A Viking Kilt!

[Ranald]

On another thread there was some mention of a Viking Kilt, whilst I have never encountered any suggestion that they wore such a garment, there is good evidence that some would wear a long-knee length tunic, without trousers.

To support this, some years ago in the Haithabu musem [Northern Germany-on the Baltic Coast], one of the clothing models wore a knee length belted tunic rather than trousers.

There again such a tunic was reasonably common male wear in Europe at that time.

So my guess, and it can only be a guess is that our ancestors wore the tunic-which in time evolved into the long shirt, and their cloak or wrap for bad weather in turn evolved into first the belted plaid and then the kilt as we know it today.

James

James , yes you are correct, tunics though were anything from waist to knees.
For the bare legged idea look at the bayeaux tapestry, I think there is at least one male who is working bare legged.Beside which this is the nearest thing to a photo of the time we're going to get, and yes there is reference to some individual ( magnus barefoot ) in the viking sagas, but he was wearing a pleated coat.
Trousers ,yes, but there also was this form of legwear that resembled hose and tied up onto a belt that was then covered by a tunic.
But why has the cloak then only in scotland managed to transform into a great kilt when the vikings manged to travel to some far off lands.