Iron Age

Iron Age

“Pictures drew on the wood” for a book “People of Finland at the time of paganism”.
1884. J. R. Aspelin. A 72, NBA.

Study of Ancient Costumes
Pirkko-Liisa Lehtosalo-Hilander

The so-called “ancient Finnish costumes” are reconstructions of the dresses found in the graves of the 11th, 12th and 13th centuries. In those days the Finns were still heathens and used cremation, but they had begun to bury their dead in an attempt of “inhumation”. Because the richest members of the society were buried in their festal garments with many metal ornaments, mostly of bronze but also of iron and silver, those inhumation graves have also conserved organic substances.

Especially small bronze spiral tubes sewn on to the fabrics or along the garment edges have preserved the textiles. From some cemeteries in Satakunta, in which the inhumation began as early as in the late 6th century, we know that this manner of ornamentation was used from the beginning of the Viking Age (about 800 AD). In the male costume, this spiral ornamentation was most abundant during the first half of the 10th century, but in the women’s garments it was richest in the 12th and 13th centuries. Accordingly, all costumes reconstructed so far are women’s dresses.

In studying ancient costumes, the archaeological observations have been the most important, but almost every reconstruction has been made by linking together facts from excavations, technical and chemical analyses and knowledge of history of fashions. The role played by each of these has been dependent on the individual scientists and on the object of the reconstruction work. We must remember that new finds can give new materials and new studies can alter the picture. Especially the study of dyes used in the fabrics can give us plenty of new information.

Although all details have not been preserved in graves and all matters have not been studied, some features seem to be likely: the female dress in late Iron Age Finland consisted of a shift or an inner-dress, an outer-dress and an apron; a mantle, a headdress and sewn mittens were sometimes added. The legs were wrapped in long bands and the footwear was of soft leather. Most of the garments were made of wool, although also remains of linen, hemp, nettle and silk have been found. Especially apron, mantle and headdress were decorated with spiral ornaments, and usually the garment edges were bordered with tablet-woven bands.

The inner-dress was long-sleeved and probably extending to the ground as both the Byzantine and Western European dress in the Romanesque Period. The upper-dress was made of a rectangular piece of cloth, folded double at its upper edge and held in place with a brooch on each of the shoulders. It could be opened or closed with a seam on the side. And it was tied at the waist with the apron band. In this garment fastened at the shoulders, the shape of the Ancient Creek peoples was still living.

The shoulder grouches of this old-fashioned mantle-dress, which could be traced back to the late 6th century in Finland, were at first rather insignificant. At the beginning of the Viking Age, however, the large round bronze brooches came into fashion and at the end of the same period the jewelry of Luistari grave 56. The bead band with Arabian silver coins and the combination of three brooches and chains reflect Scandinavian fashions. Bracelets and finger-rings on the other hand were popular in the Baltic areas, and the spiral ornamentation, which is unknown in Scandinavia, is common to Baltic and Finno-Ugrian tribes.

To combine features from the east, south and west was typical in Finland in those days and it is clearly reflected in the female dress. The round shoulder brooches were however only used in the Finnish mainland, and so they give the dress of the Viking Age its really national feature. When fashions in weaponry and male dress were almost the same in Finland and in Scandinavia during the Viking Age, the West Finnish women held their own. They neither adopted the Scandinavian oval brooches, nor the ornamental pins common in the Baltic area.

During the early Viking Age only aprons were decorated with spirals, but in the 11th century small spiral ornaments appeared on the mantle corners and the so-called western Finnish veil was bordered with long rows of bronze rings. During the following century all sides of the rectangular mantle could be ornamented with spirals and so its size, about 150x90 cm, is accurately known. These mantles were richly ornamented and they certainly were the most splendid garments of the women of the 12th century.

When this mantle with rich spiral decoration came into fashion, the role of shoulder brooches as an ornament disappeared in western Finland. Small horseshoe-formed brooches took the place of the opulent ornaments of the Viking Age. In eastern Finland, however, the female Viking Age fashion with amply ornamented apron and gorgeous chain arrangements developed further. And first then, in Häme, Savo and Karelia, the oval brooches reminding Scandinavian forms were adopted. Perhaps this fashion made a detour through Scandinavian colonies on the south-eastern coast of Lake Ladoga and appeared in eastern Finland, when it no more was current in Scandinavia. This eastern Finnish fashion of the 13th century could best be studied in the new reconstruction based on the finds from Tuukkala in Mikkeli.

One of the most curious expressions of the Finnish national spirit is the fact that some Finnish women have adopted the copies of these grave-found dresses as their festal garb. So the ancient Finnish dresses are not only reconstructions made to enliven museum exhibitions, but also costumes made for use. The first of them was made at the end of the 19th century, the last a hundred years later, and only the three or four latest of them have been scientifically argumented. However, taken as a whole, they form an interesting part of archeological research history and the history of female dress in Finland, both ancient and modern.

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