Contents

Archaeological
Textiles Review
Editorial 2

ATR is published by the Society

Friends of ATN, hosted by CTR. Articles
Editors: A Weaving Sword at Miletus? Combat or 3
Eva Andersson Strand Weaving Sword and the Complexities of
Karina Grömer Gender Construction
Jane Malcolm-Davies Laura B. Mazow
Ulla Mannering
Ursula Rothe First Identiication of Club Moss Use 17
in Roman Britain
Scientiic commitee: Margarita Gleba, Elizabeth M. Foulds,
John Peter Wild, UK Al Teasdale and Hannah Russ
Lise Bender Jørgensen, Norway
Elisabeth Wincot Hecket, Ireland Reconstructing the Tunic from Lendbreen 24
Johanna Banck-Burgess, Germany in Norway
Tereza Štolcová, Slovakia Marianne Vedeler and Lena Hammarlund
Heidi Sherman, USA
Inge Schierer, Austria Making a Reconstruction of the 33
Claudia Merthen, Germany Egtved Clothing
Christina Margariti, Greece Ida Demant

Layout: Karina Grömer The Red-Blue Conundrum: 44

Cover: Sidsel Frisch an Archaeo-linguistic Approach to Red Dyes
and Blue Flowers in Prehistory
Print: Graisk Mikkel Nørtoft
University of Copenhagen

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a copy of the latest Archaeological
Textiles Review, please visit: The Central Timna Valley Project: 5 Years of 67
www.webshophum-en.ku.dk/shop/ Ongoing Textile Research
archaeological-textiles-333c1.html.
Information about institutional sub-
Vanessa Workman, Orit Shamir, Naama
scriptions is also available here. Sukenik, Margarita Gleba and Erez Ben-Yosef
This will also provide membership of
the Friends of ATN. The Gallo-Roman Textile Collection from 71
Visit www.atnfriends.com to learn more Les-Martres de-Veyre in France
about the organisation.
Catherine Breniquet, Marie Bèche-Witmann,
Christine Bouilloc and Camille Gaumat
ISSN 2245-7135 82
The Textile from Tvis in Denmark
Ulla Mannering

Archaeological Textiles Review No. 59

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Consuming Clothes (Glasgow, UK) 85
David Lumb

Interweaving Cultures (Madrid, Spain) 86

María Consuelo Escandell Ferrando

The Competition of Fibres (Berlin, Germany) 88

Ana Grabundzjia and Chiara Schoch

Mixtura Texturalis. People and Textiles in the 90

Carpathian Basin (Budapest, Hungary)
Viktória Kiss, Judit Pásztókai-Szeőke and Boglárka Weisz

NESAT XIII (Liberec, Czech Republic) 92

John Peter Wild

Dynamics and Organisation of Textile Production in Past 93

Societies (Łódź, Poland)
Agata Ulanowska, Małgorzata Siennicka and Małgorzata Grupa

Plants as Fibre Resources: Approaches from the Science 96

and Art Perspectives (Maastrict, Netherlands)
Jenni A. Suomela

Early Textiles Study Group (Cambridge, UK) 97

Gwendoline Pepper

CIETA Conference (St Petersburg, Russia) 98

Susanne Lervad

Egyptian Textiles and Their Production: Word and Object 99

(Copenhagen, Denmark)
Marie-Louise Nosch

Resources: New Books 101

News 110

Archaeological Textiles Review No. 59 1

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Consuming Clothes
4-6 January 2017, Glasgow, UK
The workshop session “Consuming clothes: textile In his paper “Dressing up the town: textiles and the
values in the Near East and adjoining regions (9000 spatial expansion of urban life”, Toby C. Wilkin-
to 500 BCE)”, organised by Susanna Harris (Univer- son made the case for a deeper and more active role
sity of Glasgow) and Toby C. Wilkinson (University for textiles in the long-term transformations of past
of Cambridge), took place during the annual British societies and examined evidence suggesting that the
Association of Near Eastern Archaeology (BANEA) production, exchange, and consumption of textiles
Conference at the University of Glasgow. The session played a signiicant part in the spread of urban life in
brought together eight presenters to explore textile the ancient Near East.
consumption and the wider role and value of fabrics Dan Lawrence connected setlement patern and
in past societies. Conceived within the broader confer- environmental data with textual sources to explore
ence theme “Grand Challenges and Blue Skies in the connections between textile production, risk bearing
Study of the Ancient Near East”, the session aimed to institutions and agro-pastoral activities in his paper
provide a forum where textile specialists could inter- “Urbanism, landscape archaeology and … textiles?
act with non-specialists to explore new ways in which Setlement paterns and social organisation during the
textiles studies can be brought to bear on long-stand- Late Chalcolithic and Early Bronze Age in the North-
ing questions about the nature of human societies. A ern Fertile Crescent”. The central importance of textile
number of topics were covered including connections industries as contributing factors in the development
between textiles and urban development, the mani- of large urban centres was again brought to the fore.
fold dimensions afecting textile value and wealth, Jan Picton, in her paper “Egyptian textile produc-
approaches to the archaeological identiication of tex- tion, the view from Gurob: a ‘harem palace’ or a
tile materials, and perspectives on acts of consumption royal administrative and distribution centre in the
that take place as part of the production textiles. Faiyum?”, presented a re-examination of the role of
In her paper “Woven wealth: what is a valuable tex- local textile workers in continuance of earlier atempts
tile and how do we identify it?”, Susanna Harris to address questions of site function and identity.
considered current economic approaches to the ques- Her assessment in support of an industrial scale tex-
tion of textile value and suggested ive ways in which tile production facility emphasized the high quality
researchers can explore an expanded social concept of of recovered textiles and the quantity of ine blue-
value in the material record. Such an approach prom- banded cloth, and prompted further relections on the
ises to move beyond strictly economic perspectives broader signiicance of Egyptian ‘royal-linen’ from the
typically provided by a focus on labour and resources 18th Dynasty to the end of the New Kingdom.
alone. David Lumb considered the interactions between
Sarah Dermech explored the role of coloured textiles multiple craft industries that took place during the
as social markers and wealth objects by examining the production of textiles in his paper “The manufacture
changing use of colour across several diferent media and use of textile production tools at Tell Tayinat:
in her paper “Where did colors go? Looking for the reconstructing an Early Iron Age production system”.
colorization of textiles and its implications between By highlighting the active consumption of multiple
the Neolithic and the urbanization in the ANE (Early craft products, in the form of specialised textile pro-
Halaf - Late Chalcolithic period)”. Her work noted duction tools, he emphasised that textile producers
correlations between an apparent reduction in the use did not operate in isolation and that they interacted
of colour in several media (architecture, graves and with other crafts and other producers.
material culture) and the concomitant increase in the In his paper “Making meaning and reinforcing roles:
importance of coloured textiles. the consumption of manufacturing experiences as

