Knit to This
Bog Bodies
Jo Andrews’s Haptic & Hue podcast, now in its seventh season, is a gift that keeps giving.
A recent episode hit me right in one of my mini-obsessions: Egtved Girl, a 3,000-year-old body found in a well-preserved oak coffin buried in a mound in Denmark. My fascination is not so much with the teenager herself, who was laid to rest with ceremony and care, but her Bronze Age clothing.
In The Mysteries of the Marshes: The Ancient Textile Secrets of Europe’s Bog Bodies, Jo Andrews talks with Danish experts on ancient textiles, Ulla Mannering and Ida Demant, who discuss Egtved Girl and another archaeological find: Huldremose Woman.
Their clothing is incredible. Learning about it reinforces my reverence for the resourcefulness of our ancient foremothers, and amazes me with its quality and yes, style.
Egtved Girl wore a swingy string mini skirt and a close-fitting shirt whose economy of design is familiar to anyone who’s made a box top or gotten one from J. Jill or Eileen Fisher. Huldremose Woman, who was of mature years, dressed elegantly and practically in a woven checked skirt, shawl, and two pieced lambskin capes. The woolen pieces had been dyed yellow, blue, and red at various times in their long useful lives.
Both finds challenge the notion of ancient Europeans eking out a forlorn existence clad in rags—these two women had swag. Their clothes were well and beautifully made, with marks of being cherished and carefully maintained.
Jo shares some images to get us started here, and recommends visiting the National Museum of Denmark in Copenhagen to see them in person. One more for the textile lover’s bucket list!
More boggy eye candy can be found in Bog Fashion: Recreating Bronze and Iron Age Clothes by Nicole DeRushie, whose Instagram documentation of her meticulous recreations of these pieces is stunning. She spins her own thread and sews with a bone needle. Seeing her model the clothes brings them vividly to life.
Fascinating! Such lovely clothing with a heritage that still lives on! Wow
Thanks for this, Kay! Whodathought? I’m going to take some of this Sunday to investigate this.
I thought I was the only one fascinated by the Bog People! I spent a long time with. egtved girl last time I was in Copenhagen. If you haven’t read it please find “Meet Me at the Museum” or better yet, listen to the audio book. It’s a lovely book and one of my favorites to knit to.
Thanks for this, Kay.
I love that book! Reading this post made me think of reading that again.
I read The Narrowboat Summer, also by Anne Youngston, this summer. A very different story, but good.
WOW……this is an incredible article….thank you, Kay, for bringing this history to our attention!!
Your post, Kay, sent me to Wikipedia for comparable periods in Egyptian and other well-known civilizations of that Age. The pyramids for example were built in that early Egyptian period. Although the rest of the world was not quite as advanced, I was struck by the poignancy of the burial clothes. These women were so thoughtfully and intentionally and humanly dressed which to me says a lot about the level of their culture. And besides all that, I’ve always loved a good bog shirt. So much of our modern clothing – knitted or woven – is based on that simple geometry. Thank you Kay! As a history major and fashionista (kinda sorta) I ate this up.
I have a similar obsession with Egtved Girl’s clothing – that string skirt just gets to me. So clearly not a piece for utility or warmth, but for …fun? Rebellion? Flirting?
The National Museum in Copenhagen is amazing, as are Nicole DeRushie’s book and Instagram. Thank you for the podcast!
Fascinating! Thanks!
I cannot recommend the Haptic and Hue podcast highly enough! It’s a thoughtful and fascinating exploration of all aspects of textiles—history, culture, environment, art, and most importantly, our humanity.
Haptic and Hue never fails to disappoint- always a new rabbit hole to discover.
Thanks for this!
This is fascinating, Kay! Thank you for sharing!
I don’t usually comment on things, but thanks so much for this.
A friend recommended Haptic and Hue and I always find the topics fascinating. As soon as I finished your piece, I clicked on the link to the photos on H&H website. Then I headed to my computer to confirm that, yes, I have seen the Egtved Girl in person at the museum in 2014. I have a photo of the coffin/body and the recreated clothing. I remember being fascinated by the clothing at the time and this was 2 years before I taught myself to knit!
Who knew I’d been dressing as a Bog Woman? This video looks fascinating. I fell asleep the other night listening to a podcast from The Ancients on Bog Bodies. The first five minutes didn’t cover textiles.
I like the pattern on your title page, as well as the article. What is it called?
Thanks
That’s an image from Haptic and Hue, I believe it’s weaving.
I find the bog bodies much less “disturbing” than the carved double layer tombs in some of the churches which show the bodies in advanced states of rotting decomp.
Thank you, Kay, for introducing us to Haptic & Hue, and especially for this particular podcast. My maternal grandparents were from Jutland; these women could be my ancestors!
That’s so cool!