Description:
Michèle Hayeur Smith uses Viking textiles as evidence for the little-known work of women in the Norse colonies that expanded from Scandinavia across the North Atlantic in the 9th century AD.
Brief description: Michèle Hayeur Smith is an archaeologist and research associate at the Haffenreffer Museum of Anthropology at Brown University.
Review Quotes: "Concisely
and cohesively covers over a millennium of history and archaeology regarding
textiles and the practice of weaving in the North Atlantic. . . . One does not need to be a
textile expert to use and enjoy this highly informative work. . . . An excellent
resource."--Anthropology Book Forum
key insights are spun. . . . The reader is obliged to reconsider past
interpretations of North Atlantic evidence in this new light."--Antiquity
"[An]
ambitious and welcome study. . . . The
Valkyries' Loom makes important contributions to our understanding of the
medieval and early modern North Atlantic as well as to the ways textile studies
can enrich our knowledge of the pre-modern world."--Medieval Review