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a mechanism for social reproduction”, Neil Erskine sheep wool and goat hair proiles, which difered from
investigated speciic craftsperson experiences during contemporary proiles analysed across Europe and the
the consumption of raw materials, time and meaning- Near East, highlighted the potential for this promising
ful experiences that took place in textile production. direction of comparative research to add depth to our
His approach aimed to go beyond studies tradition- understanding of the material culture.
ally limited to assessments of identity and showed Overall, the papers presented a wide array of subjects
how meaning embedded in textile production served and approaches that all served to broaden the scope
as a mechanism for social reproduction. and depth of textile related research. The session was
Finally, Margarita Gleba, Orit Shamir, Vanessa Work- well organised and comfortably situated in Seminar
man, Naama Sukenik and Erez Ben-Yosef, in their Room B of the Sir Charles Wilson Building (Univer-
paper “Deining the value of wool in the Iron Age: sity of Glasgow) where seating for 40 was illed at near
the case of textiles from Timna (Israel)”, considered capacity for the duration of the day.
diferences in raw material quality and value while
presenting a preliminary analysis of old and new pre-
served textile samples. Their identiication of distinct By David Lumb

Interweaving Cultures
17-18 February 2017, Madrid, Spain

The scientiic coordinators of the workshop “Inter- necessary to lower the chronology to 400 BC, since the
weaving Cultures: Fabric production, rituality and textile production here shows a later development in
commerce in the Late Bronze Age and the beginning relation to other areas of the Mediterranean. The anal-
of the Iron Age in both the Iberian Peninsula and ysis consists of 22 archaeological sites that are spread
the Balearic Islands”, which took place in the Museo over four regions: Catalunya, Alacant, Extremadura
Arqueológico Nacional (MAN), were Margarita Gleba and Seville. The ieldwork has been carried out by a
and Beatriz Marín Aguilera (University of Cambridge, team from the University of Barcelona led by David
UK). Fifteen speakers presented their work on dif- García i Rubert (Sant Jaume-Mas d’en Sarrà), Ana
ferent areas and archaeological sites located in the Navarro and Manuel Camacho from the Archaeologi-
Iberian Peninsula. cal Museum of Seville (El Carambolo, Seteilla, Cruz
The workshop was divided into ive sessions begin- del Negro, Cerro Macareno) and Sebastián Celes-
ning with an introduction by Margarita Gleba, as tino and Esther Rodríguez from the Archaeological
the principal investigator of the project PROCON Museum of Merida, CSIC (El Turuñuelo). The data
(2013-2018). She explained that the team was trying that has been analysed until now shows an increase
to analyse a hypothesis, which states that the pro- in textile production during the Iberian period (c. 4th
duction and consumption of textiles were important century BC – 1st century AD) after some indings that
promoters of the economy as well as the creation and pointed to an increase of loomweights and spindle
acquisition of wealth in the Mediterranean Europe whorls used. The most used fabrics in the Iberian Pen-
during the beginning of the urbanisation period (c. insula were linen, esparto and wool. There exists as
1000-500 BC). The bases of the project’s structure are well a certain specialisation in the textile production
formed by four lines of research within the operating diferentiating what is fabric (Sant Jaume) from spin-
chain of the textile industry: the resources, the pro- ning (Moleta del Remei). The project will inish with a
duction, the product and, inally, the consumption comparative study on three levels: irst, the Peninsula
and the exchange. and its regional diferences; second, the entire Medi-
Later, Beatriz Marin presented the last phase of the terranean sphere contrasting Greece, Italy and Spain;
project (PROCON) that includes a study of the Iberian and third, a local-colonial comparison.
Peninsula (after having successfully collected data in The second session treated the three sources used in
both Italy and Greece). In order to atain this, it was the study. Marisa Ruiz (Universidad Complutense de

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Madrid) related the rise of geometric-style potery with own unique production. Juan Antonio López (Museo
the decentralisation of political systems in connection Arqueológico de Alicante) and Javier Jover (Univer-
with changes in dress. After this, Julia Martínez (Uni- sidad de Almería) underlined the changes that took
versidad de Valencia) showed both the textual sources place at the archeological site of El Argar since 1750
and the textile remains that provide information BC and by means of anthropological dental evidence,
on the purple dye of vegetal origin known since the they showed special groups of women controlled tex-
Bronze Age for dying textiles, although there is only tile manufacture, distribution and exchange.
evidence of the Rubia tintorum. Finally, the curators of In the ifth session dedicated to fabrics and ritual,
the MAN, Ruth Maicas and Eduardo Galán, stressed Assumpció Malgosa (Universidad Autónoma de
the importance of the collections within the Depart- Barcelona) showed the singularity of the funerary
ment of Prehistory. rituals associated with the Cueva des Pas, Menorca
In the third session, which was dedicated to raw materi- (1100-900/800 BC), with 66 exhumed individuals
als, Ramón Buixó (Museo de Arqueología de Cataluña) with maximum lexion and wrapped up in funerary
talked about the exploitation of both linen and esparto bundles that alternate tie-wrapping with leather-ties.
on the Peninsula, focusing on his archeobotanic view Luis Berrocal (Universidad Autónoma Madrid), after
in comparing records with environmental conditions. analysing several archaeological sites of the late Tart-
Enrique García (Universidad de Sevilla) delivered a essic culture located in Extremadura (Cancho Roano,
paper, based on the archeological documentation, on La Mata, etc.), proposed that whenever there are
murex and the production of purple as a sign of luxury signiicant concentrations of loomweights, these are
that was reduced and diversiied from the 5th century indicators of the presence of several looms used to
BC onwards along with the birth of ethnic awareness weave diferent types of fabric using the same loom.
related to the expansion of new forms of community He concluded that in the 6th century BC the vertical
life. José Yravedra (Universidad Complutense de loom was introduced, but it was not until the 5th cen-
Madrid) presented a paper on the data collected from tury BC that its use became widespread. After this,
the Phoenician archeological site of the Teatro Cómico Lourdes Prados (Universidad Autónoma Madrid)
in Cadiz (in the area identiied as the Erytheia island spoke about the archeological evidence related to tex-
mentioned in some literary sources), asserting that it tile production in the Iberian period that displays not
was related to both the production of purple and the only a marked economic nature, but also a symbolic
secondary use of bovine and ovine for textile produc- value in the construction of gender, being decisive in
tion. Verónica Estaca-Gómez showed the functionality the status and social prestige among women that pos-
and economic purpose of catle in the Early Iron Age sess these skills. Prados asserted that it is not always
through the systematisation of data coming from ive possible to atribute in funerary contexts the textile
archeological sites. She explained the composition of grave goods to the female gender, following the case
the livestock, the contextualisation of its remains and of La Dama de Baza.
the exploitation of animals, dead and alive. Carmen Alfaro (Universidad de Valencia) staged the
In the fourth session, Carmen Risquez and Carmen closing ceremony and presented the classical sources,
Rueda (Universidad de Jaén) looked at textile produc- highlighting the importance of experimentation in
tion and maintenance activities in the Iberian societies increasing our knowledge of activities in the past,
of the archeological site of Cerro de Armas in Puente and citing several experimental workshops around
Tablas, Jaén, from the location of the houses to the Europe. She pointed out that spindle whorls are not
oppidum, passing by the sanctuaries and the necropo- the only proof that spinning took place and that they
lis. They assert that identity (gender, age, role in the may have been made of wood and, therefore, may not
cult) is transmited through dress and that it is neces- have been preserved.
sary to identify the crucial signiicance of fabric within The following day a guided tour took place at the
the production sphere of a society associated with a Museo Arqueológico Nacional, where the scholarly
domestic, economic and social environment, its role debate and exchange of ideas continued. The work-
as a marker of gender and status, and its importance shop was an excellent reunion of textile specialists and
in the creation of structures of prestige for aristocratic a great opportunity to get in touch and interchange
women. data, providing an interdisciplinary approach to the
Further, Irene Ruiz (Universidad de Granada) pre- study of textile activity in the Iberian Peninsula.
sented her PhD dissertation topic supporting the idea
that textile production in the Peninsula was at the
same level as surrounding territories and that it had its By María Consuelo Escandell Ferrando

