Textiles and clothing traditions in early Iron Age Denmark

Published in Origini n. XL/2017. Rivista annuale del Dipartimento di Scienze dell’Antichità – “Sapienza” Università di Roma | Preistoria e protostoria delle civiltà antiche – Prehistory and protohistory of ancient civilizations | Denmark possesses a unique collection of complete clothing items in textile and skin recovered from the Danish peat bogs dated to the Scandinavian Early Iron Age (500 BC-AD 375). Already in this period a well-developed and advanced tradition for making clothing in textile and skin existed, based on the earlier Scandinavian Bronze Age clothing tradition. A common characteristic of the textiles from the Pre-Roman Iron Age is that they are almost all finished on the loom: a feature comparable to Roman clothing. On the other hand, most of the recorded clothing items were worn by both men and women which is in contrast to Roman clothing. The presented information about the Scandinavian clothing tradition and their production leads to a more detailed understanding of life and technology in the Scandinavian Early Iron Age.