandinavian corpus.
Debbie Bradley Lauf seems to have independently come to a similar conclusion. She has noted that a scarf she finished looks similar to the structure of the Dublin fragment. I think the resemblance would be greatly enhanced by working with a two-ply yarn and working in the round instead of flat, but you can see her scarf here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/644499622267562/permalink/3444789742238522/ Sept. 1, 2020.
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.
Page 102 of Frances Pritchard’s “Aspects of the Wool Textiles from Viking Age Dublin” in Archaeological Textiles in Northern Europe Report from the 4th NESAT Symposium 1. – 5. May 1990 Copenhagen, edited by Lise Bender Jorgensen & Elisabeth Munksgaard, Tidens Tand, Nr. 5, 1992, pages 93-104. Copenhagen: Kongelige Danske Kunstakademi, 1992. ISBN 87-89730-04-6 contains the photo attributed to Jon Bailey, Historic Buildings and Monuments Commission for England. ↩︎
Pritchard “Aspects of the Wool Textiles from Viking Age Dublin” Pg. 102 ↩︎
Frances Pritchard in personal correspondence in September of 2020. ↩︎
Pritchard “Aspects of the Wool Textiles from Viking Age Dublin” Pg. 102 ↩︎
Frances Pritchard in personal correspondence in September of 2020. ↩︎
Pritchard “Aspects of the Wool Textiles from Viking Age Dublin” Pg. 102 ↩︎
Pritchard “Aspects of the Wool Textiles from Viking Age Dublin” Pg. 93 ↩︎
Frances Pritchard in personal correspondence in September of 2020. ↩︎
Pritchard “Aspects of the Wool Textiles from Viking Age Dublin” Pg. 102 ↩︎
In August of 2019, Emma Boast commented, on another Facebook post inquiring about the Dublin fragment, that she had reached out to the National Museum of Ireland and was “was told they don’t currently know where it is within the collections.” [Emma Boast writing as Bruni Bear at the time, in the comments of: https://www.facebook.com/groups/644499622267562/posts/2583805478336957/]. Confirmed with Frances Pritchard in personal correspondence in September of 2020. ↩︎
Personal correspondence with the Image Library Officer dated 18 March 2024. ↩︎
Primarily demonstrated with Cross-knit Looping, see Looping: 9. Encircled Looping on pages 17 & 18 of Seiler-Baldinger, Annemarie. Textiles A Classification of Techniques. Washington: Smithsonian Inst, 1994. ISBN 1-56098-509-7, Encircled isn’t a stitch per se, but a method of connection to the adjacent row. ↩︎
Having had an excuse to go to Norway, I had to go to Trondheim to see our next Nalbound Object of the Week. Found in a pre-1300 CE context, the Nidaros stocking is one of the earliest knee length nalbound stockings found.
The stocking is laid out horizontally with the upper portion of the foot to the left of the photograph, toe up. The leg still has folds, but likely reached the knee. A high resolution photo is available via the link in the online catalog. Photo: Ole-Aleksander Ulvik, NTNU Vitenskapsmuseet CC BY-SA 4.0
Object: Nidaros Stocking
Description: A nearly complete full stocking from toes to the knee. The sock shows heavy fulling, though if that was intentional or from wear or find circumstances is unknown. There are 4 holes that show evidence of compression near them. The areas away from the holes are a significantly darker color, have a layer of fibers obscuring the nalbinding, and are noticeably stiffer and not flexible.
Find location: Field S of the Søndre Gate 4 dig in medieval Nidaros, modernly Trondheim, Norway. More specifically it was found under the floorboards of a pre-1300 house in the wealthy blocks of the city.3
Stitch(es) used: Further examination is necessary given the condition of the textile. However, the surface texture most closely resembles the stitch known as Dalby, F1 UOU/OUOO.