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The Competition of Fibres

8-10 March 2017, Berlin, Germany

The workshop “The Competition of Fibres”, hosted economy”, in which she discussed the very scarce
by the Excellence Cluster Topoi at the Freie Univer- archaeological evidence for early wool from southern
sität Berlin, marks the end of a research project that Mesopotamia. Following this was Orit Shamir with
began in 2013. The research group (A-4) provocatively “Linen textile production – continuity and discontinu-
named “Textile Revolution” set out to investigate the ity from the Neolithic period to the Chalcolithic period
introduction of the woolly sheep to western Asia and in the southern Levant”, who showed the amazing
south-eastern Europe with methods from diferent preservation of plant ibre textiles in the dry deserts
scientiic perspectives, namely archaeology, archaeo- of the southern Levant. The paper of Thaddeus Nel-
zoology, geography and philology. The aim of the son on “Fibers, fabrics, and looms: a link between
three-day workshop was to present the main results animal ibers and warp weighted looms in the Iron
of the project and to discuss with the scientiic com- Age Levant” methodologically inspired to think
munity both the potential and the limitations of the about the connection between the warp-weighted
methods applied. The title of the conference was cho- loom and wool, while Janet Levy’s contribution on
sen to inspire the concern about “competing” textile “Archaic, male exclusive, loom from Oman” was an
ibre resources. The main intention was to discuss ethnographic as well as an experimental excursus. The
whether prehistoric raw materials replaced or com- keynote lecture by Ofer Bar Yosef on “The Neolithic
plemented each other and to what extent this can be Revolution in the Fertile Crescent and the origins of
recognised in the archaeological record. ibre technology” inspired us to think about the adop-
The conference started on Wednesday afternoon with tion process of innovations, a topic that continued to
papers concerning western Asia. The irst paper was rise throughout the workshop.
presented by Catherine Bréniquet on “Early wool of On Thursday the members of the Topoi Research
Mesopotamia c. 7000-3000 BC. Between prestige and group presented four papers. First, Wolfram Schier
presented “The Research Group ‘Textile Revolu-
tion’ – archaeological background and multi-proxy
approach”, followed by Chiara Schoch who pre-
sented a joint paper with Ana Grabundzjia on “Fibres
to ibres. Thread to thread. Comparing diachronic
changes in large spindle-whorl samples” with an
overview on the spindle-whorl data collected for the
two doctoral thesis. The archaeozoological project by
Christian Küchelmann, Norbert Bennecke and Cor-
nelia Becker was presented by Cornelia Becker with
the title “Finding the woolly sheep: meta-analyses
of archaeozoological data from SE Europe and the
Near East”. Finally, the geographical methodology
was presented by Martin Park in “Proxy evidence for
early pastoral subsistence following an environmental
approach”, explaining how pollen analysis might con-
tribute to the research question.
The following session was focused on Greece, covering
the period from the Neolithic to the Bronze Age. The
paper by Kalliope Sarri “Taming the ibers. Tradition

88 Archaeological Textiles Review No. 59

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and innovations in the textile cultures of Neolithic region”.

Greece” drew on spindle whorl data and textile tools The second day ended at the Freie Univerität’s Hol-
from ancient Greek sites, in addition to ethnographic zlaube building in Dahlem Dorf, where numerous
analogies. In her paper “Ex Oriente Ars? Anatolian- colleagues and friends organised a soiree in honour
izing spindle whorls in the Early Bronze Age Aegean of Cornelia Becker’s retirement from working and
and their implications for iber crafts”, Sophia Vakirzi teaching at the Institute for Prehistoric Archaeology.
focused on a peculiar type of spindle whorl appear- Workshop participants joined the reception, opened
ing in the Bronze Age Aegean islands. The paper by by Helmut Kroll’s talk on the 20th-century archaeology
Malgorzata Siennicka-Rahmstorf was concerned with methods and the impact of advancements in bioarche-
“Flax, wool or both? Evidence for diferent types of ological research.
ibres in Early Bronze Age Greece (3rd Millennium In the morning of the third day Johanna Banck-
BC)” and relied mainly on spindle whorl data. Agata Burgess presented on the “Verkannte Revolution:
Ulanowska presented an interesting comparison of Bedeutung von Gehölzbast im Kontext neolithischer
the advantages of lax and wool and an experience und frühbronzezeitlicher Textilien aus Feuchtboden-
archaeology approach in “Diferent skills for diferent siedlungen”, followed by very interesting accounts
ibres? The use of lax and wool in textile technol- of experimental reconstruction of Neolithic textiles
ogy of Bronze Age Greece in light of archaeological by Anne Reichert (“Wetbewerb der Fasern – Textile
experiments”. Materialien der Steinzeit und ihre Verarbeitung”).
In the afternoon, the session started with Margarita Vanya Petrova reported on spindle whorls from recent
Gleba who presented a joint paper with Susanna Har- excavations in Bulgaria in her paper on “The travel-
ris on “Fibres for splicing – technology and technique ling spinners of the 4th millennium BC in the Balkans”.
in the ancient Mediterranean” and asked for more ana- The amazing organic preservation in the Hallstat salt
lysed experimental data on splicing. Due to changes mines was presented by Karina Grömer in “Hallstat
in the programme, Virginija Rimkuté’s talk on “Plants textiles – raw materials, textile technologies, innova-
and plant ibres of the Eastern Baltic Litoral in the tions and cultural response in Central Europe in the
Neolithic and Bronze Age: experiments on process- 2nd and 1st mill. BC”. The methodology of ancient DNA
ing and textile production” followed. She presented extraction and examination was investigated by Ulrich
an extraordinary amount of hands-on material from Schmölcke and Elena Nikulina in “Microscopic and
her experiments. Sabine Karg inished the session archaeogenetic studies of hair”. The last contribution
presenting her project on the “Know-how about lax was presented by Linda Hurcombe with a lecture on
production of Neolithic farmers in the circum-alpine “Competing ibres: the plurality of clothing solutions”.

