Archaeologists find huge Viking textile production site in Denmark

Over 80 pit houses found at a 1,00,000-sqm Viking-era settlement.

Soften: Archaeologists have uncovered a vast Viking Age textile production site in Denmark dating back more than 1,000 years, highlighting the sophistication of Viking society.

Experts from the Moes­gaard Museum said the 1,00,000-sqm site in Soften, no­r­th of Aarhus, contains more than 80 pit houses, semi-subm­erged structures used as workshops and dwellings, along with areas dedicated to processing flax. The settlement dates from AD 600 to 950.

Lead archaeologist Liv Stidsing Reher-Langberg said findings such as spindle whorls, loom weights, silver coins, glass beads and pottery point to large-scale textile production. Separate craft and production zones, along with a single residential building, suggest operations were overseen by a powerful individual.

Historians believe the site formed part of a wider trade network linked to Aarhus, then a major royal and trading centre. The discovery adds to evidence that Viking society was highly organised and economically advanced.

—AP