Bags & Pouches
| Bags & Pouches |
|---|
|
More Accessories pages
Containers made of cloth or leather.
Introduction
Birka, Sweden (---) 52 bags/pouches were found in 47 graves. 18 men, 15 women, 2 children, 8 unknown and 4 double graves. If metal fittings were found it was determined to be a bag, no metal means it was a pouch. Of those analysed, 28 were made of cow leather, 3 calf and 2 goat leather and 5 were tanned with alum. [GRASLUND 1984]
Drawstring or tagged pouches
Art
--
Literature
- Fetels – a little vessel, bag, belt
Archaeology
- York, England.3 pieces of leather have been tentatively identified as remnants of drawstring pouches (15738, 15740-1). Another leather fragment made of either goat or sheepskin (15739) and dated to the C10th pouch is from a small pouch. The suspension straps are integral and another fragment of leather was identified as belonging to a second panel [MOULD, CARLISLE & CAMERON 2003]:p.3401-3402
- York, England. A purple silk pouch decorated with a cross. [OWEN-CROCKER 2004]:p.265
- Hedeby, Denmark. 1 find [GROENMAN VAN WAATERINGE 1984]:pl.24 no.2
- Birka, Sweden (---) 12 graves with leather fragments interpreted to be from pouches. Pouches often contained coins and/or weights but also mirrors, beads, pendants and copper alloy studs. [GRASLUND 1984]
Discussion
Ostergärd discusses a method of making pouches in medieval Greenland from sheep scrotums. The scrotum was cut away, cleaned inside, the wool removed, packed with hay and hung out to dry. [OSTERGARD 2004]:p.39
Leather Box pouches
--
Satchels
A large bag of cloth or textile suspended from a strap worn over the shoulder
Art
A couple of manuscripts show satchels:
- Bury Psalter f.118r.
- Harly Psalter f.66v. A begger raises his arm showing a bag beneath his garment. Three tails hang from the bag which has been interpreted to mean that it is made from skins. Note that these tails do not appear on the same image on the earlier Frisian Utrecht Psalter [OWEN-CROCKER 2004]:p.265.
Literature
--
Archaeology
- Hedeby, Denmark. 1 possible [GROENMAN VAN WAATERINGE 1984]:pl.24 no.1
Discussion
Both of the manuscript images seem to show the straps attached or integral to the back of the bag much like the York pouch (15739) discussed in Drawstring or tagged pouches.
A possible method of closing a satchel is suggested by the York find 15729. This is a short leather strip split and knotted at one end with a hole slit in the other. This could be attached by cutting two slits into the satchel flap and the hole end used to close over a bead or leather toggle. [MOULD, CARLISLE and CAMERON 2003: p.3401]
Birka Wallet
This type of bag is a folded wallet with multiple compartments on the inside. They were decorated with strips of gold plated leather, which was woven through the leather to form a checker board pattern. Along the edges were gold plated loops, 0.7cm long and 0.5cm wide.[GRASLUND 1984]
This type of bag is so far unique to Birka, Sweden.[GRASLUND 1984]
Art
--
Literature
--
Archaeology
- Birka, Sweden. 4 definite and 20 possible examples of this type of bag were found in 23 graves at Birka. 7 were in men’s graves, 6 with women, 1 child, 6 unknown and 3 double graves. 16 contained coins. Two (BJ 808, 965) had fur on the inside. [GRASLUND 1984]
- Frisia. A folded pouch was found in Roswinkel, Holland containing C9th coins, and has some similarities to those found in Birka.[GRASLUND 1984]:P.145
- Elisenhof, Germany. A similar, though simpler, pouch was found in Elisenhof. It is a simple rectangle with one end cut to a point for the lid, it is then folded and sewn up (on the inside, then turned) the sides to form a 9.5cm x 8.5-9.5cm square with a 4.6cm overlapping lid. The lid has a long toggle ended strap (7-11mm wide) sewn to it, the strap goes through two slits int he main part of the wallet. [GRENANDER-NYBERG 1985]:p234,247,Taf. 76
Discussion =
The position of the pouch in the grave suggests they were carried inside the clothing, not on the belt. Where dateable, they are from the JBS.[GRASLUND 1984]
Discussion
--
Lyre Shaped Bag
This type of bag has a lyre shaped metal edging around the lid and a cross bar along the top with suspension hoops.[GRAESLUND 1984]
Art
--
Literature
--
Archaeology
- Birka, Sweden. Found in at least 5 graves, 3 of which were men's graves. One bag (BJ 949) was possibly made of squirrel fur, with the fur on the outside of the bag. [GRASLUND 1984]
- Other finds in Grobin, Lettland. Norra, Abyggeby, Gastrikland. Austers, Gotland.Tankeeva. Eura, Finnland. [GRAESLUND 1984]
Discussion
The suspension rings suggest this type of bag was suspended from the belt. One bag contained fire stone, suggesting the bags may have contained fire lighting equipment, with the cross bar being the fire steel. [GRASLUND 1984]
Bags With Metal Lids
The large lid of this type of bag is decorated with metal fittings or entirely covered in metal.[GRASLUND 1984]
Art
--
Literature
--
Archaeology
- Birka, Sweden. 8 graves (1 woman, 5 men, 1 double, 1 unknown) had remnants of bags with copper alloy fittings. 5 of these bags had square fittings on the lid that surrounded a cut-out used to fasten the lid. Two of these bags (BJ 731 & 904) were made of cloth with a leather lid and strap. Of these 8 bags, 6 had fittings of Oriental origin [JANSSON 1986].
2 bags (and one possible) were found with lids entirely covered in metal. In BJ 644 the lid was covered in gold plated silver. In BJ 819 the lid of the bag was covered in copper alloy made of two halves and riveted to the lid. [GRASLUND 1984]
- Roesta, Sweden. A bag was found made of woollen cloth that was fastened at the top with a drawstring. The leather lid had the same style of square fitting as some of the Birka bags. [GRASLUND 1984]
- For more examples of the eastern bags those of Birka originate from, see this website
Discussion
References
