Editing Birka (section)

=== "Allah" textile controversy ===
In 2017, Annika Larsson, a textile researcher, claimed in a press release by [[Uppsala University]] to have discovered a textile among the finds from Birka that bore the Arabic words "Allah" and "Ali".<ref name=":1">{{Cite web|last=Naylor|first=David|title=Exhibition: Viking Age patterns may be Kufic script – Uppsala University, Sweden|url=https://www.uu.se/en/news/article/?id=9390&typ=|access-date=6 December 2021|website=www.uu.se|language=en|archive-date=10 November 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211110221028/https://www.uu.se/en/news/article/?id=9390&typ=|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|date=13 October 2017|title=Viking Age Script Deciphered – Mentions 'Allah' and 'Ali'|url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/1953471363|id={{ProQuest|1953471363}} |language=English}}</ref> She theorized that some of the Vikings could have been influenced by Islam, leading to widespread media coverage.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Anderson|first=Christina|date=14 October 2017|title='Allah' Is Found on Viking Funeral Clothes|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/14/world/europe/vikings-allah-sweden.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220101/https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/14/world/europe/vikings-allah-sweden.html |archive-date=1 January 2022 |url-access=limited|access-date=6 December 2021|issn=0362-4331}}{{cbignore}}</ref> Stephennie Mulder, a professor of Islamic art at the [[University of Texas at Austin]], replied to Larsson's findings in a Twitter thread.<ref name=":2">{{Cite web|url=https://twitter.com/stephenniem/status/919897406031978496|title=#Viking 'Allah' textile actually doesn't have Allah on it.|access-date=6 December 2021|website=Twitter|language=en|archive-date=9 December 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211209160715/https://twitter.com/stephenniem/status/919897406031978496|url-status=live}}</ref> Based on the epigraphy, Mulder argued that the textile bore a simple geometric pattern and not Arabic writing because the dating of the textile was from the 10th century and the style of writing Larsson claimed was on the textile, square [[Kufic]], is not seen until the 15th century. Larsson had also proposed extensions to the tablet weaving that expanded beyond the original drawing by Agnes Geijer in 1938.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Samuel|first=Sigal|date=17 October 2017|title=Did Viking Couture Really Feature the Word 'Allah'?|url=https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2017/10/viking-couture-allah/543045/|access-date=6 December 2021|website=The Atlantic|language=en|archive-date=10 November 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211110220000/https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2017/10/viking-couture-allah/543045/|url-status=live}}</ref> Textile specialist Carolyn Priest-Dorman argued that the expansions are impossible because the fragment has finished edges called [[selvage]]s and the band would have shown cut [[Warp and weft|weft]] threads if the fragment had been narrowed at some point.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Priest-dorman|first=Carolyn|date=12 October 2017|title=A String Geek's Stash: Viking Age Tablet Weaving: Kufic or Not?|url=http://stringgeek.blogspot.com/2017/10/viking-age-tablet-weaving-kufic-or-not.html|access-date=6 December 2021|website=A String Geek's Stash|archive-date=28 November 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211128235422/http://stringgeek.blogspot.com/2017/10/viking-age-tablet-weaving-kufic-or-not.html|url-status=live}}</ref> Larsson's drawings were speculative and not based on evidence that an expansion existed. The backlash following these criticisms led the press release on the Uppsala University website to include a note that Larsson's research was preliminary and a comment regarding the criticisms.<ref name=":1" /> In 2020, Larsson published an article reiterating her claim that the textile bore Arabic writing, without addressing these criticisms.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Larsson|first=Annika|date=2020|title="Asian Silk in Scandinavian Viking Age Graves Based on the boat-and chamber graves in the Eastern Mälar Valley"|url=https://www.varldskulturmuseerna.se/en/Research/bulletin-of-the-museum-of-far-eastern-antiquities/|journal=Bulletin of the Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities|volume=81|pages=107–148|access-date=13 December 2021|archive-date=13 December 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211213162737/https://www.varldskulturmuseerna.se/en/Research/bulletin-of-the-museum-of-far-eastern-antiquities/|url-status=live}}</ref>