Viking Hats - Metal decorations on Birka grave finds
Posted: Mon Dec 06, 2010 7:22 pm
I know ten of the Birka graves including 798, 581, 944, and 644 have silver or gold wire braid or decoration attached to the hats.
What I want to know is are there any images or drawings of what the decorations looked like and where they were on the head. I am looking to make more exact replicas.
At Birka three classes of headwear have been identified. At least two types definitely correlate to a specific other garment: the Types A and B hats are found in graves where the coat, whether with or without metal buttons, is also found. Type A, found in both ninth and tenth centuries, is a peaked hat, at least partly made of silk, with either metal knotwork running up the center front of the peak or a silver, funnel-shaped ornament at the top of the peak and silver mesh balls dangling from the pointed end. Type B Birka is a more sedate tenth-century innovation also worn with the coat; it seems to be a closer-fitting, round low wool cap decorated around the circumference of the head with one or more strips of metal knotwork or braided spiral wire. A relationship between the hat and coat is frequently emphasized by the use of similar knotted trim to decorate both the hat and the coat. Type C headwear at Birka consists of a metal-brocaded, tablet-woven fillet or headband--perhaps the hlað mentioned in the sagas (Hägg 1986, 70). Of all three styles, Type C is the only one that appears in graves without the coat layer.
What I want to know is are there any images or drawings of what the decorations looked like and where they were on the head. I am looking to make more exact replicas.
