Researchers explain why Viking burial clothes were inscribed with the word 'Allah'

'If you trade a lot over a long period, you start to take in cultural values'

A tablet woven band, from a Viking burial site (Annika Larsson)

Swedish researchers have elaborated on just how they believe ancient references to Allah made their way into Viking burial fabrics.

Annika Larsson uncovered ancient, geometric Kufic scripts on the ancient garments that had been thought to be ordinary Viking Age decoration by Second World War-era academics.

But with the help of a colleague, the Uppsala University archaeologist was able to decipher their true meaning. The characters also referenced Ali, a prominent caliph.

She told The Local: “It shows us that the Vikings were in close contact with other cultures, including with the Islamic world. Of course there were trade relationships, but if you trade a lot over a long period, you start to take in cultural values.

“We also talk a lot about how Vikings went to Asia for trade, and we never speak about the people who came back, but maybe there were Muslims who came to Sweden at this time.”

The silk script was found on woven bands and items of clothing in both boat graves at Gamla Uppsala, and chamber graves in central sites like Birka in Mälardalen.

It suggested contact with Muslim culture had influenced the Vikings, Ms Larsson said earlier, particularly “the idea of an eternal life in paradise after death”.

In a previous statement she had said: “Grave goods such as beautiful clothing, finely sewn in exotic fabrics, hardly reflect the deceased’s everyday life, just as little as the formal attire of our era reflects our own daily lives.

“The rich material of grave goods should rather be seen as tangible expressions of underlying values.”

Ms Larsson’s prior research has uncovered widespread use of silk during the Viking Age in Scandinavia, the university said. The cloth is thought to have come from ancient Persia and central Asia.

Similar characters had been found in mosaics at burial monuments and in mausoleums in central Asia dating from the same period.

The burial fabrics had reportedly been kept in storage for decades. Ms Larsson added of previous interpretations of the silk writing: “At that time people were very Nordic-focused ideologically, and I think they just weren’t able to see beyond that world at that time.

“Afterwards, scholars accepted that those researchers were right, but now I’ve checked it, I have proof that it’s not true. This is why it’s important to keep challenging historical research.”