Archaeologists Uncover Huge Viking Textile Production Site In Denmark At Søften

Viking textiles in Denmark

Archaeologists have discovered a huge Viking Age textile production site in Denmark at Søften, dating back more than 1,000 years and described by experts from the Moesgaard Museum as evidence of the sophistication of Viking society. The sprawling 100,000-square-meter (more than 1 million-square-foot) site includes an area for processing flax and more than 80 pit houses—semi-buried huts used as workshops and dwellings in Viking times. Archaeologist Liv Stidsing Reher-Langberg, who led the 10-month dig, said, “we have a clear focus on textile production, which makes this settlement different from other kinds of settlements of this period.”

Reher-Langberg added that archaeologists found “We have spindle whorls, we have weight looms; that tells us about what has been going on in the pit houses,” and also discovered silver coins, glass beads and pottery. The site is located in Søften, 10km north of Denmark’s second-largest city, Aarhus, on the Jutland Peninsula, and dates to the late Iron Age and early Viking Age, sometime between 600 and 950.

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Trade networks and organization

Moesgaard Museum historian Kasper Andersen said the Søften discovery is “another piece in the puzzle” for understanding the local economic, cultural and political structure during the Viking era.

Andersen said that during the Viking era, Aarhus—then known as Aros—functioned as a center for royalty and international trade, and that goods and resources were likely brought from the countryside and settlements like Soften before entering an extensive international trade network.

The AP report says experts found separate areas for production and crafts, plus a single residential home, which suggests work was overseen by a powerful individual with control over resources and production.

Andersen told AP that “When you have a production site of this scale, it cannot be only because of the local area. It needs to be understood as part of a greater network, a much bigger international perspective,” linking the site to markets beyond the immediate region.

Archaeologists also said a trial excavation 1½ years ago, before construction work on a new road and industrial area, piqued interest because “We could see in the trenches that it just keeps on going, with these houses and pit houses and textile production features.”

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Dating, evidence, and context

The AP report says Reher-Langberg hopes future carbon dating and pollen analysis might answer lingering questions, for instance about what kind of textile production went on at the site.

The Associated Press also places the Viking Age as running from A.D. 793 to 1066, describing Norsemen known as Vikings undertaking large-scale raids, colonization, conquest and trade throughout Europe, even reaching North America.

Andersen said the Søften discovery shows that Vikings were “not just simple, uncivilized, barbaric hordes, rambling about Europe,” and he tied the evidence to the presence of a production line and a market.

The Times of India similarly quotes Reher-Langberg saying, “We have a clear focus on textile production, which makes this settlement different from other kinds of settlements of this period,” and notes spindle whorls and loom weights among the remains.

The Times of India adds that the scale of the settlement suggests textile-making was not a small household activity but a specialised form of production carried out across a dedicated area, with the discovery coming after years of interest in the region.

Reporting for this sectionAssociated Press