Siksälä Shawl- 13th-14th century Estonia

Update: I had the shawl incorrectly dated to the 11th century-it's a bit later than that!

Maikki Karisto and the Tallinn University Institute of History have given me permission to share some photos she took last year of a shawl from Siksälä and specifically its tablet woven border.

This shawl can be found in the Tallinn University Institute of History archaeological collection under the major number AI 5100.  It dates to around the 13th-14th century. The tablet weaving is about 1cm in width.  It is in Baltic two-hole technique, or Hochdorf technique, depending on how you look at it.

More information on the finds from Siksälä can be found in the book Siksälä, a community at the frontiers, Iron Age and Medieval by Silvia Laul & Heiki Valk.







Comments

  1. Cathy RaymondFebruary 28, 2012 at 1:04 PM

    Marvelous photos! Thank you for sharing them.

    It is also very interesting that the tablet-woven border uses the same technique as the Hochdorf piece.

    ReplyDelete
  2. amalieFebruary 28, 2012 at 1:10 PM

    Yes, these bands have the same structure as Hochdorf technique although when it was first described to me on SCA-Card-Weaving it was conceptualised differently (half turns and idling as opposed to quarter turns). Here's a recent blog post by Sahra on bands of this type:

    http://hibernaatio.blogspot.co.nz/2012/01/lautanauhaa-virosta-tablet-weaving-from.html

    ReplyDelete
  3. MerviFebruary 29, 2012 at 2:58 AM

    Isn´t this brilliant thing! The shawl is so well preserved and the braids can be seen so well ... We shall continue weaving those in two weeks with Maikki :)

    ReplyDelete
  4. CynthiaMarch 10, 2012 at 2:13 PM

    Are those metal rings woven into the body of the piece? And is that why the border is preserved, but not the center of the shawl? Very interesting.

    ReplyDelete
  5. AnonymousOctober 19, 2013 at 2:26 AM

    Thre is a replica made in Estonia of this shawl. I have held it in my hands and oh boy its heavy!
    The replica was made as part of one graduation paper.
    -Monika

    ReplyDelete

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