Retting pits for textile fibre plants at Danish prehistoric sites dated between 800 BC – 1050 AD.

TY - JOUR

T1 - Retting pits for textile fibre plants at Danish prehistoric sites dated between 800 BC – 1050 AD.

AU - Karg, Sabine

AU - Andresen Troldtoft , Stine

PY - 2011/11

Y1 - 2011/11

N2 - During the last decade, a new type of structure has been found at several archaeological sites in Denmark. These structures can be interpreted as having been used for retting the stems of textile plants such as Linum usitatissimum L. (flax), Cannabis sativa L. (hemp) and Urticadioica L. (nettle). In order to obtain fine threads for textile production, these plants need to pass through several biological and technical processes. The first process is the retting of the plant stems to dissolve the pectin which fixes the fibres to the stalk. This can either be done by water retting, where the plant stems are soaked in lakes, rivers or waterlogged pits, or by field retting, where the stems are laid out in a field in order to absorb dew. The first method is shorter in time and the process is easier to control. In this article, details of archaeological structures are presented from eight sites in southern Scandinavia that can be interpreted as textile plant retting pits. The constructions of the pits are described, as well as the archaeological contexts and the relevant associated archaeobotanical records. Some of the presented sites, of which the oldest are dated to the late Bronze Age and early pre-Roman Iron Age (800-250 b. c.) and the youngest to the Viking Age (a. d. 750-1050), indicate a large-scale production of flax that had been underestimated up to now.

AB - During the last decade, a new type of structure has been found at several archaeological sites in Denmark. These structures can be interpreted as having been used for retting the stems of textile plants such as Linum usitatissimum L. (flax), Cannabis sativa L. (hemp) and Urticadioica L. (nettle). In order to obtain fine threads for textile production, these plants need to pass through several biological and technical processes. The first process is the retting of the plant stems to dissolve the pectin which fixes the fibres to the stalk. This can either be done by water retting, where the plant stems are soaked in lakes, rivers or waterlogged pits, or by field retting, where the stems are laid out in a field in order to absorb dew. The first method is shorter in time and the process is easier to control. In this article, details of archaeological structures are presented from eight sites in southern Scandinavia that can be interpreted as textile plant retting pits. The constructions of the pits are described, as well as the archaeological contexts and the relevant associated archaeobotanical records. Some of the presented sites, of which the oldest are dated to the late Bronze Age and early pre-Roman Iron Age (800-250 b. c.) and the youngest to the Viking Age (a. d. 750-1050), indicate a large-scale production of flax that had been underestimated up to now.

KW - Faculty of Humanities

KW - Scandinavia

KW - Economic Archaeology

KW - Textile fibre production

KW - archaeobotany

KW - Iron Age

KW - Viking Age

M3 - Journal article

SN - 0939-6314

VL - 20

SP - 517

EP - 526

JO - Vegetation History and Archaeobotany

JF - Vegetation History and Archaeobotany

ER -