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The inal discussion made it obvious that clear-cut approaches and methods. The discussions were lively
results in the identiication of early ibre materials throughout the whole of the three days, especially in
are diicult to obtain with the available evidence. the cofee and lunch breaks. Thanks are due to Vir-
Workshop participants agreed that we might have to ginija Rimkuté and Anne Reichert for providing a lot
shift our research focus from investigating the initial of things to touch and look at: they both brought beau-
steps of the introduction of “new” raw materials to tiful examples of their reconstructions of Neolithic
understanding their widespread adoption. Further, textiles, along with ibre samples for examination.
all participants agreed on the importance of further
investigation of the topic and of the application of new By Ana Grabundzjia and Chiara Schoch

Mixtura Texturalis. People and

Textiles in the Carpathian Basin
19 April 2017, Budapest, Hungary
The conference was organised by the Lendület/ Szathmári pointed out that beside the valuable evi-
Momentum Mobility Research Group hosted dence of the anthropomorphic igurines and a few
by the Institute of Archaeology, Hungarian archaeological textiles from the Bronze Age, much
Academy of Sciences, Research Centre for the more atention should be given in future to the
Humanities (HAS RCH) (htp://mobilitas.ri.btk. numerous textile tools and imprints. The focus was
mta.hu/?lang=en) and the Lendület/Momentum on potsherds with textile impressions on the surface
Medieval Hungarian Economic History Research found in Bronze Age setlements in eastern Hungary
Group in the Institute of History (htp://www.ti. dated between 2000 and 1500 BC. The imprints are
hu/en/events/1868-rch-lendulet-medieval-hungar- from textiles of diferent vegetal materials (no wool
ian-economic-history-research-team.html) and in or other animal hair has been identiied so far) and
their short introductions Viktória Kiss and Bog- atest the use of textile techniques such as twining
lárka Weisz presented an overall view of the general and (coiled?) looping.
research of the Momentum Research Groups with The following paper “The Romans’ dirty laundry:
emphasis on the role of the Prehistoric and Medi- textile refurbishing workshops from Pannonia” by J.
eval textile economy. Pásztókai-Szeőke and I. Radman-Livaja introduced
During the morning session, the irst four papers the audience to Roman period textile refurbishing
were devoted to the archaeology of textile crafts workshops in Pannonia. Recent excavations in the
and production during the Middle Bronze Age, the southern suburb of the Roman colony of Savaria
Roman period, and the Early and Late Middle Ages have yielded an abundant corpus of textile tools and
in the Carpathian Basin, while in the afternoon the inscribed commercial lead tags belonging to a work-
Medieval textile economy of this region was pre- shop dated between AD 80 and 120. Most of these
sented in four other presentations. tools have no local indigenous predecessors, and the
In the irst paper “Textiles capsulated in clay: tools, only parallels are in Italy. The lead tags had abbrevi-
imprints and textile production in the 2nd millenium ated inscriptions in Latin and were probably used
BCE”, J. Pásztókai-Szeőke, V. Kiss, G. Kulcsár and I. as labels for wool and garments entrusted by clients

90 Archaeological Textiles Review No. 59

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to the care of this workshop for mending, (re)dying by economic historians as the most important branch
and/or fulling. Initial research results show there of Medieval industry, also stood in a high position
is a strong interpretive possibility that this Roman in the hierarchy of handcraft activities according
workshop refurbished used clothes. This establish- to Medieval assessments. The work of the masters
ment may have been required to fulil the demands employed in the weaving industry was connected
of Roman citizens new to this colonial territory for in a chain of activities that built on one another. The
the Roman-style maintenance of their clothes (These masters performing the inal phases of inishing the
might have difered from the local indigenous cloth (bleachers, dyers and shearers) became the
ways). greatest beneiciaries of the textile industry, since it
The third presentation “Early Medieval textile inds was in their workshops that the cloth was completed
from the Carpathian Basin – recent state of research” and put on the market at great proit. Therefore, in
by Á. Bollók, Zs. Básti, Zs. Masek, Sz. Merva and the Late Middle Ages the distinction between cloth
A. Miháczi-Páli gave a rich summary of local cuters and cloth merchants blurred. Further, the
textile production in this region during the Migra- social groups in the city of Bratislava, their social
tion Period. Various peoples, e. g. Huns, Germans, and topographic status and the regulation of their
Avars and Hungarians, who found their new home activities were introduced to the audience of the
time after time in the Carpathian Basin, probably conference.
brought their own textile-making traditions and At the conference we also became familiar with the
clothing cultures with them. Further, it was pointed central role of foreign textiles in the world of com-
out that a complementary examination of the textile mercial goods – clearly shown by the fact that they
workshops, pseudomorphic textile fragments pre- were regularly used as currency in the Middle Ages.
served by metal corrosion, as well as the available It was not only wages, commercial goods, real estate
iconographic evidence (e. g. in Byzantine mosaics) and ines that were paid of in textiles, but the New
is needed to make further conclusions about local Year’s Gift (strennalia munera) to the king had to be
consumption of the diferent textile materials. paid partly in cloth as well.
The fourth paper “About textiles without tex- The inal presentation (“Possible causes of a colour-
tiles: lead seals and their interpretations within change in archaeological textiles and the limits in
the Medieaval textile economy” by M. Mordovin reconstructing their colour”) by M. Békési-Gardán-
focused on lead cloth-seals recently found in exca- falvi and A. Várfalvi summarised their experience
vations in Late Medieval cities and market towns. in the restoration of archaeological textile remains,
These exquisite inds document the location of particularly in the identiication of diferent dyes.
western European textile manufacturers where the It was the irst time a conference made it possible for
sealed textile products (so-called “broadcloth”) Hungarian experts from diferent disciplines (e. g.
were made. The presentation gave a thorough anal- conservation studies, archaeology and history etc.)
ysis of the lead cloth-seals found in the Carpathian to discuss topics related to archaeological and his-
Basin and mapped out the wide-ranging commer- torical textile studies. It is the wish of the organisers
cial and textile economic network of Late Medieval to establish a new tradition for Mixtura texturalis
Hungary. conferences in the future by creating a cross-dis-
During the afternoon session, the historical aspects ciplinary academic pool where the researchers of
of the medieval textile economy were outlined by archaeological and historical textiles can gather
the three following presentations “Predators of the periodically for vivid academic discussions.
weaving industry” by R. Skorka, “Social history and
topography of the trimmers in the Late Medieval
period” by J. Majorossy and “Routes’ of textile” by By Viktória Kiss, Judit Pásztókai-Szeőke
B. Weisz. The weaving industry, which is considered and Boglárka Weisz

