This Viking Dress Survived for 1,300 Years, Protected by Its Metal Ornaments

It appears that salts leaking from the metallic ornaments on the garment acted like a preservative, protecting the fragments of fabric from the acidic soil

!soilscience@slrpnk.net is leaking, or would it be leaching?

Based on an artist’s impression provided by the archaeologists, the protective, concave “scoop” brooches (or “skålspænder”) were part of the shoulder straps of the dress. There are signs these metal ornaments were repaired, suggesting they might be heirlooms that predate the rest of the dress.

I wonder how important they might have been and how common heirlooms were back then

The dress itself is quite pretty too:

For me it says: You’ve run out of free articles. Could someone archive this one, please?

Edit: It was archived already! https://archive.is/Zu8Fs