Abstract
Following the growth in textile studies over the past decade, we aim to present a comprehensive update of the state-of-the-art summarised in the seminal 2010 paper “Old Textiles – New Possibilities” by E. Andersson Strand, K. M. Frei, M. Gleba, U. Mannering, M.-L. Nosch and I. Skals. The diverse developments of the last decade, along with the increased recognition of the importance of textile studies in adjacent fields, now merit a dedicated, full-length publication entitled “Ancient Textile Production from an Interdisciplinary Perspective: Humanities and Natural Sciences Interwoven for our Understanding of Textiles”. With this volume, we also wish to illustrate the current impact of textile archaeology on the scholarly perception of the past (not limited to archaeology alone). The volume presents new insights into the consumption, meaning, use and re-use of textiles and dyes, all of which are topics of growing importance in textile research. As indicated by the title, we demonstrate the continued importance of interdisciplinarity by showcasing several ‘interwoven’ approaches to environmental and archaeological remains, textual and iconographic sources, archaeological experiments and ethnographic data, from a large area covering Europe and the Mediterranean, Near East, Africa and Asia. The chronological span is deliberately wide, including materials dating from c. 6th millennium BCE to c. mid-14th century CE.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Similar content being viewed by others
Notes
- 1.
The full list of the contributors of the Session#133 is available in the EAA 2019 Programme Book: 332–335, https://www.e-a-a.org/EAA2019/Programme.aspx?WebsiteKey=92bb0c7f-79c0-4998-9804-b5db83f9a8b9andhkey=48f0a584-1ae8-4680-bcef-572c6fe82598andProgram=3#Program, accessed 6 Dec 2021.
- 2.
Clothing and Identities: New perspectives on textiles in the Roman Empire (DressID) – EU-culture programme (contract n.2007–1765/001–001 CTU COOPMU).
References
Andersson Strand E (2010) Experimental textile archaeology. In: Andersson Strand E, Gleba M, Mannering U, Munkholt C, Ringgaard M (eds) North European symposium for archaeological textiles X. NESAT X. Ancient Textiles Series 5. Oxbow Books, Oxford and Oakville, p 1–3.
Andersson Strand E, Frei KM, Gleba M, Mannering U, Nosch M-L, Skals I (2010) Old textiles – new possibilities. European Journal of Archaeology 13(2):149–173.
Andersson Strand E, Nosch M-L (eds) (2015) Tools, textiles and contexts. Investigating textile production in the Aegean and Eastern Mediterranean Bronze Age. Ancient Textiles Series 21. Oxbow Books, Oxford and Philadelphia.
Andersson Strand E, Lindgren S, Larsson C (2016) Capturing our cultural intangible textile heritage, MoCap and craft technology. In: Ioannides M, Fink E, Moropoulou A, Hagedorn-Saupe M, Fresa A, Liestøl G, Rajcic V, Grussenmeyer P (eds) Digital heritage progress in cultural heritage: Documentation, preservation, and protection, 6th international conference, EuroMed 2016, Nicosia, Cyprus, October 31–November 5 2016, proceedings. Springer, Cham, p 11–15.
Barber, EJW (1991) Prehistoric textiles. The development of cloth in the Neolithic and Bronze Age with special reference to the Aegean. Princeton University Press, Princeton.
Banck-Burgess J (2019) THEFBO. The cultural-historical importance of textile production in the prehistoric wetland settlements. Archaeological Textiles Review 61:122–127.
Broholm HC, Hald M (1940) Costumes of the Bronze Age in Denmark. F. Brommer, Copenhagen.
Cybulska M, Florczak T, Maik J (2010) Visual reconstruction of archaeological textiles. Andersson Strand E, Gleba M, Mannering U, Munkholt C, Ringgaart M (eds) North European symposium for archaeological textiles X. NESAT X. Ancient Textiles Series 5. Oxbow Books, Oxford and Oakville, p 37–40.
Crowfoot GM (1931) Methods of hand spinning in Egypt and the Sudan. Bankfield Museum Note n°12. F. King & Sons Ltd., Halifax.
Gillis C, Nosch M-L (eds) (2007) First aid for the excavation of archaeological textiles. Oxbow Books, Oxford.
Grömer K (2014) Römische Textilien in Noricum und Westpannonien – im Kontext der archäologischen Gewebefunde 2000 v. Chr.–500 n. Chr. in Österreich. Austria Antiqua 5. Uni Press Graz Verlag, Graz.
Grömer K (2015) Textile research in Austria – an overview. In: Grömer K, Pritchard F (eds) Aspects of the design, production and use of textiles and clothing from the Bronze Age to the Early Modern era. The North European symposium for archaeological textiles, 21st–24th May 2014 in Hallstatt, Austria. NESAT XII. Archaeolingua 33, Budapest, p 13–24.
Grömer K (2016) The art of prehistoric textile making. The development of craft traditions and clothing in Central Europe. Veröffentlichungen der Prähistorischen Abteilung 5. Verlag des Naturhistorischen Museums Wien, Vienna.
Grömer K, Kern A, Reschreiter H, Rösel-Mautendorfer H (eds) (2013) Textiles from Hallstatt. Weaving culture in Bronze and Iron Age salt mines. Textilien aus Hallstatt. Gewebte Kultur aus dem bronze- und eisenzeitlichen Salzbergwerk. Archaeolingua 29, Budapest.
Hoffmann M (1964) The warp-weighted loom. Studia norvegica 1. Universitetsförlaget, Oslo.
Kristiansen K (2014) Towards a new paradigm? The Third Science Revolution and its possible consequences in archaeology. Current Swedish Archaeology 2:11–34.
