Hostname: page-component-76fb5796d-wq484 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-25T20:51:35.768Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Leather Shoes in Early Danish Cities: Choices of Animal Resources and Specialization of Crafts in Viking and Medieval Denmark

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 March 2020

Luise Ørsted Brandt Open the ORCID record for Luise Ørsted Brandt [Opens in a new window] ,
Jannie Amsgaard Ebsen Open the ORCID record for Jannie Amsgaard Ebsen [Opens in a new window]  and
Kirstine Haase Open the ORCID record for Kirstine Haase [Opens in a new window]
Luise Ørsted Brandt
Affiliation:
Centre for Urban Network Evolutions, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark
Jannie Amsgaard Ebsen
Affiliation:
Odense City Museums, Department of Cultural Heritage, Odense, Denmark
Kirstine Haase
Affiliation:
Centre for Urban Network Evolutions, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark Odense City Museums, Department of Cultural Heritage, Odense, Denmark
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This article presents the findings of the minimally destructive biomolecular species identification method known as ZooMS (zooarchaeology by mass spectrometry) to identify the use and choices of resources for manufacturing leather shoes in urban contexts in Viking and medieval Denmark. Whereas parchment and historical skin samples have been previously analysed by ZooMS, the potential of the method is demonstrated here for archaeological, vegetable-tanned, and waterlogged leather from the eleventh to thirteenth-century Danish cities of Ribe, Odense, and Viborg. Sheep, goat, and cattle were used to produce shoes, with explicit choices of species for specific purposes. The selection seems to be largely based on the skins’ material properties, suggesting that functionality was more important than signalling. The urban environment is seen as promoting synergy among providers of resources, crafts, and customers.

Cet article présente les résultats d'une méthode d'analyse biomoléculaire évitant d'endommager un objet et permettant d'identifier les espèces animales (ZooMS, zooarchéologie par spectrométrie de masse). Ici, le but était de déterminer l'usage et le choix de matières premières dans la production de chaussures en cuir provenant de contextes urbains des époques viking et médiévales au Danemark. Bien que des échantillons de parchemin et de peaux d’époques historiques aient déjà fait l'objet d'analyses ZooMS, les auteurs démontrent ici le potentiel de cette méthode pour identifier des fragments de cuir tanné par des matières végétales découverts dans des contextes archéologiques saturés d'eau des XIe au XIIIe siècles dans les villes de Ribe, Odense et Viborg. Des peaux de mouton, de chèvre et de vache furent utilisées dans la production des chaussures, la sélection des espèces répondant à des besoins spécifiques. Ces choix se basent largement sur les caractéristiques matérielles des peaux, ce qui laisse entendre qu'ils étaient dictés plus par des raisons pratiques qu'ostentatoires. Le milieu urbain est interprété comme offrant des possibilités de synergie entre les fournisseurs, les artisans et les clients. Translation by Madeleine Hummler

Dieser Artikel betrifft die Ergebnisse einer minimalinvasiven biomolekularen Methode zur Bestimmung von Tierarten, die sogenannte ZooMS Methode (zooarchäologische Massenspektrometrie), welche die Nutzung und Auswahl von Materialien für die Herstellung von Lederschuhen in wikingerzeitlichen und mittelalterlichen städtischen Bereichen in Dänemark erkennen lässt. Obschon Proben von Pergament und historischen Tierhäuten mit ZooMS bereits untersucht worden sind, weisen die Autoren hier auf das Potenzial der Methode, um pflanzlich gegerbte Lederproben aus wassergesättigten archäologischen Schichten des 11. bis 13. Jahrhunderts in den dänischen Städten von Ribe, Odense und Viborg zu bestimmen. Die Häute von Ziegen, Schafe und Rinder wurden bei der Herstellung von Schuhen verwendet, und dabei wurden verschiedene Tierarten für spezifische Zwecke gewählt. Die Wahl wurde scheinbar vor allem auf der Basis der materiellen Eigenschaften des Leders gemacht, was eher auf zweckmäßigen als auf demonstrativen Gründen deutet. Nach Ansicht der Autoren förderte das städtische Milieu Synergien zwischen den Anbietern der Rohstoffe, Handwerkern und Kunden. Translation by Madeleine Hummler

