Marie-Louise Nosch

Comment on “30,000-Year-Old Wild Flax Fibers”

Kvavadze et al. (Brevia, 11 September 2009, p. 1359) identified fiber samples as 30,000-year-old flax based on a comparison with modern flax fibers analyzed by compound microscope and on the presence of dislocations/nodes in the fibers. We argue that this evidence is not sufficient to identify the fibers as flax.

Tracing the dynamic life story of a Bronze Age Female.

Ancient human mobility at the individual level is conventionally studied by the diverse application of suitable techniques (e.g. aDNA, radiogenic strontium isotopes, as well as oxygen and lead isotopes) to either hard and/or soft tissues. However, the limited preservation of coexisting hard and soft human tissues hampers the possibilities of investigating high-resolution diachronic mobility periods in the life of a single individual. Here, we present the results of a multidisciplinary study of an exceptionally well preserved circa 3.400-year old Danish Bronze Age female find, known as the Egtved Girl. We applied biomolecular, biochemical and geochemical analyses to reconstruct her mobility and diet. We demonstrate that she originated from a place outside present day Denmark (the island of Bornholm excluded), and that she travelled back and forth over large distances during the final months of her life, while consuming a terrestrial diet with intervals of reduced protein intake. We also provide evidence that all her garments were made of non-locally produced wool. Our study advocates the huge potential of combining biomolecular and biogeochemical provenance tracer analyses to hard and soft tissues of a single ancient individual for the reconstruction of high-resolution human mobility.

Nettle as a distinct Bronze Age textile plant

It is generally assumed that the production of plant fibre textiles in ancient Europe, especially woven textiles for clothing, was closely linked to the development of agriculture through the use of cultivated textile plants (flax, hemp). Here we present a new investigation of the 2800 year old Lusehøj Bronze Age Textile from Voldtofte, Denmark, which challenges this assumption. We show that the textile is made of imported nettle, most probably from the Kärnten-Steiermark region, an area which at the time had an otherwise established flax production. Our results thus suggest that the production of woven plant fibre textiles in Bronze Age Europe was based not only on cultivated textile plants but also on the targeted exploitation of wild plants. The Lusehøj find points to a hitherto unrecognized role of nettle as an important textile plant and suggests the need for a re-evaluation of textile production resource management in prehistoric Europe.

Old Textiles – New Possibilities

AbstractTextile research has become an important field of archaeology. Although the established analytical methods are often viewed as specialized, their integration with other interdisciplinary approaches allows us to deal with broader archaeological issues and provides the interpretational base for a much more comprehensive investigation of textiles in ancient times. Analyses of fibres, Together, these approaches can provide new knowledge about textile production and consumption and, thereby, about people and society in ancient times. dyes, archaeobotanical and archaeozoological remains, as well as palaeoenvironmental and geochemical investigations, provide information about available resources, while tool studies, experimental testing, and visual grouping are approaches that explore the technology and techniques.

Observations on the Terminology of Textile Tools in Diocletian's Edict on Maximum Prices

The Edictum Diocletiani et collegarum: The so-called Edict of Maximum Prices was issued in AD 301 as part of a comprehensive administrative and financial reform released in the reign of the Roman emperor Diocletian. Diocletian came to power in AD 284 after a period in Roman history traditionally understood as a time of ‘crisis’, produced by a series of inter-related factors: a frequent turnover of emperors; problems with the economy in terms of production and coinage; incursions by various tribes on the edges of the empire; internal unrest; the rise of Christianity and periodic persecutions. Diocletian’s actions were arguably pragmatic responses to the situation he found the empire in on his accession. The Edict should be seen alongside a number of reforms during his reign and is regarded by some scholars as the most important inscription of Late Antiquity. Several editions and translations have been published thus far. In addition to the continuous publication of new finds of the text itself, commentaries on different aspects of the Edict abound.The main purpose of the Edict, at least according to its own preface, was to fix maximum prices for a wide range of services and products that had constantly been jeopardized by the avarice of some merchants and traders who were known to ask for prices up to 8 times the usual amount. According to the text itself, the main beneficiaries of the Edict were the soldiers of the Roman army with a fixed salary that would not have allowed them to purchase the above-mentioned products and services at such excessive prices. The prices mentioned regard transportation, food, wages for craftsmen as well as special goods such as marble and numerous clothing items and textiles. All in all, around 1300 items, wages, and services are mentioned. In detail, studies on specific materials mentioned in the Edict, like glass and marble, are well covered as are those on the different areas of production, services, and costs for transport. Some aspects of ancient textile technology and clothing have been treated in greater detail, such as the different types of purple mentioned, wool, clothing and cloth, as well as specific terminological questions related to clothes. Despite this interest in the range and types of clothing, scholarship has not yet focussed on the textile tools mentioned in the Edict. This contribution proposes to fill part of this gap. (Less)

Mise en œuvre d’une approche globale des textiles anciens au Centre de recherche sur les textiles de Copenhague

La recherche scandinave sur les textiles, qui s’appuie sur les traditions de l’archeologie experimentale, a beneficie de l’excellent etat de conservation des textiles anciens. L’article evoque tout d’abord les origines de la discipline au xixe siecle et decrit son evolution. Les disciplines concernees par les recherches actuelles sont ensuite etudiees sous l’angle des nouvelles methodologies, des sources et de la collaboration entre chercheurs, ce qui permet de discuter les fondements theoriques de l’investigation. Le Centre de recherche sur les textiles (CTR) a developpe des traditions et des reseaux de recherche etablis en apportant ses propres innovations. Il a notamment contribue a consolider le champ d’etudes en encourageant l’interdisciplinarite et les nouvelles methodes d’enseignement et de recherche. Les etudes sur les textiles s’ancrent desormais dans diverses disciplines qui touchent aux humanities et aux sciences sociales, ainsi qu’aux sciences de la nature. De nouvelles questions sont posees, donnant naissance a de nouvelles reflexions. En conclusion, nous abordons les orientations futures a l’attention des prochaines generations de chercheurs confrontes a de nouveaux cadres theoriques et a l’accumulation croissante de donnees sur les textiles.

SPINNING AND WEAVING WOOL IN UR III ADMINISTRATIVE TEXTS

In his book Untersuchungen zur Neusumerischen Textilindustrie (UNT), Hartmut Waetzoldt 1 has written extensively on the interpretation of Ur III textile texts. His emphasis in that work was directed towards the difficult task of understanding the cryptic texts that served to log the administration of the work of the textile industry. The aim of this paper is to bring together the information from the administrative texts that describe the tasks of spinning and weaving wool and to interpret these in the practical terms of textile making in order to gain a better understanding of the nature of these textiles. This will use the knowledge base gained by the Danish National Research Foundation’s Centre for Textile Research in Copenhagen (CTR). In particular, it will use the results of spinning and weaving experiments that were designed by CTR. The interpretation of the texts used here will closely follow that given by Waetzoldt in UNT. 2 In a discussion on the manufacture of woolen textiles it is natural to start by considering wool quality before going on to consider the spinning of the yarn and the weaving of the textiles. The textile tablets list many different types of fabrics and garments. However, the intention here is to concentrate on four of the main types of textile, namely, tug guz-za, tug nig-lam, tug us-bar and tug bar-dul 5 (which, for convenience, will be written in this paper without the determinatives). It will be shown that the eventual type of fabric produced was determined by both the selection of the wool and the spinning of the yarn.