Some sources in which more information can be found:
In 2020, there was a Facebook post by the Nidaros Archaeological Archive (NIDARK) project with a photograph of the stocking and some information regarding its excavation. I’d share it with you, but within this last year, that post has since disappeared along with all of the rest of the NIDARK Facebook page posts. Nonetheless, that project and its posts led me to this fabulous artifact.
Photographs:
Detail of the cuff of the Nidaros Stocking showing one of the holes. Photo: Anne Marie Decker 2024Examination day is always so exciting! Photo: Anne Marie Decker 2024The Nidaros Stocking was found in excavations under this street. Photo: Anne Marie Decker 2024
Acknowledgements: My sincerest thanks to the NTNU Vitenskapsmuseet and especially to Torkel Johansen, Curator, and Frances Lucas Lukezic, Conservator for their assistance during my study visit.
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.
Per discussions with Torkel Johansen, curator at the Institutt for arkeologi og kulturhistorie, NTNU Vitenskapsmuseet during my study visit on 16 April 2024. ↩︎
Per discussions with Torkel Johansen, curator at the Institutt for arkeologi og kulturhistorie, NTNU Vitenskapsmuseet during my study visit on 16 April 2024. ↩︎
Last week I had the distinct pleasure to go visit a well known mitten that rather recently has been placed on display again in the NOREGR – Medieval Stories exhibition at the Historical Museum in Oslo. And thus, the Oslo mitten joins the Nalbound Object of the Week series.
Anne Marie Decker pointing to the Oslo mitten on display in the Historical Museum in Oslo. Photo Anne Marie Decker 18 April 2024
Object: Oslo Mitten
Description: An adult sized mitten made of wool with damage at the base of the thumb and palm areas.
Dated to: 11th century,1 medieval. Ca. 1025-1125 CE2
The exhibition label for the Oslo mitten in the NOREGR – Medieval Stories exhibition at the Historical Museum in Oslo. Photo: Anne Marie Decker 18 April 2024.
Find location: The mitten was found during the 1926 excavation of the old town of Oslo on a layer of wood chips under the wooden flooring of a narrow passage between houses. This part of town was built in the 11th century.3
Stitch(es) used: Nordland published the stitch used as 412 in his classification system5 which most likely translates to the stitch commonly known as Oslo and classified in Hansen’s notation as UO/UOO F1. However, further examination is warranted as the surface texture does not match. The surface texture more closely resembles the Mammen stitch, F2 UOO/UUOO.
Some sources in which more information can be found:
Claßen-Büttner, Ulrike. Nadelbinden – Was ist denn das? Geschichte und Technik einer fast vergessenen Handarbeit. Norderstedt: Books on Demand GmbH, 2012. ISBN 978-3-8482-0124-2.
Claßen-Büttner, Ulrike. Nalbinding – What in the World Is That? History and Technique of an Almost Forgotten Handicraft. Norderstedt: Books on Demand, 2015. ISBN 978-3-7347-7905-3.
Nordland, Odd. Primitive Scandinavian Textiles in Knotless Netting. Studia Norvegica no. 10. Oslo: Oslo University Press, 1961. No ISBN listed in Book.
Photographs:
The museum catalog has 3 very nice zoomable photos. The two color photos are of one side and the black and white of the other.
Oslo Mitten. Photo: Anne Marie Decker 18 April 2024Detail of the thumb of the Oslo Mitten. Photo: Anne Marie Decker 18 April 2024The display case in which the Oslo mitten is currently located in the NOREGR – Medieval Stories exhibition. Photo: Anne Marie Decker 18 April 2024Detail of the cuff of the Oslo Mitten. Photo: Anne Marie Decker 18 April 2024
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 famous sock from Uppsala is not the only nalbinding found in Uppsala. This week’s Nalbound Object of the Week are the fragments of what is believed to be another sock. This one found in the Kransen quarter of Uppsala. I was graciously allowed access to examine these fragments at the Statens Historiska Museet in May of 2023. Some of what you see in the box is moss.
