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Why does the story in the Trachtensaal begin with a figure from the Hallstatt period?

The Hallstatt period is the older Iron Age from about 800 to 480 BCE, which developed in the Alpine region from the Urnfield culture. Around 1874, the Swedish prehistorian Hans Hildebrand had introduced the term and proposed distinguishing two cultures within the Iron Age, namely the Hallstatt and the Latène periods. With the Hallstatt Miner, Viktor Geramb was not only paying tribute to the Salzkammergut, but also to iron, a material that had always been important for Styria.

The chest band made of fur, the leg wrappings, leather straps and the wrapped shoes for the miner had been recreated by Geramb on the basis of historical texts and visual sources, and the goatskin cap corresponds to Iron Age finds at the Dürrnberg salt mine near Hallein. The folklorist described the wrapped shoes in detail in the Book of Styrian Tracht. For him, shoes were a fundamental component of ‘Tracht-like clothing’. Initially, the figurine also wore a poncho-like cape.

How would this figure be dressed today?

Archaeologists today would generally reconstruct a longer tunic, based on scenic representations on bronze vessels. The figure would also have longer sleeves, as a sleeve trim was found in the Hallstatt mine. There is no evidence for chest bands made of fur. Colours are visible in many textile finds from Hallstatt, so a reconstruction today would also be more colourful.

How did the depiction of the Noric Woman and her clothing come about?

Viktor Geramb based the figures and clothing of the Noric Woman and the Noric Man on a Roman relief in the church of St. Martin in Greith near Neumarkt (Murau district), on finds in Unzmarkt (Murtal district), and on a monument stone from Flavia Solva. He was especially interested in the coiled headscarf, the ‘Noric hood’.  For him it represented a ‘special tribal costume’, a ‘folk costume in the narrower sense’. In its significance and popularity at the time, he compared it to the ‘Ausseer hat’. Clasps and belts interested him less—for him they were works of art, which were all too subject to trends in handicraft.

What we know today

Even today gravestones serve as a source of knowledge about Noric-Pannonian clothing, with clothing components such as clasps (‘fibulae’) and belt buckles from graves complementing this knowledge. Long-sleeved tunics for women and an overgarment secured with a clasp are frequently found on reliefs. The belt reconstructed on the Noric Woman can be found on depictions of servants, for example on the relief with servant from St. Donat (Carinthia). In terms of headgear, on the other hand, not only one but two variants can be considered: a fixed-shaped head covering or a rectangular cloth wrapped around the head.

How did the depiction of the Noric Man and his clothing come about?

Viktor Geramb based the figures and clothing of the Noric Woman and Noric Man on the Roman relief in the church of St. Martin in Greith near Neumarkt (Murau district), on finds in Unzmarkt (Murtal district), andon a memorial stone from Flavia Solva. The Roman stone monuments from the province of Noricum often show men in togas, but rarely whole figures. By selecting the basic materials of felt, loden and leather used for these figures, Viktor Geramb was also providing examples of the materials used in the later Iron Age and the Roman period.

What we know today

The sources for Noric-Pannonian clothing come mainly from gravestones. One of the few representations showing a poncho-like cloak is the gravestone of Blussus and Menimane (dated 14–54 CE) found in 1848 in Weisenau near Mainz (D). In another example, a rectangular cloak secured with a clasp at one shoulder and a long-sleeved tunic are depicted on the funerary portrait of a couple from Seggauberg/Styria (dated 200–230 CE).