Dear Entire World: #Viking ‘Allah’ textile actually doesn't have Allah on it. Vikings had rich contacts w/Arab world. This textile? No. 1/60pic.twitter.com/jpvbrrePQg
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It’s a style called square Kufic, and it’s common in Iran, C. Asia on architecture after 15th c., ex: Safavid Isfahan w/Allah and Ali 9/60pic.twitter.com/pbGJNFITGk
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Earliest examples of square Kufic on architecture date to the 11th-early 12th century: Panel of Ibrahim b. Mas‘ud, ca. 1059-1099 10/60pic.twitter.com/qGZGb4G8gP
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Or the Minaret of Mas‘ud III at Ghazni, ca. 1099-1118, so all at least 100 years later than Birka textile h/t
@2Kufic 11/60pic.twitter.com/TTy6G0f6ix
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But final character in Larsson’s drawing
#Viking Allah txtl has Arabic letter 'ha' ـه w/a hook over it that’s not common until 15th c. 12/60pic.twitter.com/4zq6YQXJ1I
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Perhaps there are 10th c. 2Kufic examples on central Asian textiles. If so, I am not aware of them. Especially not w/hooked ‘ha.’ 13/60
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Even if such examples exist, Larsson specifically cites architecture as comparanda. 14/60 http://www.uu.se/en/news-media/news/article/?id=9390 …
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2. But let’s assume there are 10th c. Central Asian textiles with 2Kufic. Even so, it turns out Larsson’s drawing doesn’t say ‘Allah’ 15/60
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Instead the drawing says للله ‘lllah’, which basically makes no sense in Arabic. 16/60https://twitter.com/phoenixnl/status/917112486008156160 …
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Arabic phrases like الحَمْد لله al-hamdulillah incorporate 'l-lah' but don’t stand alone, and it’s spelled لله with 2 uprights, not 3. 17/60
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This is similar to an argument made for another sensational find: the
#Viking ring said to say ‘to/for God’ 18/60http://phoenixblog.typepad.com/blog/2016/01/tofor-allah-or-just-a-jumble-of-lines.html …Show this thread -
And we have some evidence of this in the form of pseudo-Kufic inscriptions on weights for measuring silver 20/60 http://www.arkeologiskasamfundet.se/csa/Dokument/Volumes/csa_vol_15-16_2007-2008/csa_vol_15-16_2007-2008_s61-71_fernstal.pdf …
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Or even real Arabic, for example dinar of Anglo-Saxon King Offa, who keeps Arabic Shahada intact as he inserts his name in the middle. 21/60pic.twitter.com/Hm6VfNa6YX
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3. Spanish ‘ribbons’ bearing Arabic writing also cited by Larsson as comparanda, but this also doesn’t seem to work date-wise. 22/60
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Medieval Spanish textile expert Maria J. Feliciano confirmed to me that known square Kufic tablet weaves are post-13th c. 23/60
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Here are some examples from Monastery of Santa María La Real de Huelgas in Burgos, 13th c. 24/60pic.twitter.com/lmw2uXfGPW
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And a bit further north, not far from Paris, maniples w/2Kufic-like patterns from Chasuble of St Edmund, Provins, also 13th c. 25/60pic.twitter.com/g6apRvsjTY
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Interestingly, these later European examples of supposed 2Kufic actually also bear pseudo-Kufic, not real Arabic writing. 26/60
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4. But the final nail in the coffin *cough* I mean burial ship is that Larsson’s claim is based on extrapolation, not evidence. 27/60
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As
#Viking textile specialist Carolyn Priest-Dorman puts it, text based on “extensions of pattern, not on existing pattern” 28/60Show this thread -
The word “Allah” in Arabic looks like this: الله. It has an upright alif, two more uprights (lam), and a final ـه 'ha' 29/60
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The tablet-woven textile in the widely-dispersed press photograph shows only design of three uprights connected by a horizontal band. 30/60pic.twitter.com/NUOiLR6zbZ
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There is a small triangular shape, but no final ha ـه. Frag. was published in 1938 by Agnes Geijer, original drawing looked like this: 31/60pic.twitter.com/DxDossuWzs
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But reconstruction drawing by
@UU_University textile archaeologist Annika Larsson shows extensions on either side that include a ha. 32/60pic.twitter.com/1NyQzcqDV2
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These extensions practically double width of band. Not mentioned in press accounts: Larsson’s extensions are entirely conjectural. 33/60
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Priest-Dorman shows that the piece can’t have had extensions because was finished with selvages on top and bottom. 34/60
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A piece that was trimmed of proposed extensions would not have this finished selvage – it would show cut and tattered edge. 35/60
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Priest-Dorman’s piece proves conclusively that textile can’t have had proposed extensions, and so can’t have borne word ‘Allah’. 36/60
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So if Larsson wants to stick with ‘Allah’ on her textile, it’s exclusively in the realm of supposition, not proof. 37/60
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Textile specialist Priest-Dorman’s full analysis can be read here. It’s excellent! 38/60 http://stringgeek.blogspot.de/2017/10/viking-age-tablet-weaving-kufic-or-not.html …
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All Larsson’s got are three uprights connected by a horizontal band. This does not ‘Allah’ make. 39/60
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