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A non intellectual subject! Time to go Iron!
xpowderx
Member UncommonPosts: 2,078
VIKINGS were responsible for introducing ironing to Scotland.
The pillaging Scandinavians were surprisingly conscious of their appearance and regularly smoothed their clothes.
Excavations across Scotland have revealed evidence that the Nordic warriors used ironing boards and smoothing stones to make the job easier.
Dr Euan MacKie, of Glasgow University, said he found out about the ironing culture by chance 10 years ago, when his colleague's child found a piece of a whalebone on the Hebridean island of North Uist.
He said: "It is probably right to say Vikings introduced ironing to Scotland.
"The archaeological findings from before the Viking era have produced no evidence of similar activity.
"But only a few of their ironing boards and smoothing balls have been found here.
"The ones that have been discovered have been in female burial sites, which suggests women did most of the ironing.
"Vikings tend to be known as murderous invaders and vandals but that was just the wild part of them."
It is believed ironing was initially introduced in areas where Vikings settled, such as Orkney, Shetland, the Western Isles and Caithness.
An excavation in Orkney uncovered a 950AD Viking whalebone ironing board from a burial ship.
And it was identified as an early version because similar equipment was still being used in Norway during the early 19th century.
Comments
Is it possible that instead of ironing they were trying to soften thier clothes. I would imagine that animal hides and coarse fibers would be very uncompfortable and stiff after being washed in a stream. Using a round devise instead of a flat one seems more along the lines of softening then flattening.
Wish Darkfall would release.
Thats a good observation Urdig, I could see that .
Thank you.
Another reason to soften hides would be so that they are easier to work with. Could you imagine trying to sew together animal skins that have been hanging and drying for a few days.
Ever actually held hides before. Hard as hell and next to impossible to do anything with. You would need to soften them first, especially if you're going to wear them.
One way to soften hide would be to thin and stretch them. Rolling a round rock over a dried hide would acomplish this.
Wish Darkfall would release.
Vikings were really men, not like todays fancy pants. They also discovered America before any other person, but todays governments hides that fact. Why? Because it's a conspiracy.