There is archaeological evidence, based mainly on the finds of pollen and seeds, that hemp (Cannabis sativa) and flax (Linum usitatissimum) were grown in northern Scandinavia (Norway and Sweden). An overview of the locations of different finds can be found on the map in Fig. 1.

Figure 1 Map of Northern Scandinavia (Sweden and Norway) showing the archaeological sites discussed in the main text and the churches where the textiles investigated were originally placed. Map prepared for this publication by author GS. The Map outline was traced from Wikimedia file Scandinavia.svg (Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license, Author Hayden 120). Full size image

In Norway there are early finds of hemp and flax pollen from the inner Oslo Fjord area, about 350 BC–450 AD (considerably more hemp than flax pollen was found1). Pollen and hemp seeds were found in a settlement in Hamar from around 400 AD2. There are finds of hemp pollen from around 650 and 800 AD, from the inland of Åseral in Vest-Agder3 and both hemp and flax seeds were found in the famous Viking burial mound, the Oseberg ship in Vestfold county from around 800 AD4,5,6.

From Sweden in Jämtland, Rödön parish, near Lake Storsjön there are finds of hemp pollen, about 100–200 AD7. The first flax seeds were found in Hälsingland, in Trogsta about 200 century AD8,9. Another early find from Hälsingland of flax seeds, in a bog near a settlement in Forsa indicate that flax was cultivated and retted there about 300 AD8,10. There are also finds of bundles of flax from Kärinsjö, in the province of Halland, from about 200–300 AD8,11. From the Viking Age, 800–1050 AD there are more finds of hemp pollen and hemp seeds, for example from the area Lake Mälaren, near Stockholm and in the area Lake Storsjön, near Rödön. In addition there are finds of pollen, seeds and fibres of hemp from the area of Lake Siljan in Dalarna7. Both flax and hemp seeds were found in the area south of Lake Siljan, near Leksand12.

The finds of hemp and flax pollen and seeds do not prove conclusively that textile production really took place. Only finds of retted fibres can do that. It is possible that the plants were grown for other purposes, i.e. the use of the seeds as food or oil. This applies both to hemp and flax. Unfortunately the preservation conditions in Scandinavia are such that plant fibre textiles normally do not survive well. There are some early remains of plant fibre textiles from Sweden from around 400–500 AD, from Fullerö in the province Uppland and from Augerum in Blekinge in the south8. More textile remains are preserved from the Viking and Middle Ages, for example at the Viking site of Birka at Lake Mälaren13. There is also a find from Norway, in the Oseberg ship, from about 800 AD, consisting of a woven tapestry made of wool together with plant fibres, but the plant fibres were largely decomposed14.

Despite the archeological finds showing that hemp and flax were both grown in the north of Scandinavia in the Viking and Early Middle Ages and despite the fact that hemp fibres can be almost as fine as flax fibres15 it has hitherto generally been believed that hemp was used primarily for coarse textiles i.e. ropes and sailcloth4,16,17,18,19 and that flax was the common textile plant for fine clothing and household textiles in Northern Scandinavia in this period.

This is reflected in the fact that throughout the literature, including but not restricted to the literature on Scandinavian Viking and Early Middle Ages, most fine plant fibre textile remains are referred to as flax without any mentioning of analytical tests. One of the few exceptions from this is Agnes Geijer, who in the 1930s investigated the textile finds from the Swedish Viking settlement Birka, near Lake Mälaren. She introduced the term FH (Flax/Hemp) for all plant fibre material13 and called for a scientific method for proper identification “It was the difficulty involved in firmly distinguishing between the two bast species that led me to employ the cryptic designation FH (Flax/Hemp) in the original classification. Such finds were made in about forty-five graves.”20. To this day these fibres remain unidentified.

Part of the problem is that a systematic investigation of plant fibre textiles has been hampered by the difficulty of fibre identification. Fibres from animals (wool, fur and hair) and plant fibres in general can easily be distinguished because animal fibres have scales21, but to distinguish between individual plant fibres is much more difficult22. Samples have often been identified as flax purely on the basis of examinations with standard, white light, compound microscopy. This is insufficient to secure a proper identification23,43.

The 10 textiles that we investigate here are all woven and made of plant fibres combined with wool. They have been carbon-14 dated to 780–1420 AD4. They are believed to be locally produced on the basis of the patterns and textile techniques24. They all belonged to different churches and are among the oldest and finest preserved Scandinavian textiles found above ground. A considerable number of medieval textiles have been preserved in Swedish churches. The reason is that the Reformation in Sweden did not cause such immediate, drastic changes in the church décor as, in most other countries, for example Denmark25. The old church textiles in Sweden were widely used even after the Reformation26.