Cold skin, warm socks? Remade and repurposed Burial Clothing in pre-modern northern Finland

Summary

This is a paper/report submission presented at the 2020 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology.

When is a sock more than simply a sock? Two types of clothing are present in this dataset of pre-modern northern Finnish burials: (1) repurposed items used in life and repurposed as burial clothes (2) remade items crafted from second-hand materials specifically for burial. Despite ostensibly serving the same purpose, repurposed items remain functional, while remade items are often hastily assembled from less-suitable materials, raising questions about providing for the dead on practical and symbolic levels.

These differences highlight the malleability of textile use, reuse and remaking in the past, offering a window into the lifecycle of archaeological textiles. Utilizing design theory and material and technological choice to explore the crafts decisions inherent in this process, this paper explores the complicated process of burying the dead and examines the decisions that lead mourners to dress the deceased in these items.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• 2020 SHA General Sessions   •
• Society for Historical Archaeology 2020

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Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Society for Historical Archaeology

Record Identifiers

PaperId(s): 1059