Keywords

medievalZooMSleather shoesurbanizationanimal resourcescraftsmoyen âgeZooMSchaussures en cuirurbanisationressources animalesartisanatMittelalterLederschuheUrbanisierungtierliche RohstoffeHandwerk
Type
Article
Information
European Journal of Archaeology , Volume 23 , Issue 3 , August 2020 , pp. 428 - 450
Copyright
Copyright © European Association of Archaeologists 2020

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Andersen, V.L. 2016a. Mellem brosten, knyst, skolæst og mode: sko fra 1300–1800 fra arkæologiske udgravninger i københavn. PhD dissertation, Faculty of Humanities, University of Copenhagen.Google Scholar
Andersen, V.L. 2016b. Mellem brosten, knyst, skolæst og mode: Bilag til erhvervsph.d.-afhandling. PhD dissertation, Faculty of Humanities, University of Copenhagen Københavns Universitet.Google Scholar
Ashby, S.P., Coutu, A.N. & Sindbæk, S.M. 2015. Urban Networks and Arctic Outlands: Craft Specialists and Reindeer Antler in Viking Towns. European Journal of Archaeology, 18: 679–704.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brandt, L.Ø. 2018. High-Definition Urban Fashion: Proteins Reveal Preferred Resources for Medieval Leather Shoes. In: Raja, R. & Sindbæk, S.M., eds. Urban Network Evolutions: Towards a High-Definition Archaeology. Aarhus: Aarhus University Press, pp. 241–47.Google Scholar
Buckley, M., Collins, M., Thomas-Oates, J. & Wilson, J.C. 2009. Species Identification by Analysis of Bone Collagen Using Matrix-assisted Laser Desorption/Ionisation Time-of-flight Mass Spectrometry. Rapid Communications in Mass Spectrometry: RCM, 23 (23): 3843–54.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cameron, E., Spriggs, J. & Wills, B. 2006. The Conservation of Archaeological Leather. In: Kite, M. & Thomson, R., eds. Conservation of Leather and Related Materials. Oxford: Butterworth-Heinemann, pp. 244–63.Google Scholar
Carelli, P. 2001. En kapitalistisk anda: kulturella förändringar i 1100-talets Danmark (Lund Studies in Medieval Archaeology, 26). Stockholm: Almqvist & Wiksell International.Google Scholar
Croix, S., Neiß, M. & Sindbæk, S.M. 2019. The réseau opératoire of Urbanization: Craft Collaborations and Organization in an Early Medieval Workshop in Ribe, Denmark. Cambridge Archaeological Journal, 29: 345–64. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0959774318000525CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dahlerup Koch, H. 1988. Fodtøj af læder og dets datering ca. 1250–1500. Hikuin, 14: 61–78.Google Scholar
Dahlerup Koch, H. 1998. Læder. In: Hjermind, J., Iversen, M. & Kristensen, H.K., eds. Viborg Søndersø 1000–1300: byarkæologiske undersøgelser 1981 og 1984–85 (Jysk Arkæologisk Selskabs Skrifter, 34). Aarhus: Aarhus Universitetsforlag, p. 157.Google Scholar
Ebsen, J., Himmelstrup Trinderup, C., Ørsted Brandt, L. & Gundlach, C. 2017. The Potential of microCT Scanning for 3D Documentation and Dissemination of Decorated Archaeological Leather. Archaeological Leather Group Newsletter, 46: 11–15.Google Scholar
