Árbók Hins íslenzka fornleifafélags - 01.01.1962, Page 60

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ARBÖK FORNLEIFAFÉLAGSINS
An Icelandic mediaeval pile woven fabric.
[Obs. The description of the Heynes fragments is unabridged from the
Icelandic text].
In August 1959 a piece of woollen pile woven fabric was found at a
depth of about 2 m at the site of the farmhouse at Heynes near Akranes
in south western Iceland. According to an estimation by Kristján Eld-
járn, the find in all probability dates from about 900 to 1100. The piece con-
sisted in fact of two pieces joined together by a coarse, uneven seam
worked in irregular overhand stitches with a two-ply z-spun, s-twisted
woollen thread (Figs. 1, 2). Both piec.es were of dark brown natural colored
wool; the warp of the small piece being somewhat darker, almost blackish
brown.
The strands producing the pile proved to be of special interest. The
likeness of the surface of the pieces to an Icelandic sheepskin was obvious.
The pile which apparently had covered the surface completely was better
conserved on the large piece, the pile on the small piece being matted
and worn off in many places. The pile tufts were wavy and rather lustrous.
Close examination showed that the yarn in the pile was completely un-
twisted (Fig. 3), and when the pile tufts were compared with locks of
tog (the outer hair of the fleece of the Icelandic sheep) in present day
hand washed Icelandic, wool there could be no doubt that the pile was
indeed made of locks of this kind cut off a fleece. The outward appearance
was similar: the luster, the waviness and the thickness, and the length
of the locks also compared favorably with that of the strands of pile.
Locks of tog from several fleeces measured were from 16 to 28 cm.
The length of the pile on the large piece varied — some ends were
worn or broken — but others which appeared undamaged measured
from 6 to 9 cm. By measuring in several place* the two ends from the
same knot and the length that went into the knot it was found that the
strands used for the pile were from 15 to 19 cm in length. Even allowing
for some wear, fleece locks would evidently have been of sufficient length
for producing the pile.
Description of the large piece. The size of the large piece was 35X17 cm.
There was a 24 cm long selvage on the side opposite the seam. Both warp
and weft were of single yarns. The warp consisted of tightly z-spun com-
paratively fine but uneven yarn. The weft was slightly s-spun coarse but
rather uneven yarn. The weave was a 2X2 twill with a thread count of
about 9X4 per cm. For every four rows of weft there was one row of
pile knots which were inserted at an interval of about twenty threads.
The knots were not placed in a regular pattern from one row to the next,
although in a few places three or four knots would be so inserted as to
form a straight row along the warp.
The method of inserting the pile — different from any other pile knots
to which reference was found — appeared to be as follows (Fig. 5): The
lock or strand was placed in the shed, probably from tlie right side,
usually under six threads (sometimes under four or eight); the left end