There are tunics and there are tunics. Some tunic remains from the Swedish trading metropolis of Birka show a certain, characteristic kind of decoration which might reflect its influences from foreign countries. In this article, some archaeological evidence from the "Birka tunics" has been collected. The content has been structured according to the questions: What kind of fabrics do we have? What kind of decoration has been used on the tunics? Where on the body where the decorations located?

A fleece might be washed, but it is not entirely free of straw and other tiny sorts of dirt. Also, the fibers are all entangled and knotty, which makes it impossible to spin a fine and even thread. In order to get rid of these hindrances, the wool has to be combed. Most of the dirt drops out, knots are being removed and the fibers lie parallel to each other.

If you acquired a pair of Víl's wool combs, you might be interested in some tips and tricks regarding their proper handling in order for them to enjoy a long working life.

The spring market during Easter in Hedeby was our first market in 2019. 2017 rain and mud, 2018 icy wind and snow - 2019 warm temperatures and sunshine. The visitors were large in number, their motivation to buy stuff so great that no merchant had any reason to complain. The entire atmosphere was just fantastic. We could not have wished for a better start of our Viking market season. Now we're looking forward to our great summer tour even more - with less products than be had before. Vil puts every free moment into making more wool combs while Ása is busy making yarns and digging into research.

We write a lot about wool combs and at the markets, we explain and demonstrate how they were used. But what is the actual evidence for those tools?

When visiting Copenhagen at the end of 2018, we took the opportunity and went to the National Museum. We would like to share some impressions from that visit with you; but careful! The pictures show artifacts from Denmark's Bronze Age up the the Middle Ages, so the Viking stuff is somewhere in between.

No info about Asa yet-For Ása (almost) everything revolves around textiles, starting with the sheep and the different qualities of the fleece up to the finished piece. Depending on her status and place in the social hierarchy, different aspects of textile handicraft would have been in the focus of her own work.