Mammen Silk

“In 1868 a farmer began to dig into the mound Bjerringhøj at Mammen near Viborg. During this work he chanced upon an unusually richly-furnished grave, which has become known as the grave from Mammen. A magnate was buried in the grave during the winter of 970-71 AD. He was given an expensive costume, a ceremonial axe with inlaid silver decoration and a large wax candle.” – we can read on the Mammen grave’s page on the website of the National Museum of Denmark.

Viking axe from Mammen – Danish National Museum

One of the most iconic burial of the Viking Age Scandinavia is indeed the Mammen grave. Hovever there are several burial grounds where archeologist found silk fragments, we only have a few of them where the preservation was so good that we are able to attempt to reconstruct the original silk pattern. After a couple of exceptional fragments from Oseberg, Kazar Bazar have the honorable opportunity to revitalize another silk pattern what was used by Vikings of Scandinavia.

We greatly appreciate the support from the Danish National Museum and Centre for Textile Research for this project. Thanks to their ongoing research, we were able to use more punctual data and materials for recreating the pattern. Details of this project will be published in the near future by them. Special thanks to Dr. Jens Nieling who entrusted Kazar Bazar with the implementation works.

Literature: Else Østergård, Tekstilfragmenterne fra Mammengraven. in: Mammen. Grav, kunst og samfund i vikingetid. 1991, 135.