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NESAT XIII
22-26 May 2017, Liberec and Prague,
Czech Republic
When Milena Bramermanová atended her irst it is home to a young and dynamic technical univer-
NESAT (North European Symposium for Archaeolog- sity, with a lourishing Faculty of Textile Engineering,
ical Textiles) conference, she issued a pressing general and it was this department that hosted the event. The
invitation to the organisation: “Come to Prague Cas- organising team was led by Helena Březinová from the
tle!” And now, at last, NESAT has made the trip, and Institute of Archaeology of the CAS in Prague, whose
had the privilege of viewing the vast and wonderful management skills were evident in every aspect of the
collection of precious medieval silks in her care in the symposium, from raising sponsorship from a wide
Castle. range of generous donors, to seeing that participants
The ive-day meeting was based, not in Prague itself, were well fed and watered from the moment they
but in the delightful historic town of Liberec at the crossed the threshold.
foot of the mountains some 90 minutes’ drive north of The exponential rise in interest in archaeological tex-
the capital. Liberec was an inspired choice of venue: tiles since the irst NESAT symposium in 1981, though
very welcome, meant that, for the irst time, there had
to be a cap on numbers atending and wishing to speak.
The Programme Commitee had some diicult choices
to make. The programme that emerged covered in
twelve sections a complete chronological spectrum
from earliest prehistory to modern times, including
two sessions on experimental archaeology. Twenty-
two posters were also on display. Consequently, the
programme was tightly timed and fast-moving – and
for a reviewer simply impossible to summarise, let
alone pick out individual papers for comment! The
standard of presentation in general was high, and a
multitude of new topics was introduced.
Nevertheless, the reviewer will highlight one lecture:
the keynote, ‘festive’, address of Milena Bramer-
manová on the irst evening. She gave the symposiasts
a masterly, thorough and fascinating introduction to
the textiles in Prague Castle, a selection of which they
would have the opportunity to see in situ on the inal
day of the meeting. Those textiles did not disappoint!
In a feat of meticulous planning the organising com-
mitee conveyed the entire symposium to Prague for
the day, so that they could visit the textile holdings
and displays within the Castle precinct, and also view
an exhibition in the City of Prague Museum.
At intervals the organising commitee took the pres-
sure of. There were enjoyable social occasions, both
within Liberec University and in the impressive North
Bohemian Museum not far away – opportunities for
“networking” in new-speak, but really just occasions

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for greeting old friends and making new ones. as an expression of gratitude to the organising team
The symposium was, sadly, Milena’s swansong in a for their sheer hard work. But that is not yet quite at
formal curatorial context; for she is about to retire – an end; for publication of the papers is promised, and
though hopefully not from the ancient textile scene! sharp deadlines have been set. Watch this space!
NESAT reached Prague Castle in the nick of time. The
loral tributes and speeches on the inal evening were a
mark of personal afection and respect for her, as well By John Peter Wild

Dynamics and Organisation of

Textile Production in Past Societies
in Europe and the Mediterranean
21-22 June 2017, Łódź, Poland
The aim of the conference “Dynamics and organisa- would like to express their gratitude to the Insti-
tion of textile production in past societies in Europe tute of Archaeology and Ethnology, and especially
and the Mediterranean” was to scrutinise the Jerzy Maik and the colleagues from the Centre
mechanisms and conceptual frameworks of textile for Research on Ancient Technologies and Łódź
production by investigating the combined evidence Department of the Polish Academy of Sciences for
of archaeological textiles, textile tools and equip- their organisational help and inancial support. Two
ment, remains of textile workshops and dye-works, days of the conference were held in a remarkable art
as well as writen and iconographic sources. deco building, the former palace of Juliusz Kinder-
The conference was organised by Agata Ulanowska mann at Piotrkowska Street in Łódź, and included
from the Centre for Research on Ancient Technolo- a guided tour of the Central Museum of Textiles in
gies of the Institute of Archaeology and Ethnology Łódź.
in Łódź, Polish Academy of Sciences, Małgorzata The conference had six sessions with altogether
Grupa from the Institute of Archaeology, Nicolaus 23 presentations. After a welcome by the organ-
Copernicus University in Torun and Małgorzata isers and a short introduction by Jerzy Maik,
Siennicka from the Centre for Textile Research Małgorzata Siennicka presented results of her Marie
at the University of Copenhagen. The organisers Skłodowska-Curie research project “Greek Textile

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community. Dominika Kossowska-Janik (Univer-

sity of Warsaw) analysed the relationship between
changes in spindle whorls from Central Asian sites
and both the spread of coton crops from Near East
to Central Asia, and the scale of coton cultivation in
the mid-Sassanian period. Elsa Yvanez (University
of Lille) presented abundant evidence of the unique
textile tradition developed in the kingdom of Meroe
in Nubia, and proposed textile studies as an inno-
vative method of examining the economic resources
and social agency of the Meroitic kingdom. In her
presentation, María Irene Ruiz de Haro (University
of Granada) discussed the so far unparalleled tex-
tile workshop at the sanctuary of Baal and Astarte
at El Carambolo, Spain, and the sacral and ritual
dimensions of the textile production carried out by
Tools” and discussed changes in spinning and weav- the sanctuary. The modes of transmission of textile
ing, the introduction of new textile implements and skills through women in the ancient Greek world
techniques, the dynamics in exploitation of plant were examined by Alina Ciobotaru (University of
and animal ibres, and the organisation of produc- Bucharest) based on iconography as well as historic
tion during the Early Bronze Age in Greece. Melissa and literary sources. Textile imprints on potery in
Veters (University of Salzburg) focused on method- Central and Northern Europe, from the Mesolithic
ological approaches and showed how data available to Iron Age, deined for their special surface treat-
from Middle Bronze Age mainland Greece could be ment as “textile ceramics”, were systematically
compared, which techniques and chaîne opératoires analysed by Stefanie Schaefer (University of Kiel).
can be reconstructed and how this evidence its into The organisation of textile production in the Lusa-
suggested production modes in this period. Agata tial culture was discussed in two papers. Anna
Ulanowska re-examined Aegean iconography of Grossman (Biskupin Archaeological Museum)
paterned textiles and reviewed the technical possi- examined the organisation and specialisation of tex-
bilities of making textiles similar to those apparently tile production at Biskupin in Poland, based on the
rendered in art, illustrating methodological prob- preserved evidence of raw materials, textile tools
lems with translating textile iconography into and work places. Magdalena Przymorska-Sztuczka
speciic weaves and techniques by a few experi- (University of Toruń) presented the spatial distri-
mentally woven samples of fabrics. Katarzyna bution of textile tools as well as botanical remains
Żebrowska (University of Warsaw) presented the found in the households from the setlement at
main objectives of her research project which inves- Ruda in Poland. The diachronic and spatial distri-
tigates Sicilian textile tools from the Bronze Age, bution of textile tools discovered on Gotland, dated
and discussed the general framework for compara- to the Migration and Vendel Periods, was analysed
tive studies of textile production in Bronze-Age by Barbara Klessig (Humboldt State University).
Sicily. Giulia Muti (University of Manchester, in Penelope Walton Rogers (Anglo-Saxon Labora-
collaboration with Luca Bombardieri, University of tory) who participated in the conference via Skype,
Torino) discussed the organisation of textile produc- presented a paper about the changing paterns of
tion and the array of social dynamics connected to textile production in the Anglo-Saxon period, espe-
textile work at the Middle Bronze Age site of Erimi cially concentrating on the development of some
Laonin tou Porakou on Cyprus, and its importance large estate centres of production which developed
for constructing the community’s identity. Debo- alongside the original small, farm-based centres.
rah Cassuto (Bar Ilan University, Albright Institute Riina Rammo (in collaboration with Jaana Ratas,
of Archaeological Research) identiied areas of tex- University of Tartu) debated the possible social sta-
tile production at the Iron Age site of Tell eș-Șâfī/ tus of the skilled woman who was the owner of a
Gath, and examined how the diferent modes of tex- craft box discovered at the Lõhavere hillfort in Esto-
tile production entwined with the social, economic nia, in which such treasured items as standardised
and ritual implications of textile making for this decorations and prefabricating products for making

