not the best quality of flax, but should preferably be strong. Pliny may have been writing about the finer types here. Some of the first archaeologically known evidence of domesticated flax in prehistory came from the Neolithic lake dwellings from Switzerland and Germany. Here both the tools and the flax itself have been preserved on several sites (Vogt 1937; Barber 1991). While these early European finds are Linum bienne, the Linum usitatissimum takes over during the last millennium BC.
Danish finds The spread into Europe took place along two routes, a Central European through the Danube area, and an eastern across Russia (Helbæk 1960). Through of comparison of seeds, Helbæk assumed that the first flax came to the Danish area came through the eastern route. In the Danish archaeological record seeds occur much earlier than textiles, and it is generally assumed that flax was first used for oil production and only later for textile fibres (Helbæk 1960). The earliest finds of flax (L. usitatissimum) is a single seed found at the Bronze Age settlement at Bjerre in Thy, Northwestern Jutland (Robinson 1995: 14). Seeds become more abundant in the settlement finds through the Pre-Roman Iron Age, and are also found in the stomach content of bog bodies (Helbæk 1951; 1959; 1960). The find of carefully cleaned flax seeds in a pot at Stoustrup, Eastern Jutland (1st century BC) led Robinson (1993) to conclude that flax had been cultured to be used for consumption, not fibre production. This interpretation follows those of Helbæk. This argument presupposes that the division between the Humile and the Vulgare variants of Linum usitatissimum had already taken place quite early. Mannering (1995) has reasonably argued that it is difficult to imagine that the fibres were not used at all, seeing that the plant was grown anyway. One could also propose that the carefully cleaned seeds were to be used for producing a good fibre crop, rather than for food, as flax is very sensitive to weeds. There is little evidence to support this however. The earliest pieces of linen cloth are from the Early Roman Iron Age (0-180 AD), and with only seven finds on three sites they are not exactly abundant (Hansen & Høier 2001). Especially when one considers that Roman Iron Age graves are well represented in the Danish archaeological material. The few finds and their context on relatively rich burial sites could lead to the conclusion that they are Roman import (Hald 1950). It is only from the Germanic Iron Age that linen cloth becomes more abundant in the graves. In the early part of the period, rather few graves are known at all, and therefore textile finds are generally very rare, none of which are determined as flax. But this changes from the Late Germanic Iron Age. In her seminal work on the prehistoric textiles from Scandinavia, Bender Jørgensen (1992) has noted a general increase in the tabby weaves through the period (Figure 9). While virtually all linen cloth is made in tabby, not all tabby weaves are linen. An actual determination of the material has only been possible for some of the finds. Nonetheless the general impression is that linen cloth becomes increasingly important in fashion through the period (Bender Jørgensen 1992: 164ff). The lack of grave finds from the Early Germanic Iron Age is countered somewhat by the excavation of settlements with retting wells from the period. The settlement Seden Syd was dated to Late Roman and Early Germanic Iron Age. A total of 14 houses and no less than 33 wells were excavated. Stalks from flax were found in three of the wells, and in at least one of them, the layer of flax was overlain by several stones, which may have weighted the stalks down (Andresen 2005).
18