Ebsen, J., Haase, K., Larsen, R., Vestergaard Poulsen Sommer, D. & Ørsted Brandt, L. 2019. Identifying Archaeological Leather: Discussing the Potential of Grain Pattern Analysis and Zooarchaeology by Mass Spectrometry (ZooMS) through a Case Study Involving Medieval Shoe Parts from Denmark. Journal of Cultural Heritage, 39: 21–31. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.culher.2019.04.008CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Feveile, C. 2012. Ribe: Emporia and Town in the 8th and 9th Century. In: Gelichi, S. & Hodges, R., eds. From One Sea to Another. Trading Places in the European and Mediterranean Early Middle Ages: Proceedings of the International Conference, Comacchio 27th-29th March 2009. Turnhout: Brepols, pp. 111–22.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fiddyment, S., Holsinger, B., Ruzzier, C., Devine, A., Binois, A., Albarella, U., et al. 2015. Animal Origin of 13th-century Uterine Vellum Revealed Using Noninvasive Peptide Fingerprinting. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 112: 15066–71. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1512264112CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Finsen, V. 1870. Grágás. Islændernes Lovbog i Fristatens Tid udgivet efter det kongelige Bibliotheks Haandskrift og oversat af Vilhjálmur Finsen fr det nordiske Litteratur-Samfund. Tredje Del. Oversættelse I. København: Berling.Google Scholar
Forbes, R.J. 1966. Leather in Antiquity; Sugar and its Substitutes in Antiquity; Glass (Studies in Ancient Technology, 5). Leiden: Brill.Google Scholar
Friis-Jensen, K. & Fisher, P. 2015. Saxo Grammaticus: Gesta Danorum. The History of the Danes. Volume II. Edited by Friis-Jensen, Karsten. Translated by Peter Fisher. Oxford. Claredon Press.Google Scholar
Goubitz, O., van Driel-Murray, A., Groenman-van Waateringe, W. & Bardet, X. 2001. Stepping Through Time: Archaeological Footwear from Prehistoric Times until 1800. Zwolle: Stichting Promotie Archeologie.Google Scholar
Groenman-van Waateringe, W. 1984. Die Lederfunde von Haithabu. Neumünster: Wachholtz.Google Scholar
Groenman-van Waateringe, W. 1988. Leather from Medieval Svendborg. Odense: Odense University Press.Google Scholar
Haase, K., 2019. An Urban Way of Life. Social practices, networks and identities in Odense, AD 1000–1500 (unpublished PhD Dissertation, Aarhus University).Google Scholar
Haase, K. & Eg Larsen, A. 2017. Handelsboderne langs Overgade. In: Runge, M. & Hansen, J., eds. Knuds Odense: Vikingernes By. Odense: Odense Bys Museer, pp. 151–55.Google Scholar
Haase, K. & Hammers, N. 2019. Tracing the Trigger for Social Change through Trade Networks and Object Biographies in Medieval Odense, Denmark. In: Haase, K.. An Urban Way of Life. Social Practices, Networks and Identities in Odense, AD 1000–1500 (unpublished PhD Dissertation, Aarhus University), pp. 270–93.Google Scholar
Haines, B. 1981. The Fibre Structure of Leather. Northampton: The Leather Conservation Centre.Google Scholar
Haines, B. 1991. Skin Structure and Leather Properties. In: Calnan, C. & Haines, B., eds. Leather: Its Compositions and Changes with Time. Northampton: The Leather Conservation Centre, pp. 1–4.Google Scholar
Haines, B. 2006. The Fibre Structure of Leather. In: Kite, M. & Thomson, R., eds. Conservation of Leather and Related Materials. Oxford: Butterworth-Heinemann, pp. 33–43.Google Scholar
Hald, M. 1972. Primitive Shoes: An Archaeological-ethnological Study Based upon Shoe Finds from the Jutland Peninsula. Copenhagen: National Museum of Denmark.Google Scholar
Hansen, G. 2015. Sko, kammer og klær. En nedenfra-studie av Bergensernes økonomiske evne på 1100-tallet. In: Risvåg, J.A., Brattli, T. & Berge, R., eds. Inn i fortida – ut i verden – i museet! Trondheim: DKNVS & Vitark, pp. 36–53.Google Scholar
Hansen, G. 2017. Domestic and Exotic Materials in Early Medieval Norwegian Towns: An Archaeological Perspective on Production, Procurement and Consumption. In: Glørstad, Z.T. & Loftsgarden, K., eds. Viking-Age Transformations: Trade, Craft and Resources in Western Scandinavia. London: Routledge, pp. 71–106.Google Scholar
