Free (DRM-free PDF) Woven into the Earth [1300s Norse Clothing & Methods Archaeology]

[ATDrake]

Woven into the Earth: Textile Finds in Norse Greenland by Else Østergård is the English-language version of her lavishly photo-illustrated mostly layperson-comprehensible comprehensive academic overview of historical Viking Age and medieval Norse textile finds from the Herjolfsnæs settlement (Wikipedia DK) in Greenland, along with plenty of backgrounder information on the accompanying archaeological excavations, period era materials and methods, modern exhibitions, etc., free courtesy of the Aarhus University Press in Denmark.

This is their featured English-language Free Ebook of the Month selection for December, and is really very nifty, and will teach you a great deal about not just what people wore and where it was found, but also how they preserved the finds and what they learned from each garment and accessory, and the tools and techniques of the entire Norse Greenlandic textile manufacturing industry, such as it was.

I've actually owned both this and the companion DIY reconstruction book as hardcovers, for a couple of years, due to my being a total sucker for historical re-enactment how-to stuff even though I never actually do it myself (and in fact, it's due to idly googling for more information on the companion book, Medieval Garments Reconstructed: Norse Clothing Patterns, which is also pretty nifty and was once offered as a previous FBotM selection over a year ago, that I even discovered that Aarhus Universitetsforlag does the monthly giveaways in the first place).

Currently free, just through December, directly @ the university's dedicated promotional page (DRM-free PDF available worldwide).

And this has been the (late!) selected 3rd (non-repeat) free ebook thread of the day.

Because even though I already own this (and paid $$$ for it), this is a really nice book and it's utterly awesometastic to see it offered free for even more Gentle Readers to hopefully look at and learn from, as well as get a handy PDF copy of myself, especially since I was disappointed to miss out on the previous free PDF offer for the companion book (although technically, the Aarhus University Press does have a free e-book with physical book purchase offer which I might possibly be able to ask about claiming if I show them my receipts, since they have some sort of distribution deal to only sell their paper books to North America via 3rd-party retailers anyway rather than directly via their own webcatalogue).

Enjoy!

Description
The book tells the exciting story of one of the 20th century's most spectacular archaeological finds: the excavation of the Herjolfsnæs graveyard in 1921 where - because wood has always been extremely scarce in Greenland - bodies had been buried in multiple layers of cast-off clothing instead of coffins.

One of the century's most spectacular archaeological finds occurred in 1921 when Poul Nørlund recovered dozens of garments from a graveyard in the Norse settlement of Herjolfsnæs, Greenland.

Preserved intact for centuries by the permafrost, these mediaeval garments display remarkable similarities to western European costumes of the time. Previously, such costumes were known only from contemporary illustrations, and the Greenland finds provided the world with a close look at how ordinary Europeans dressed in the Middle Ages.

Fortunately for Nørlund's team, wood has always been extremely scarce in Greenland, and instead of caskets, many of the bodies were found swaddled in multiple layers of cast-off clothing.

Eighty years of technical advances and subsequent excavations have greatly added to our understanding of the Herjolfsnæs discoveries.

In Woven into the Earth Else Østergård recounts the dramatic story of Nørlund's excavation in the context of other Norse textile finds in Greenland. She describes what the finds tell us about the materials and methods used in making the clothes.

The weaving and sewing techniques detailed here are surprisingly sophisticated, and one can only admire the talent of the women who employed them, especially considering the harsh conditions they worked under.

[GtrsRGr8]

Originally Posted by ATDrake

Woven into the Earth: Textile Finds in Norse Greenland by Else Østergård is the English-language version of
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It's a valuable book (all scholarly/academic books seem to be expensive!). If a person needs it or wants it this is a great offer. Being curious, I went to Amazon and checked to see if 1) it was available there and 2) if it was, how much it was. It is available there, $40.98 is the lowest price that I could find and that was for a used (in "good" condition) copy.

Please keep up the posts of freebies from that university. This one sounds very interesting, and not just because a relatively large portion of my blood is Norwegian. But I know that I would never get around to reading it, what with all of the books that I own now begging to be read. This time I'll need to pass.