Image of the fragments of 34821, cropped to remove excess background. Upphov: Rosengren, Helena, Historiska museet/SHM (CC BY 4.0)
Object: Kransen sock fragments
Description: Nine fragments of what is believed to be a sock.1
Some sources in which more information can be found:
Gustafsson, Jan Helmer, and Ola Ehn. Kransen: ett medeltida kvarter i Uppsala. Uppsala: Upplands fornminnesfören, 1984. ISBN 91-85618-21-7.
Photographs (if permissions allow):
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.
Gustafsson, Jan Helmer, and Ola Ehn. Kransen: ett medeltida kvarter i Uppsala. Uppsala: Upplands fornminnesfören, 1984. Pg. 76. ISBN 91-85618-21-7. ↩︎
Gustafsson, Jan Helmer, and Ola Ehn. Kransen: ett medeltida kvarter i Uppsala. Uppsala: Upplands fornminnesfören, 1984. Pg. 8. ISBN 91-85618-21-7. ↩︎
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. ↩︎
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
This week’s Nalbound Object of the Week is the Vasa Mitten on display in the Vasa Museum in Stockholm, Sweden. The wool mitten was found in a barrel with a pair of leather outer mittens in the remains of the ship Vasa which sank in 1628 CE.1 It is not the only mitten found on shipwrecks around this timeframe, nor is it the only nalbinding that was found on the Vasa. Simply the nalbound item on display; the rest are kept in the museum inventory.2
Anne Marie Decker as she finds the Vasa mitten and its outer casing on display in the Vasa Museum.
Object: Vasa Mitten
Description: A left mitten liner made of grey wool; loosely spun.3 The thumb is no longer attached to the mitten though it is placed in position for display. The fabric shows heavy fulling, although it is unknown if that was original or simply developed from wear and/or find circumstances.
Dated to: 10 August 1628 CE4 (no more recent than)
Find location: Vasa shipwreck, starboard side of the lower battery deck between beams 2 and 3 about 5.3 to 6.77 meters from the bow,5 Stockholm archipelago, Sweden
Only one of several beautiful and detailed photographs available on the digitaltmuseum.se link. Scroll past the photos of the leather mittens to find them. Photo: Vasa Museum CC BY 4.0
The 1983 edition of Berit Westman’s Nålbindning: 12 varianter contained the first image of the Vasa mitten that I had seen. It was lovely to see it in person again in May of 2023; when I also got the chance to examine the other nalbinding found on the ship.
Some sources in which more information can be found:
Looström, Anne and Birgitta Stapf. “Tre Tusen Textilfragment : Från Wasan Söndagen Den 10 Augusti 1628.” Dissertation. 1983. [Note: I have not read this yet. It was recommended.]
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.
I contributed Case study 8, and a bit for the catalog, on the fringed nalbound sock in their collection. The sock is one of 112 textile fragments from Roman, Byzantine, and Early Medieval Arab Egypt currently in the National Museum of Denmark. The case study includes some beautiful professional photographs of the sock!
This is the same sock I was honored to examine in 2019. Initial results of that examination were included in“Fringed and patterned: decorative elements in Romano-Coptic nalbound socks” presented at the Textiles from the Nile Valley study group conference on the 27th of October 2019. More in depth information and the current status of my research on this sock was presented in “A fringe study in footwear: lessons learned from a sock in a box” at the Reconstructing Textiles and Their History: Egyptian Fabrics from the 1st Millennium AD online workshop that occurred on March 26th, 2022.
The exhibition has twelve downloadable PDFs that include the Introduction, a Catalog of 30 fabrics from the collection, and eight Case Studies that go deeper into a variety of topics.
The online exhibition is the result of the RECONTEXT research project entitled “Reconstructing the history of Egyptian textiles from the 1st Millennium AD at the National Museum of Denmark” which involved research carried out by historians, art historians, archaeologists and ancient fabric conservators. The project included analyses of textile fibers, weaving and looping techniques, as well as complete photography of the entire collection. Fingers crossed that we will be able to continue research on this collection.
