Furs

[Ingvar Sigurdson]

John

Back to your question for evidence of untailored pelt wearing,germanic auxillaries or at least 'barbarians' in Roman employ are depicted on Trajan's Column wearing bear and wolf pelts, possibly hoods or capes.

Utzi the Neolithic Iceman wore clothing of probably smoke tanned leather, presumed to be red or roe deer which is likely to have included fur and this was tailored, these have been reconstructed as leggings and loin cloth, poncho, and a grass cape. It is not clear wether Utzi wore the garments fur side in or fur side out, but it is remarked that alike to Eskimos the garments could be interchangble, in winter grain side in, in summer grain side out.

I suspect the germanic tribes where no less adapt at using the available raw materials then other temporate forest dwelling cultures including the woodland Indian in your avatar.

best
Ingvar

[Nathan Ross]

New topic - good idea Ingvar!

In relation to a couple of points from the Germanic Impression thread - I don't know too much about the best way of wearing fur, but I've always believed that wearing it with the fur inside was warmer and more effective than showing the fur on the outside... That might be a myth, but would at least avoid the furry barbarian sterotype slightly!

Wearing fur on the outside, then, might have been more of a display or ritual thing - the warrior sort of taking on the animal attributes, or trying to intimidate a foe, or something. Roman standard bearers didn't wear animal headdresses because their heads were cold, after all... :wink:

[Vindex]

Very interesting topic!

Just a thought...wearing the fur on the outside would, perhaps, make the "clothing" more waterproof/resistant if the skinned or tanned side wasn't treated in some way to withstand water.

Wearing it against the skin would perhaps depend on the type of fur. Deer hair can be fairly irritating whereas, of course, the softer pelts of animals with dense coats - ie rabbit, wolf, fox, possibly bear too? - as opposed to doubled layered coats - deer - is far more comfortable (once fleas, ticks and keds removed!!)

[Ingvar Sigurdson]

I think it likely that the spotted hides described by Tacitus are likely to be seal which given the location described would make sense.

Utzi's upper garment described as a poncho with no evident sleeves is not dissimilair to the garment from Mogelmose which is also dated to the Neolithic.

There was some evidence of vegatable matter which is assumed to have been part of the tanning process used in the Utzi garments but how widespread this was is difficult to say but by the Roman period vegatable tanning was certainly used. Another interesting point concerning Utzi's upper garment is the decorative effect contrived with the basic principle of horizontal darker shades of fur to the shoulders and vertically alternate lighter and darker bands of fur although not strictly observed which may be a result of later repairs.No doubt when new it looked quite impressive.

As an aside, the plaited and fringed grass cloak shows considerable weaving skills as do other grass textiles from the North. It has been said that grass cloaks have continued in use even to the last century and a travel account from the 1700's described such cloaks used in the Turin region of Northern Italy. One can imagine such cloaks had multi-uses for Utzi, as clothing, as a ground sheet, and perhaps even as a hunting aid!

It has alrady been said on the Germanic Warrior impression that there is evidence for the early Franks using hides as garments, a retinue of a visiting royal embassy is described wearing tighly tailored hides. Charlamagne is described as wearing a fur 'thorax',a visitng Northman to the court of Alfred the Great describes trade in pelts.
There are a number of depications of pelted figures on Vendel period pressbleches.
How much pelts wear used is difficult to say but it must be indisputable that pelts wear worn in some manner.

best
Dave

[Björnulf]

Very interesting topic!

Just a thought...wearing the fur on the outside would, perhaps, make the "clothing" more waterproof/resistant if the skinned or tanned side wasn't treated in some way to withstand water.

Very interesting thought! And effectively practised by the Inuit. Two layered fur garments protected them against the elements for centuries. The innerskin would keep the body warm and the outerskin was somewhat waterresistant. To keep fully dry they also used the bowels of seals to make waterproof outergarment. In warmer regions the Inuit used more loosefitting garments and in colder regions tightfitted garments.

I know that the Inuit culture is very different from the Vendel/Scandinavian culture,but they are masters in adapting to their environment and have similar technical skills. So why not look at their solutions. Sami clothing might also be interesting to investigate.

[Ingvar Sigurdson]

There a number considerations in the use of furs and pelts amongst reenactors of the /late roman iron age/early medieval period. This has been touched upon in another thread and I think present thoughts have been clouded by the application of self imposed codes of dress by some of the leading early medieval re-enactment socities in the 80's when attempting to escape from the fur clad black leather studded barbarian impressions of the proceeding years when interest in early medieval 're-enactmewnt was in its infancy. These self imposed codes of dress have led to an impression of recieved knowledge to apoint that it has been said that furs 'where never worn'! There are a number of difficulties in that it is often the case due to soil conditions of deposistion that any fur rarely survives the passage ot time. Animal hides have often been used within the funery rite grave furniture and it is not always easy to acertain which was funery deposistion and what was used as garments although there is evidence of fur in combination with textiles adhering to metal objects close to the body, buckles for example which would indicate the fur was an integral part of some garment. Certainly in the Vendel period inhumations there is evidence of bear pelts and close to the head ottar pelts, possibly as headware.

Clothing may not always be totally ulitarian and often coveys other messages too, gender ,age, economic and political status etc. Where furs and pelts fit into the picture continues to be explored within textile research.

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Dave

[Ghostmojo]

Does anybody know of any examples of Greeks (of any ancient period) wearing furs or pelts? I've seen images of Alexander with a Lion's head helmet type thing of course, and the well known vases and sculptures of Herakles wearing a pelt. but I wonder whether this was more prevalent? After all, mountain lions did exist in ancient Greece (and other parts of Europe) before they were hunted to extinction. And I guess that applies to other wild animals as well. Apparently, the Skiritai wore animal pelts instead of armour (at some point in their limited involvement in Spartan armies) but not much detail is available.