Allah Is Found on Viking Funeral Clothes [View all]

[Madam45for2923]

Source: NY Times

ENKOPING, Sweden — The discovery of Arabic characters that spell “Allah” and “Ali” on Viking funeral costumes in boat graves in Sweden has raised questions about the influence of Islam in Scandinavia.

The grave where the costumes were found belonged to a woman dressed in silk burial clothes and was excavated from a field in Gamla Uppsala, north of Stockholm, in the 1970s, but its contents were not cataloged until a few years ago, Annika Larsson, a textile archaeologist at Uppsala University, said on Friday.

Among the contents unearthed: a necklace with a figurine; two coins from Baghdad; and the bones of a rooster and a large dog.

Dr. Larsson discovered the Arabic characters in February, as she was preparing some of the items for an exhibition on Viking couture in Enkoping, Sweden. She had been trying to recreate textile patterns for the exhibits — by comparing motifs on the burial dress with a silk band found around the head of a skeleton in a Viking grave at Birka, Sweden — when she discovered Kufic characters of Arabic.


At first, she said, she could not make sense of the tiny geometric designs in both fabrics.

“Then I remembered seeing them in similar Moorish designs in silk ribbons from Spain,” she said. “I understood it had to be a kind of Arabic character, not Nordic.”

Upon closer examination of the band from all angles, she said, she realized she was looking at Kufic script. The words Allah and Ali appeared in the silk found in Boat Grave 36 and in many other graves — and, most intriguing, the word Allah could be seen when reflected in a mirror. The same patterns have been found in mosaic grave monuments in Central Asia.

Dr. Larsson has long noted the prevalence of silk from Asia in Scandinavian Viking graves. But the analysis of these materials, the weaving techniques and design indicated a combination of Persian and Central Asian origins.


An image taken from the analysis of the Kufic characters on bands found in graves in Sweden. Credit Annika Larsson



A reconstructed Viking boat grave from the Gamla Uppsala archaeological site in Sweden is part of a Viking couture exhibition at the Enkopings Museum. Credit Therese Larsson

Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/14/world/europe/vikings-allah-sweden.html


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