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clothing items were kept. The medieval evidence of Dawid Grupa (University of Toruń) discussed the
looms and weaving implements from Poland was variations of liturgical vestments found in priests’
discussed in two presentations. The irst, by Joanna burials, comparing the formal regulations with a
Słomska and Łukasz Antosik (Polish Academy of practice of recycling old chasubles and silk fabrics
Sciences) examined the development of weaving for making economic funeral vestments. Magdalena
techniques by diachronically analysing the remains Majorek (University of Toruń) examined the textile
of big looms, e. g. a warp-weighted loom, a horizon- upholstery of coins in the 18th and 19th centuries
tal pit loom and a treadle loom that were discovered AD in Poland in relation to strategies of decorating
at Early Medieval sites in Poland. The second, the coins according to the age, gender and social
by Małgorzata Grupa, discussed changes in the status of the deceased. In the last presentation, Beata
organisation of textile production, focusing on the Miazga (University of Wrocław) demonstrated non-
preserved wooden implements. Anna Rybarczyk destructive methods of analysing metal threads, e.
(Polish Academy of Sciences) examined the role of g. energy-dispersive X-ray luorescence and micro-
luxurious fabrics as markers of social status for the scopic observations, and presented the results of an
citizens of Late Medieval Elbing by considering the investigation of archaeological textiles dating to the
combined evidence of archaeological textiles and post-medieval period.
historical sources from this Hanseatic city. Each session was followed by vivid discussions and
Textile production in the modern era was the subject a follow-up conference is planned for 2019 in Toruń.
of the next three presentations. The archaeologi- The proceedings of the conference will be published
cal evidence of production techniques of secular in 2018 in a peer-reviewed special issue of the jour-
textile scapulars from the 18th and 19th centuries nal Fasciculi Archaeologiae Historicae.
AD in Poland, was compared with church regula-
tions, church guidelines, and the iconography of the By Agata Ulanowska, Małgorzata Siennicka
scapulars by Marcin Nowak (University of Toruń). and Małgorzata Grupa

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Plants as Fibre Resources: Approaches

from the Science and Art
Perspectives
2 September 2017, EAA, Maastricht, Netherlands
The 23rd “Annual Meeting of the European Associa- the introduction of the new variety of lax, spinning
tion of Archaeologists” took place from 30th August also began to be used for lax processing.
to 2nd September 2017. It gathered archaeologists and As textiles degrade easily, the presence and nature of
researchers from related ields to share and discuss textiles often needs to be studied through secondary
the results and latest indings from all ields of archae- evidence. The session included interesting presenta-
ology. The programme consisted of 1800 lectures, tions on this topic, concerning for example the use of
divided into more than 175 sessions. On the Saturday, spinning bowls, and interpretations of textile casts in
2nd of September the session called “Plants as Fibre clay. Sometimes the use of supplementary information
Resources: Approaches from the Science and Art Per- can be more revealing than studying actual textiles.
spectives” was held, where altogether nine extremely Studying textiles as such can reveal certain things, but
interesting papers were presented. The session was understanding the textile techniques also demands
chaired by plant ibre specialists Sabine Karg, Oto research on the processing tools.
Brinkkemper and Susanna Harris. It atracted such It is generally agreed that bast ibres cannot be
wide atention that extra seats needed to be acquired distinguished using only a single method. A multi-
to accommodate the audience. methodological approach is essential. The components
Even though the conference was enormous and all- of the identiication process are under severe debate
inclusive, this particular session gathered together at the moment, and this generated abundant discus-
specialists in the fairly small ield of plant ibre stud- sion both during and after the session. In addition to
ies in textile archaeology. This ensured lively debate the observation of surface characteristics, most of the
and discussion, as the researchers around Europe are researchers at the moment use the modiied Herzog
not often able to share their views in person. Due to test to determine the orientation of the ibres. Even
the fast development and implementation of natural though the method has its faults, it is considered to
scientiic methods, many plant-ibre related issues be the best one available at the moment, by being both
have recently been raised for new interpretation and cost-efective and relatively reliable.
discussion. As a result, several fundamental questions Some researchers rely on the presence of calcium oxa-
are currently under debate. Some of these were high- late crystals and others on cross-sectional observation.
lighted in the session, and three of them are discussed Both methods have advantages and disadvantages.
here: the early production of lax ibre, textile research The growth conditions and the maturity stage of
through related artefacts, and challenges in the meth- plants may afect the cross-sectional features of the
odology of bast ibre identiication. ibres. Processing, context, and state of degradation
The early production and processing methods of of the archaeological bast ibre sample may diminish
lax was the subject of several presentations. These the possible presence of crystals. As a result, a new
included new indings concerning textile technology analysis method, or a combination of methods, are a
and lax varieties used. Recent research proves that desideratum in the quest for reliable lax, hemp and
before the development of spinning techniques, lax netle identiication.
yarns were produced by splicing rather than spin- Altogether, the session provided fresh insights into
ning. The evidence for this conclusion was presented current themes in textile archaeology, and on behalf
and it was clear and plausible. Related to this was the of all participants I would like to say that it gave us a
idea that a new variety of lax, commonly known as great deal of inspiration and encouragement for future
Linum usitatissimum L., emerged synchronously with studies.
spinning. The hypothesis was that spinning whorls
were originally used to spin wool, and as a result of By Jenni A. Suomela