Maik J (2019) 70 years of Polish research on archaeological textiles. Przegląd Archeologiczny 67:73–83.
Mårtensson L, Nosch M-L, Andersson Strand E (2009) Shape of things: Understanding a loom weight. Oxford Journal of Archaeology 28(4):373–398.
Nosch M-L, Ulanowska A, Yvanez E (2020) EuroWeb – a new European network and COST action 2020–2024. Archaeological Textiles Review 62:183–186.
Nowak-Böck B, Voß H (2015) Standardised mapping system for the digital documentation of organic materials on metal finds and in-situ-blocs. Archaeological Textiles Review 57:60–69.
Olofsson L, Andersson Strand E, Nosch M-L (2015) Experimental testing of Bronze Age textile tools. In: Andersson Strand E, Nosch M-L (eds) Tools, textiles and contexts. Investigating textile production in the Aegean and Eastern Mediterranean Bronze Age. Ancient Textiles Series 21. Oxbow Books, Oxford and Philadelphia, p 75–100.
Peek C (2013) Dokumentation organischer Bodenfunde. In: Banck-Burgess J, Nübold C (eds) The North European symposium for archaeological textiles XI, 10-12 May 2011 in Esslingen am Neckar. NESAT XI. Verlag Marie Leidorf, Rahden/Westfahlen, p 37–44.
Pfister R (1934) Textiles de Palmyre. Les Éditions d’Art et d’Histoire, Paris.
Pfister R (1937) Nouveaux textiles de Palmyre. Les Éditions d’Art et d’Histoire, Paris.
Renfrew C, Bahn P (1991) Archaeology: Theories, methods and practice. Thames and Hudson, London.
Schlabow K (1952) Der Prachtmantel von Thorsberg, der Schlüssel zum altgermanischen Webstuhl. Karl Wachholz Verlag, Neumünster.
Ulanowska, A (2016) Towards methodological principles for experience textile archaeology. Prilozi Instituta za arheologiju u Zagrebu 33:317–339.
Vanden Berghe I, Gleba M, Mannering U (2009) Towards the identification of dyestuffs in Early Iron Age Scandinavian peat bog textiles. Journal of Archaeological Science 36(9):1910–1921.
Vanden Berghe I (2013) Dye analysis of archaeological textile objects. In: Banck-Burgess J, Nübold C (eds) The North European symposium for archaeological textiles XI, 10-12 May 2011 in Esslingen am Neckar. NESAT XI. Verlag Marie Leidorf, Rahden/Westfahlen, p 57–62.
von Stokar W (1938) Spinnen und Weben bei den Germanen. Eine vorgeschichtlich-Naturwissenschaftliche Untersuchungen. Mannus-Bücherei 59. Curt Kabitzsch Verlag, Leipzig.
Walton P, Eastwood G (1988) A brief guide to the cataloguing of archaeological textiles. Textiles Research Associates, York.
Acknowledgements
The editors of this volume wish to express their particular thanks to Eva Andersson Strand, Ulla Mannering and Marie-Louise Nosch for the inspiration and generosity in sharing their thoughts on textile studies with a new generation of researchers. We would also like to thank the colleagues from the EAA and the University of Bern for their help in organising the EAA session in 2019. The organisation of this session would not be possible without the funding received by Agata Ulanowska from the National Science Centre of Poland for the research project “Textiles and Seals. Relations between Textile Production and Seals and Sealing Practices in Bronze Age Greece” (ref. no. 2017/26/D/HS3/00145).
The editors wish also to thank Christi Jongepier-Lue, the Associate Editor at Springer, for her invitation to publish our work in the Interdisciplinary Contributions to Archaeology series and her support in preparing the proposal.
Finally, the editors wish to sincerely and warmly thank all the peer-reviewers who kindly agreed to contribute their time and generously shared their expertise and knowledge in order to improve this publication. They are, in alphabetical order: Magdalena Biesaga (University of Warsaw, Poland), Chris Cooksey (University College London, United Kingdom), Maria Cybulska (Lodz University of Technology, Poland), Ida Demant (Sagnlandet Lejre, Denmark), Giovanni Fanfani (Deutsches Museum, Munich, Germany), Cäcilia Fluck (Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Germany), Barbara Kaim (University of Warsaw, Poland), Katrin Kania (independent researcher, Germany), Ioannis Karapanagiotis (University Ecclesiastical Academy of Thessaloniki, Greece), Marta Lucini (University Vienna, Austria), Joy McCorriston (Ohio State University, the United States of America), Isabelle Martelli (IULM University-Milan, Italy – Paris IV-Sorbonne, France), Alessandro Quercia (Soprintendenza Archeologia Belle Arti e Paesaggio per la Città metropolitana di Torino, Italy), Antoinette Rast-Eicher (ArcheoTex, Switzerland), Kalliope Sarri (University of Copenhagen, Denmark), Małgorzata Siennicka (Univeristy of Göttingen, Germany), Stella Spantidaki (ARTEX Hellenic Centre for Research and Conservation of Archaeological Textiles, Athens, Greece) and Louise Steel (University of Wales Trinity Saint David). We also thank the four anonymous reviewers of the entire volume for their valuable comments and feedback.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2022 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Ulanowska, A., Grömer, K., Vanden Berghe, I., Öhrman, M. (2022). Introduction. In: Ulanowska, A., Grömer, K., Vanden Berghe, I., Öhrman, M. (eds) Ancient Textile Production from an Interdisciplinary Perspective. Interdisciplinary Contributions to Archaeology. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-92170-5_1
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-92170-5_1
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-92169-9
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-92170-5
eBook Packages: HistoryHistory (R0)