Viking Baskets

 A trailer for the new movie The Northman depicts, of all things, a scene with Anya Taylor-Joy in what appears to be a basketry workshop. She is next to an unfinished basket, people behind her are weaving, and a basket which might be a fish trap is seen on the left.  They are open twined, and could be made of unpeeled willow or a number of other plant materials.

The Viking Age lasted from about 789 to 1066. The Vikings were wide-ranging people, but their home was the area now known as Scandinavia: Denmark, Norway, and Sweden.   Here's a short tour of some baskets from this area.

The National Museum of Denmark in Copenhagen has several archaeological baskets on display. When I visited in 2016, I took this rather poor photo of a crushed fish trap basket. It is open twined, and has some reinforcing rods on the exterior. The label text describes it as a "Trap of bound twigs for catching small fish and eels." It is from Lille Knabstrup in western Zealand, and dates to 4500 B.C.  This definitely predates the Viking Age, but is a good example of an early Danish basket.

The Hanseatic Museum in Bergen, Norway, contains items from the period of the Hanseatic League, from the 13th to 15th centuries. Definitely post-Viking. The Norwegian baskets in the photograph below, taken of an exhibit there in 2016, may not be that old.

 

The Ringkøbing-Skjern Museum in Denmark's Jutland region has this work basket in its collection. It is open coiled with a foundation of a bundle of straw and is woven with an unidentified woody material. It dates from the 20th century.

The Viking Ship Museum in Roskilde, Denmark, has some more contemporary baskets on display.

 

At this museum, modern artisans create Viking craft, from baskets to longboats. The photo to the left is an exhibit which shows a model chicken in a basketry cage nestled in a longboat.

The Tycho Brahe Museet in Ven, Sweden, uses contemporary Swedish baskets in their hands-on program. These handled carrying baskets on the lawn hold gaming pieces.

This gathering of Scandinavian baskets dates from 6500 years ago to the present. From this limited selection, it seems that the basketry props seen in The Northman trailer may indeed reflect the type and manufacture of baskets used by the Vikings.