Grand Designs, Viking edition. A new report recreates some of the colours used by Vikings to decorate their houses, including ochre and charcoal pigments. (Photo: Sagnlandet Lejre)
Posted on 06/20/2018 11:02:24 AM PDT by SunkenCiv
The Viking Age was probably far more colourful than you might think, says conservator Line Bregnhøi from the National Museum of Denmark, and co-author on the new report... Bregnhøi and her colleague Lars Holten have used the advanced techniques now available to create the colour palette used in the reconstruction of the largest Viking building discovered in Denmark. The Royal Hall, as the building is called, was reconstructed at the Centre for Historical-Archaeological Research and Communication in Denmark (as also known as Sagnlandet Lejre). It uses the same type of paint used by upper class Vikings.
However, the archaeologists behind the report warn of some caveats: There are still few finds from the Viking Age, and there remains little to no pigment on those that do exist. Pigments could have been removed during excavations or by decay after hundreds of years of burial... “On the rare occasion that we excavate a piece of painted wood, the colour looks nothing like the original. Here, chemists and conservators analyse the pigments and help us to further our interpretations,” says Lyngstrøm... The Royal Hall at Sagnlandet Lejre in Denmark was painted with linseed oil paint, since it is the most durable binding agent used by the Vikings. Moreover, the hall was not entirely covered in paint, as the Vikings are unlikely to have used expensive paint over the entire building.
(Excerpt) Read more at sciencenordic.com ...
Grand Designs, Viking edition. A new report recreates some of the colours used by Vikings to decorate their houses, including ochre and charcoal pigments. (Photo: Sagnlandet Lejre)
Wash your tables with the tears of your enemies.
Yeah but there is art from the period and it shows people in rich greens, blues, reds. Not the ubiquitous shades of brown you see in movies of periods from the dark ages up to the renaissance.
Every culture admires such rich hues.
Note to Self: Build a Mead Hall in the back yard.
Hahahahahhaa
It is generally known that even in the dark ages - i.e. the viking period - the merchant class and the nobility had access to dyed clothing and wore them routinely. Heck, if you were wealthy enough you could even get silk but that was truly special. Some dyes were cheap, others expensive. The expensive stuff was used on their finest gear. the cheap stuff was for everyday. The poor, well, there were sumptuary laws that said they weren’t allowed to wear fancy clothes (because ... poor) but those were hardly ever enforced. But we’re talking about the poor so yeah, dyes might have been an issue. But that doesn’t mean they never used them and lived in a pallet of brown and off-white.
But they would have used them sparingly because they were expensive and they were not color fast. With the exception of some very expensive dyes they would begin fading almost immediately. Washing, sunlight even rain would fade the colors so you wore them for special occasions. Or your pretty blue tunic would be gray in no time.
Don't skimp on the blood bowls.
Who is that if you don’t mind me asking. Definitely built to bear.
I have clear DNA evidence on both sides, to Nordic Haplogroups.
The DNA doe not yet, indicate clothing dye preferences.
Lots of “ssons,” but nary any “ssens.”
And that increases the chance, of dyes from Kievan Rus and Byzantine sources.
Katheryn Winnick, plays Lagertha on the History Channel show the Vikings. She’s one serious badass.
Dang....
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