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Early Textiles Study Group

16-17 September 2017, Cambridge, UK
The theme for the 2017 ETSG conference was “Pre- allowed for both breadth and depth of subject mater,
cious Cloth and Court Culture.” The conference which drew many interesting connections between
convened at Lucy Cavendish College and featured a the various papers. Penelope Walton Roger’s paper
range of speakers from both near and far. The confer- “Clothing the Warrior King” presented the fascinat-
ence convener, Anna Muthesius, organised a range ing archaeological evidence for elite clothing, and
of speakers from ive countries, who covered a wide the importance of textiles as an expression of status
array of topics within the scope of court culture. There during the Anglo-Saxon period. The inclusion of
was a clear sentiment of celebrating international papers discussing both early and late medieval Eng-
connections, with a particular interest in exploring land provided interesting scope and demonstrated
textiles from geographic regions beyond Europe and the diversity of elite expression, even within a single
the Mediterranean. country viewed from diferent points in time. Christo-
The theme of court culture presented the opportunity pher Hall presented beautiful images of Ming dynasty
for the celebration of sumptuous textiles from across robe badges from his collection, while Sally Yu Leung
the globe, which was a visual treat. Sibel Alpaslan expanded on the context in which these badges would
Arça from Istanbul entertained us with magniicent be worn in her lecture discussing changing motifs on
imagery of costume and furnishing textiles of the these court robes. Lena Dahrén’s work tracing the
Otoman court, and it worked beautifully as a contrast provenance of 16th century gold lace through portrai-
to Muthesius’ paper on equally opulent Byzantine ture, extant pieces and genealogy, demonstrated a
court textiles, which provided an excellent long-rang- clear connection between Sweden and England, fur-
ing view of textiles from the same geographic region ther underlining the importance of understanding
but with very diferent cultural contexts. Maria Barri- global connections in the ield of textile research.
gón Montañés from Madrid introduced us to 12th and Practical demonstrations on the second day of the
13th century precious textiles from the Castillian court, conference tied nicely with lecture topics, and pro-
including images of some beautiful extant garments vided a wonderful opportunity for artisans who were
from this time period. There was palpable excitement not speakers (myself included) to share their knowl-
to hear Lesley Pullen’s paper on Javanese court cloth edge and skills. Helen M. Stevens demonstrated
during the reign of King Krtanagara, which intro- Anglo-Saxon embroidery techniques, Ros Tyrrell
duced the conference to a fascinating (and, to most of demonstrated a technique for making gold lace, and
us, an unfamiliar) subject. I presented photo and video documentation of work I
An additional recurring theme throughout the con- had previously done rearing silkworms and process-
ference was the use of courtly textiles for purposes ing silk. This provided the opportunity to discuss
beyond that of personal adornment. Lisa Monnas’ textile techniques informally in a way that suited the
paper on English court textiles during the 14th and tactile nature of this sort of work.
15th centuries, and Maria Hayward’s discussion of the Fascinating conversation continued outside of the
use of cushions as status symbols during the reign conference program, during cofee breaks and over
of Henry VII, emphasised the sometimes overlooked delicious meals, which created a welcoming atmo-
uses of textiles as furnishings in English court culture. sphere. Overall, the friendly yet thought-provoking
This connected beautifully to a number of other talks environment of the conference was an excellent
where furnishing textiles were mentioned and served experience for a newcomer, and I would highly rec-
to highlight this equally important use of cloth as a ommend any future ETSG conferences to anyone who
mark of status. has a passion for early textiles.
The wide-ranging expertise of the conference speakers By Gwendoline Pepper

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CIETA (Centre d’Etudes des Textiles

Anciens) Conference
25-27 September 2017, St Petersburg, Russia
CIETA assemblies and conferences take place on a Russia, France, Swizerland, Belgium, Italy, Spain,
biannual basis, always at venues with major textile Portugal, Denmark, Sweden, Finland, the United
collections. This year the conference took place at the Kingdom, the Netherlands, Germany, Austria, Poland,
State Hermitage Museum in Saint Petersburg and the Croatia, the United States, Canada and Japan.
theme of the conference was “Power, Rank and Sta- The irst session held at the Winter Palace was “Tex-
tus – Textiles and Representation”. The Hermitage tiles and representation – early documents”. Agata
Museum has an important collection of prehistoric Ulanowska presented “Textile knowledge and skills
fabrics from Pazyruk, Moshchevayay Balka and Noin- as a possible marker of status in societies of Bronze
Ulla – with exhibits of items which cannot be found Age, Greece” and Elena Tsareva spoke about “Levels
anywhere else in the world. The Hermitage also has of status – representational textiles in burial mounds
collections of costume, Eastern carpets, and Russian of early nomads in southern Siberia”.
and European tapestries and fabrics. The Hermitage The second session was on textiles in the Hermitage
had prepared two exhibitions especially for the CIETA collections with special presentations and guided
conference: “The Hermitage encyclopedia of textiles. tours. They were private because there is no pub-
History”, with masterpieces from the collection, and lic access to the museum on Monday. To be special
“The Hermitage encyclopedia of textiles. Conserva- guests undisturbed in the Winter Palace was an amaz-
tion”, which presented the highlights of work by the ing experience.
museum’s laboratory staf. The Hermitage prides Anna Maria Colombo presented “Un damas Italien
itself on its Laboratory for the Scientiic Restoration of au service du tsar” and Kirsten Toftegaard spoke on
Fabrics and Water-based Paintings, with expertise on “Early Modern printed textiles in the western Euro-
a variety of materials, from the restoration of palace pean collection of the state Hermitage Museum – A
interiors to work on a microscopic level with archeo- question of power, rank and status?” The very impor-
logical artefacts. tant collaboration on silk textiles between France
Around 200 specialists took part in the conference, (Lyon) and Russia were shown in Titiana Lekhovich
curators of museum collections, researchers from uni- and Marie Bouzard’s talk on “Lyon et les commandes
versities and other institutions, and conservators from russes de soieries Lyonnaises dans la seconde moitié

98 Archaeological Textiles Review No. 59

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du 19 siècles.” Ekaterina Polyakova discussed “Textile

designers from Lyon at the Russian court in the sec-
ond half of the 18th century” and Cocha H. Carretero
gave her “L’histoire de Don Quichote”. Finally, Nina
Tarasova showed “Ceremonial costumes of the Rus-
sian imperial court: A life of regulations”. The other
sessions were about textiles and representations in
sacred spaces and in a global context. There was also
a discussion about “Visual social media platforms – as
Tatiana Lekhovich – curator at the Hermitage, member of
new applications in scholarly publishing” from Chris- CIETA steering commitee, and organiser of the conference.
tina B. Carr from the Metropolitan Museum, New
York. studies on techniques. All in all, it was very impressive
The third day of the conference took place at the Her- programme and presentation of the rich textile collec-
mitage Conservation Centre Staraya Derevnya in the tions in St Petersburg – Inoubliable!
old village. Themes included “Textile and represen-
tation of European courts” and there were some case By Susanne Lervad

