Infopanel 31

Tang silk fragment 

Found: Birka, grave Bj 944 (Björkö, Lake Mälaren) - grave find.  
Birka excavated intensively by Hjalmar Stolpe (1871–1895); graves numbered in the Bj series.  

Birka’s graves preserve what its harbour once enabled: long-distance goods arriving, being worn, and then being buried. The silk from Bj 944 is not a hoard commodity; it is textile - fragile, intimate, and status-laden. 
Its presence in a grave suggests display in life and curated meaning in death. Together with imported coins, glass, and other prestige materials, it shows Birka as a node where the Baltic met the western reaches of Silk Road exchange.