Harjula, J. 2008. Before the Heels: Footwear and Shoemaking in Turku in the Middle Ages and at the Beginning of the Early Modern Period (Archaeologia Medii Aevi Finlandiae, 15). Turku: Suomen Keskiajan Arkeologian Seura.Google Scholar
Harris, S. 2014a. Introduction. Leather in Archaeology: Between Material Properties, Materiality and Technological Choices. In: Harris, S.M. & Veldmeijer, A., eds. Why Leather? The Material and Cultural Dimensions of Leather. Leiden: Sidestone Press, pp. 9–21.Google Scholar
Harris, S. 2014b. Sensible Dress: The Sight, Sound, Smell and Touch of Late Ertebølle Mesolithic Cloth Types. Cambridge Archaeological Journal, 24: 37–56.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hatting, T. 2004. Husdyrene. In: Roesdahl, E., ed. Dagligliv i Danmarks Middelalder. 2nd edn. Aarhus: Aarhus Universitetsforlag, pp. 110–22.Google Scholar
Hybel, N. & Poulsen, B. 2007. The Danish Resources c. 1000–1550: Growth and Recession. Leiden: Brill.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kirby, D.P., Buckley, M., Promise, E., Trauger, S.A. & Holdcraft, T.R. 2013. Identification of Collagen-Based Materials in Cultural Heritage. The Analyst, 138: 4849–58.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kristensen, H.K. & Poulsen, B. 2016. Danmarks Byer i Middelalderen. Aarhus: Aarhus Universitetsforlag.Google Scholar
Kveiborg, J. 2010. Nye veje til ny viden. En zooarkæologisk diskussion af et knoglebelagt vejforløb i middelalderens Ribe. Unpublished report, Moesgaard Museum.Google Scholar
Larsen, R., Vestergaard Poulsen, D. & Rahme, L. 2009. Læder, pergament og skind fremstilling, historie og nedbrydning. 5th revised edn. København: Det Kongelige Danske Kunstakademi.Google Scholar
MacGregor, A. 1998. Hides, Horns and Bones: Animals and Interdependent Industries in the Early Urban Context. In: Cameron, E., ed. Leather and Fur. Aspects of Early Medieval Trade and Technology. London: Archetype, pp. 11–26.Google Scholar
Madsen, P. & Mikkelsen, H. 1985. Sudergade. Skalk, 6: 9–13.Google Scholar
Mould, Q. 2015. The Home-Made Shoe, a Glimpse of a Hidden, but Most ‘Affordable’, Craft. In: Hansen, G., Ashby, S.P. & Baug, I., eds. Everyday Products in the Middle Ages: Crafts, Consumption and the Individual in Northern Europe c. AD 800–1600. Oxford, Oxbow, pp 125–42.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mould, Q. & Cameron, E. 2015. Fashion and Necessity: Anglo-Norman Leatherworkers and Changing Markets. In: Hansen, G., Ashby, S.P. & Baug, I., eds. Everyday Products in the Middle Ages: Crafts, Consumption and the Individual in Northern Europe c. AD 800–1600. Oxford, Oxbow, pp.143–56.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mould, Q., Carlisle, I. & Cameron, E. 2003. Craft, Industry and Everyday Life: Leather and Leatherworking in Anglo-Scandinavian and Medieval York (The Archaeology of York, 17). York: Council for British Archaeology.Google Scholar
Østergaard, S. 2016. Dyreknoglerne FRA Odense Midtby. OBM 9776, Vilhelm Werners Plads (FHM 96/1392. Rapport over det samlede dyreknoglemateriale. Unpublished report, Moesgaard Museum.Google Scholar
Pedersen, M. 2005. Læder Og Pelsværk. In: Iversen, M., ed. Viborg Søndersø 1018–1030. Arkæologi og naturvidenskab i et værkstedsområde fra Vikingetid (Jysk Arkæologisk Selskab Skrifter, 52 & Viborg Stiftsmuseum Skriftrække, 3). Højbjerg: Jysk Arkæologisk Selskab & Viborg: Viborg Stiftsmuseum, pp. 393–414.Google Scholar
