Ulla Mannering

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.

Species identification of archaeological skin objects from Danish bogs: comparison between mass spectrometry-based peptide sequencing and microscopy-based methods.

Denmark has an extraordinarily large and well-preserved collection of archaeological skin garments found in peat bogs, dated to approximately 920 BC – AD 775. These objects provide not only the possibility to study prehistoric skin costume and technologies, but also to investigate the animal species used for the production of skin garments. Until recently, species identification of archaeological skin was primarily performed by light and scanning electron microscopy or the analysis of ancient DNA. However, the efficacy of these methods can be limited due to the harsh, mostly acidic environment of peat bogs leading to morphological and molecular degradation within the samples. We compared species assignment results of twelve archaeological skin samples from Danish bogs using Mass Spectrometry (MS)-based peptide sequencing, against results obtained using light and scanning electron microscopy. While it was difficult to obtain reliable results using microscopy, MS enabled the identification of several species-diagnostic peptides, mostly from collagen and keratins, allowing confident species discrimination even among taxonomically close organisms, such as sheep and goat. Unlike previous MS-based methods, mostly relying on peptide fingerprinting, the shotgun sequencing approach we describe aims to identify the complete extracted ancient proteome, without preselected specific targets. As an example, we report the identification, in one of the samples, of two peptides uniquely assigned to bovine foetal haemoglobin, indicating the production of skin from a calf slaughtered within the first months of its life. We conclude that MS-based peptide sequencing is a reliable method for species identification of samples from bogs. The mass spectrometry proteomics data were deposited in the ProteomeXchange Consortium with the dataset identifier PXD001029.

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.

Bronze Age wool: provenance and dye investigations of Danish textiles

Abstract Recent analysis of the wool textiles from the famous Egtved oak coffin burial in Denmark indicated that the wool had been obtained from beyond Denmark. Was this an isolated case or evidence of a large-scale wool trade in the Danish Bronze Age? To investigate the broader pattern of wool provenance, textile manufacturing and trade practices, strontium isotope and organic dye analyses were conducted on textiles from a variety of selected burial contexts. Strontium isotope analysis revealed that at least 75 per cent of the Bronze Age wool samples originated outside present-day Denmark. Results also showed no evidence for the use of organic dyes, thereby supporting the hypothesis that no dyestuffs were used in Nordic Bronze Age textile production. These results challenge extant interpretations of Scandinavian Bronze Age textile provenance, and demonstrate the complexity of exchange networks in wool textiles during this period.

Wool textiles and archaeometry: testing reliability of archaeological wool fibre diameter measurements

ABSTRACT Characterisations of ancient sheep breeds and wool types and theories about wool fibre processing are integral parts of textile archaeology. The studies build on statistical calculations of measurements of wool fibre diameters and reveal characteristics of the yarns that are attributed to the available raw wool and to the production methods of the time. Different microscope types have been used for data collection. Presently digital images from either scanning electron microscopy (SEM) or transmitted light microscopy (TLM) are the preferred methods. The advantage of SEM is the good depth of field at high magnification, while TLM is simpler to use and more readily available. Several classification systems have been developed to facilitate the interpretation of the results. In this article, the comparability of the results from these two methods and from the use of different magnifications in general is examined based on the analyses of a large number of the Danish prehistoric textiles. The results do not indicate superiority of one microscope type in favour of another. Rather, they reveal differences in the calculations that can be ascribed to the diversity of the fibres in the individual yarns as well as to the methodology and the magnification level.

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.