Fróðskaparrit - 01.01.2004, Page 194

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NALBINDING 1N THE FAROEISLANDS?
handles was probably used as shuttle for
weaving in warp-weighted looms. Needles
lesser in the size - around 10 centimetres -
might have been used for making a pattern
in the texture. A third way of using the need-
les has been to make textiles in a special
technique known as nalbinding (Blomqvist
and Mártensson, 1963: 176). Commenting
on needles in archaeological context, a tex-
tile historian suggests a fourth use for nee-
dles with a sharp point and a round cross
section; until recently Shetland fishermen
used such needles to repair their woollen
sails (Andersson, 1996: 17). As Andersson
(2003: 87) in a recent study points out, a
needle with an eye need not to have been
used as a textile tool at all. They could, for
instance, have been used as stylus.
Nalbinding needles seem to be prevalent
at Nordic excavations. Lindstrom (1976)
describes 44 needles with eyes, found at
another excavation in Lund. These needles
were made of bone and antler. The author
states, despite the fact they vary in shape
and design, that most of them are prob-
ably used for nalbinding. Some of them
were made of fibula from swine, which
is a material used until recently for such
needles in both Sweden and Norway. The
bone needles are polished slightly and have
a flat and in some cases round cross-sec-
tion: some of them have decorations. Need-
les have also been found in early medieval
sites in Uppsala, Sweden. Franzen (1963:
40) describes two such needles, one of bone
and the other of wood. These needles are 8
to 10 centimetres in length. A pointed stick
with a hole in the end from the Viking set-
tlement of Elisenhof (southern Jylland) in
Fig. 1. Needlesfrom Tjørnuvík discovered in July 1966
(Fmnr 4601). Tlie needtes are oftwo dijferent kinds.
Seven of them are thin, flat and has a semicircular or
a circular hole in one end. Three of the needles are
thinner and evenly cut at tlre upper end with a small
circular hole. (Courtesy: Føroya Fornminnissavn).
contemporary Germany is construed to be
a wooden needle for nalbinding (Grenander
Nyberg, 1989: 90). One similar needle in
wood was also found during excavations at
the Norse settlement of Sandnes in Green-
land (Roussell, 1936: 135, 189).
Hald (1950: 283) describes and illus-