Egyptian Textiles and their

Production: Word and Object
24 November 2017, Copenhagen, Denmark
The conference was convened by archaeologist and her research on “Loom types in Roman Egypt”. She
historian Maria Mossakowska-Gaubert as part of her combined iconography and papyrological evidence to
Marie Sklodowska Cuire project MONTEX - Monks, suggest the simultaneous existence of diferent looms.
nuns, and textiles: Production, Circulation, and Dis- Conservator Anne Kwaspen (independent researcher,
tribution of Textiles in the Monastic Environment in Antwerpen, Belgium) showed convincingly in her
Egypt (4th-8th Centuries AD) at the Centre for Tex- presentation how the precise study of details in woven-
tile Research (CTR), University of Copenhagen. The to-shape tunics can help identify types, and that linen
conference was designed to unite research on textile and wool tunics, respectively, feature a speciic range
words and textile materials, thus bridging philology of decorative and functional elements. Thus, such
and archaeology. A second goal was to embed the detailed studies are necessary in order to explain and
discussion of textiles in Egypt within diferent schol- identify types.
arly traditions of textile research, in other parts of the In the session “Technical aspects of weaving: looms
world. and tools”, chaired by archaeologist and historian
In the irst session, chaired by tapestry weaver and Pascale Ballet (Université Paris X, France), textile
art historian Ulrikka Mokdad (CTR), focus was on the archaeologist Lise Bender Jørgensen (NTNU, Nor-
technical aspects of weaving: looms and tools. The irst way), took up the thread of the excavations of ‘Abu
two brief presentations gave insights into the current Sha’ar, and displayed the technical aspects of the tex-
textile research trends in the Scandinavian area. CTR tiles found in the monastery at ‘Abu Sha’ar, both those
director Eva Andersson Strand introduced the “Early for clothing and furnishing. Likewise, Barbara Köstner
textile production in Scandinavia”, and textile conser- (University of Bonn, Germany) presented the research
vator Lena Bjerregaard (CTR) introduced the research in her current PhD project. She has examined the
ield and inds range of “Pre-Columbian looms of laws and weaving mistakes identiied in Late Roman
South America”. In her own presentation, Maria compound fabrics from Egypt, and illustrated how
Mossakowska-Gaubert discussed the latest results of these are a technical key to how the weavers worked.

Archaeological Textiles Review No. 59 99

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Fleur Letellier (Université de Limoges, France) gave Vienna, Austria). They have studied dye recipes in
a presentation of the extremely rich archaeological texts and discussed who would request such docu-
evidence of textiles in el-Deir, Kharga Oasis in the ments in a culture where craft and knowledge is
western Egyptian desert, which includes fabrics of cot- primarily communicated orally. Textiles in the Papy-
ton, wool and linen. Papyrologist Jennifer Cromwell rus Collection underwent dye analysis and the results
(University of Copenhagen), surveyed all Coptic and showed a dominance of madder as a source of dye;
Greek texts from 4th-century Kellis in order to ind tex- and experimental dyeing was conducted in order to
tual evidence for the textile production in the Dakhla test both the recipes and the results of dye analysis.
Oasis. This includes descriptions of yarn, dyes, fabrics, The authors concluded that the textiles testify to a
garments and furnishings, weavers and looms. It is an highly specialised trade and well organised logistics.
exciting glimpse into the negotiations between traders Classical philologist Peder Flemestad (Lund Uni-
and producers, hiring of textile workers, and garment versity, Sweden) surveyed an impressive number of
prices, which vary between the diferent areas in Egypt lexicographical sources for ancient Greek dye termi-
and reach the extreme heights of a luxury 5000-talents nology. While the default verb is baptein, meaning to
tunic sticharion. There are hints at trade competition immerse/dye, a great number of other dye terms exist.
and choices made by producers and consumers. An These are also related to the semantic ields of medi-
account book states that warp thread is more expen- cine, poison, spices, cosmetics, and drugs in various
sive and more time consuming than weft thread. Indo-European languages. Moreover, dye terms also
The last session, “Dyeing technology: dyestufs, often carry moral values, and, for example, have a
mordants and installations”, was chaired by Latinist (negative) connotation of staining or deceiving. The
Magdalena Öhrman (CTR). First, she introduced pre- dye terms also reveal technological aspects, and these
historic archaeologist Ulla Mannering (CTR/National are important to take into account from both a termi-
Museum of Denmark) who presented the many sys- nological, as well as a craft perspective.
tematic dye analyses conducted since 2005 on the The inal section, “Textile production: organisation
Danish archaeological textiles of the Bronze and Early and economy”, was led by ancient historian Claire
Iron Ages. While the Bronze Age fabrics contain no Taylor (University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA).
traces of dyes, the Iron Age samples are rich in dyes, In this section, the wider picture of ancient textiles
mostly in yellow hues, but also occasionally reds and in manufacture and in agriculture in Egypt was in
blues. They all come from plant dyes. focus. Classical philologist Katerina Koroli (Papyrus-
Historian and dye expert Dominique Cardon (CNRS/ sammlung, Vienna) used the private papyrus leters
Université Lyon 2, France) gave a lecture on the dye to explore the textile production. They are dated to
analyses of textiles from six praesidia of the Eastern the Roman and Byzantine periods and accumulate
Desert of Egypt (1st-3rd century AD). She combined ico- information and request exchanges between the leter
nography with dye analyses of textiles, often looking writers and the receivers. She exempliied some rel-
purple but containing a blend of indigotine dye and evant complex technical textile terms, such as synerga
madder or kermes, thus not true purple. Occasionally, and ergaleia, with multiple meanings but close aini-
true purple was identiied on Roman clavi in Didy- ties to the textile production. The agricultural aspects
moi, sometimes combined with red plant or insect of textile ibre production was also examined by Isa-
dyes. She suggested that purple in the irst three cen- belle Marthot (University of Basel, Swizerland) in her
turies AD had become more widespread than before paper on “Flax growing in Late Antique Egypt: evi-
and was therefore seen on clothing beyond the elite. dence from the papyri”. Finally, the day’s themes and
The ancient dyeing technology was then explored in questions were summarised by the session chairs.
a joint multidisciplinary paper by Ines Bogensperger
and Helga Rösel-Mautendorfer (Papyrussammlung, By Marie-Louise Nosch

100 Archaeological Textiles Review No. 59