For ring, best conclusion is represents a kind of pseudo-Kufic. This tells us #Arabic was valued by #Vikings as social status/capital. 19/60
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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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Why does brouhaha over Arabic on
#Viking textile matter? Three reasons. One, context: story likely went viral because of recent events 40/60Show this thread -
#Charlottesville revealed to all what has long been known among medievalists: that#whitesupremacy uses medieval imagery & symbolism 41/60Show this thread -
At
#Charlottesville we saw#medieval banners & chants with#Crusader phrases like#DeusVult.#whitesupremacists use medieval imagery/ 42/60Show this thread -
/because
#whitesupremacists need to believe#medieval era was a time when Europe was white. 43/60https://psmag.com/education/nazis-love-taylor-swift-and-also-the-crusades …Show this thread -
But story struck a nerve because it builds on accurate scholarship that shows
#Viking era was diverse & included contacts w/Arab world 44/60Show this thread -
#Viking contact w/wide range of outside peoples undisputed as C Downham of@IrishInstitute@LivUni has shown 45/60https://theconversation.com/vikings-were-never-the-pure-bred-master-race-white-supremacists-like-to-portray-84455 …Show this thread -
At
#Birka and earlier, at nearby#Helgö,#Viking grave goods included a Buddha from India and a Coptic ladle from North Africa 46/60pic.twitter.com/o805RUlKCr
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Ibn Fadlan famously travelled to Viking lands in 10th c., a journey popularized by
@CrichtonWebsite in novel Eaters of the Dead 48/60pic.twitter.com/krOz5KyTWM
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Crichton’s novel was made into a totally terrible but totally kitschawesome film
#ThirteenthWarrior 49/60pic.twitter.com/By4gDcg7at
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Arabic coins were so common that Shahada was perhaps most widespread inscription in
#Viking Scandinavia 50/60https://twitter.com/stephenniem/status/914759343169515522 …Show this thread -
So the
#Viking Allah textile exhibits what Stephen Colbert@StephenAtHome once called ‘truthiness’ but is not supported by scholarship 51/60Show this thread -
But ‘truthiness’ cannot be enough for news media, especially in this age of accusations of
#FakeNews 52/60Show this thread -
I admire journalists immensely and am sympathetic to newsroom cutbacks that have made reporting more challenging 53/60
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@NYTimes reporter@candersonSTO does incredible work. But why not pick up the phone@Metmuseum Islamic curators S Canby or M Rugiadi 54/60Show this thread -
Or any of the
@Metmuseum’s knowledgeable textile curatorial staff 55/60https://www.metmuseum.org/about-the-met/conservation-and-scientific-research/textile-conservation/staff-list …Show this thread -
And when
#medieval & particularly#Viking age is used as ideological weapon by#whitesupremacists/ 56/60Show this thread -
/& scholars like
@jonathanhsy@jeffreyjcohen@dorothyk98@Lollardfish are risking careers to fight#whitesupremacist appropriation 57/60Show this thread -
& not just
#whitesupremacists use#medieval to further contemporary agendas: same tactic used by#ISIS,#alQaeda who kill thousands 58/60Show this thread -
Then it matters that we get this right. Media can report on diversity of
#GlobalMiddleAges w/out trumped-up scholarship@onthemedia 59/60Show this thread - 2 more replies
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