Archaeologists debunk period myths from the Middle Ages

For the first time in Norway, traces of what may be menstrual blood have been identified on medieval textiles.

Sunniva Wilberg Halvorsen is an archaeologist at the Norwegian Institute for Cultural Heritage Research (NIKU). She has reviewed textile finds from an excavation in Tønsberg and examined earlier discoveries and references to menstruation in archaeological research.

The findings have now been published in a new research article.

The myth of free bleeding

According to the Great Norwegian Encyclopedia: 'Menstrual protection was long unknown. The blood was allowed to flow freely and dry on the body or clothing, or drip onto the floor […]'

The idea that women bled freely is a myth:

“It’s hard to reconcile the idea of free bleeding with the medieval stigma around menstruation and the high value of clothing,” the archaeologist says.

Textiles were both costly and time-consuming to make. 

Considering the entire process – shearing wool, washing, carding, spinning, weaving, fulling, dyeing, and sewing – it could take up to 1,000 hours to make a simple wool dress.

Halvorsen finds it unlikely that women, who were mainly responsible for making these garments, would bleed directly into their clothing or onto the floor. 

Washing clothes was also a time-consuming task they did not want more of.

“You couldn’t make a new dress every month,” she says.

Menstrual blood could sour wine and enrage dogs

In the Middle Ages, people had a complex view of the female body. It was strongly influenced by Christian theology, ancient medicine, and folk magic.

According to Pliny the Elder (1st century CE), menstrual blood had many destructive and mysterious qualities. It could sour wine, make dogs aggressive, damage crops, cause illness or madness, and perhaps worst of all – cause impotence.

These ideas continued into the Middle Ages, and the Church considered menstruating women spiritually unclean. As a result, women were advised to refrain from certain religious rituals, such as communion.

Menstruation was seen as both unclean and potentially dangerous. 

This meant that women had to navigate practical needs for protection while living in a society shaped by religious beliefs and medical theories that restricted them.

Still, the bleeding had to be managed.

Textiles as menstrual protection for over 2,000 years

Today we have pads, tampons, period underwear, and menstrual cups. But how did women before us solve this challenge?

The phrase ‘being on the rag’ refers to cloth rags women used as pads. Although the phrase is from the early 1900s, the practice is much older.

The earliest known references suggest such ‘menstrual cloths’ were used in antiquity, and two early manuscripts of the Book of Isaiah mention menstrual cloths.

Halvorsen explains that some medieval sources mention them, but not many. For example, physician Bernard de Gordon said menstrual cloths should be inspected by doctors to diagnose illness, and a 14th‑century document includes menstrual cloths as part of a magical drink.

They menstruated less in the past

References increase after the 1500s as more written sources appear.

"Most of these writers were men without first-hand knowledge of menstruation – and likely without much interest in the topic," the archaeologist says.

Due to frequent pregnancies, constant breastfeeding, and a harder life, women in the Middle Ages menstruated less on average than women today. 

But half the population menstruated, and even if we don't find much about menstruation in the written sources, we should expect to see it in the archaeological material.

Or should we?

Women’s experiences in the blind spot

Hygienic solutions such as pads have been mentioned briefly in several Norwegian excavations, but textile finds have mostly been interpreted as remnants of clothing, packaging, or building material. No one has looked deeper.

“When you excavate, you do it with certain research questions in mind. If you’re not looking for evidence of menstrual management, you might not see it. You might see a piece of textile, but not a pad – or what it says about the people who used it,” says Halvorsen.

Since archaeology has long been shaped by male perspectives, topics connected to women’s bodies and experiences have received less attention, the archaeologist believes.

"This is one area where women’s experiences ended up in the blind spot," she says.

Textiles and moss in the Tønsberg latrine

The textiles Halvorsen studied mainly come from a latrine used in the 1200s.

The latrine layer was at least 4.2 by 2.4 metres, which is large for a medieval Norwegian town. Its size suggests it could have been a public latrine, perhaps linked to the harbour, an inn, or several households.

The presence of torn, folded, and pleated textile strips suggests a specific use.

“Some of the textiles may have been used as sanitary pads or strips to hold a menstruation cloth in place,” Halvorsen says.

Moss was also found in the latrine.

Moss is often referred to as toilet paper, but Halvorsen points out that its crumbly texture may make it less suitable for wiping.

"For a menstruating woman, however, moss – with its absorbency and antiseptic qualities – would be useful for avoiding blood stains," she says.

Sphagnum moss is also known as ‘blood moss’, a name that may refer both to its use in wound care and for absorbing menstrual blood.

"It seems logical that women used a combination of textiles and moss. Both needed to be held in place," says Halvorsen.

Menstrual cloths may have been fastened with pins to underwear, but since the use of underwear in the Middle Ages is uncertain, the archaeologist believes straps or belts to hold the cloths in place may be more likely.

First time in Norway

To find out what the textiles had actually been used for, Halvorsen looked for biological traces.

A selection was sent to the lab for analysis of blood residues, hormones, and insect eggs.

One textile tested positive for blood. This is the first time in Norway that traces of what may be menstrual blood have been found on medieval textiles.

One piece contained the stomach contents of flies and fly larvae. Isotope analysis suggested the insects had fed on human blood.

Although these findings cannot completely rule out other uses, such as wiping or wound care, the shape of several textiles makes them likely pads or fastening bands, perhaps used with moss.

"Textile finds were clustered in the northeast corner of the latrine. This may indicate a spatial pattern, possibly linked to use or gender," says Halvorsen.

However, there were no preserved boundaries showing a physical or social separation. Nor do written or visual sources suggest that there were ‘men’s’ and ‘women’s’ toilets in the Middle Ages.

"Here archaeology might reveal parts of life that were never described in text or images," Halvorsen says.

Filling a research gap

The finds offer insight into managing a bodily function that has received little attention in both historical literature and research. 

Medieval sanitary products were likely present in the archaeological source material all along, but mostly overlooked.

In her research, Halvorsen shows that menstruation was neither something women let flow freely nor a topic without practical solutions. 

On the contrary, it required hands-on management, ingenuity, and shared knowledge – often in social spaces men did not have access to.

“These are small fragments of textile, but they can help fill a large gap in the research,” says Halvorsen.

References:

Barber, E.J.W. 'Women’s Work: The First 20,000 Years. Women, Cloth, and Society in Early Times', New York: W. W. Norton, 1994.

Halvorsen, S.W. Medieval latrine textiles from Rådhusgaten in Tønsberg, Norway (PDF), Archaeological Textiles Review, 2026.

Kløkstad, S. Menstruation, Great Medical Encyclopedia, accessed January 8, 2026.

Munro, J.H.A. 'Textiles, Towns and Trade: Essays in the Economic History of Late-Medieval England and the Low Countries', Aldershot: Variorum, 1994.

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