Reed, R. 1972. Ancient Skins, Parchments and Leathers. London: Seminar Press.Google Scholar
Runge, M. 2017. Det Tidligste Odense. In: Runge, M. & Hansen, J., eds. Knuds Odense: Vikingernes By. Odense: Odense Bys Museer, pp. 42–55.Google Scholar
Salvagno, L. & Albarella, U. 2017. A Morphometric System to Distinguish Sheep and Goat Postcranial Bones. PloS One, 12: e0178543. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0178543CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Søgaard, H. 1970. Skomager. In: Hjejle, B. & Brøndsted, J., eds. Kulturhistorisk leksikon för nordisk medeltid från vikingatid till reformationstid, 15. København: Rosenkilde og Bagger, p. 650.Google Scholar
Søvsø, M. 2010a. Bebyggelsesmønster. In: Bitsch Christensen, S., ed. Ribe bys historie 1, 710–1250. Aarhus: Dansk Center for Byhistorie, pp. 45–54.Google Scholar
Søvsø, M. 2010b. Et byrum vokser frem-karakteristik af 800 års udvikling. In: Bitsch Christensen, S., ed. Ribe bys historie 1, 710–1250. Aarhus: Dansk Center for Byhistorie, pp. 94–102.Google Scholar
Swann, J. 2001. History of Footwear in Norway, Sweden and Finland: Prehistory to 1950. Stokholm: Kungl. Vitterhets, Historie och Antikvitets Akademien.Google Scholar
Swann, J. 2010. English and European Shoes from 1200 to 1520. In: Schwinges, R.C., Schorta, R. & Oschema, K., eds. Fashion and Clothing in Late Medieval Europe / Mode und Kleidung im Europa des späten Mittelalters. Riggisberg: Abegg-Stiftung & Basel: Schwabe, pp. 15–23.Google Scholar
Teasdale, M.D., Fiddyment, S., Vnouček, J., Mattiangeli, V., Speller, C., Binois, A., et al. . 2017. The York Gospels: A 1000-year Biological Palimpsest. Royal Society Open Science, 4: 170988. https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.170988CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Thomson, R. 1981. Leather Manufacture in the Post-Medieval Period with Special Reference to Northamptonshire. Post-Medieval Archaeology, 15: 161–75.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Thomson, R. 2006a. The Nature and Properties of Leather. In: Kite, M. & Thomson, R., eds. Conservation of Leather and Related Materials. Oxford: Butterworth-Heinemann, pp. 1–3.Google Scholar
Thomson, R. 2006b. The Manufacture of Leather. In: Kite, M. & Thomson, R., eds. Conservation of Leather and Related Materials. Oxford: Butterworth-Heinemann, pp. 66–81.Google Scholar
van der Sanden, W. 1996. Through Nature to Eternity: The Bog Bodies of Northwest Europe. Amsterdam: Batavian Lion International.Google Scholar
van Doorn, N.L. 2014. Zooarchaeology by Mass Spectrometry (ZooMS). In: Smith, C., ed. Encyclopedia of Global Archaeology. New York: Springer, pp. 7998–8000.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Volken, M. 2014. Archaeological Footwear: Development of Shoe Patterns and Styles from Prehistory till the 1600s. Zwolle: Stichting Promotie Archeologie.Google Scholar
Yrving, H., Enemark, P., Blom, G.A. & Dorsteinsson, B. 1970. Skinnhandel, Sverige. In: Hjejle, B. & Brøndsted, J., eds. Kulturhistorisk leksikon för nordisk medeltid från vikingatid till reformationstid, 15. København: Rosenkilde og Bagger, pp. 522–31.Google Scholar
Supplementary material: File

Brandt et al. supplementary material

Brandt et al. supplementary material 1

Download Brandt et al. supplementary material(File)
File 20.9 KB
Supplementary material: File

Brandt et al. supplementary material

Brandt et al. supplementary material 2

Download Brandt et al. supplementary material(File)
File 5.9 MB