In 1974 she published the book Oldtidsdragter, for decades the authoritative work on ancient Scandinavian clothing.
She argued that two triangular silks from the Viking Age chamber tomb in Mammen were fragments of cloak bands, later maintaining in the 1989 edition of Aarbøger for Nordish Oldkyndighed that some of the Mammen textiles reflected details shown in the drawing of Canute in Liber Vitae.
As a result, the Copenhagen Draper's Guild funded work on a costume designed to show "King Canute in all his splendour.
"[3] It was unveiled shortly before Munksgaard's retirement in 1990, sixteen years after she had initially proposed the theory, in a "fine finale" to her career.
[9] Elisabeth Munksgaard died on 13 November 1997, following a career during which she had made significant contributions to the National Museum's Department of Prehistory.