Archaeologists found a young Viking woman’s 1,300-year-old dress remarkably well preserved, thanks to the salty runoff from a metal ornament the woman was buried with.
As reported by Arkæologi Vestjylland via a Facebook post, detailed by Nautil.us, the find was made at Skonager in western Jutland, Denmark, where the acidic soil usually chews through ancient fabric long before researchers ever lay eyes on it.
The woman was buried with two bronze or silver “scoop brooches,” ornaments used to hold an overdress or scarf in place. If you’ve paid any attention to any of the Avengers: Doomsday hype, you probably noticed Doctor Doom sporting some similar brooches just above the armpit to pin his cloak in place.
This 1,300-Year-Old Viking Dress Survived Because of a Strange Chemical Accident
On the woman, the salts the brooches released into the surrounding soil altered the immediate environment just enough to discourage microbes from proliferating and slowed the decomposition of the dress fabric, thus preserving pieces of the dress on either side of the brooches, giving researchers some clues about the various layers of clothing the woman was buried with.
They can even tell that one of the brooches had been repaired, suggesting to the researchers that it might have been a passed-down family heirloom buried with her.
The researchers plan to date the textiles and metal and study how the fibers were spun and woven together, along with analyzing the coloring to figure out what the dyes were made of, all in an effort to help figure out this particular woman’s social status, as things like clothing colors were indicative of one’s station in life during the age of Vikings.
Researchers from the University of Southern Denmark will also examine her teeth to determine her diet and overall health.
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