The Art of Prehistoric Textile Making (original) (raw)
2016, Naturhistorisches Museum Wien
3 Sites of production D From clothes to household textiles: fabric use in prehistory Clothes 2 Textiles in funerary practice 3 Soft furnishings: wall hangings, cushions and similar items 5 Recycling: binding material, bandages, packaging material, caulking material 6 Technical use and utilitarian textiles: scabbards, belt linings, interlinings 7 Conclusion E Clothing in Central European Prehistory 1 Sources for the history of pre-Roman costume 1.1 Complete garments 1.2 Textiles in graves 1.3 Clothing accessories and jewellery from graves 1.4 Pictorial sources 1.5 Written Sources 2 Clothing through the ages 3 Neolithic 3.1 The first farmers in the Early and Middle Neolithic 3.2 Late Neolithic-Copper Age 3.3 Neolithic clothing: conclusion 4 Bronze Age 4.1 Garments of the Nordic Bronze Age 4.2 Evidence for Bronze Age clothing in Central Europe 4.3 Bronze Age head coverings and shoes 4.4 Interpretation of Bronze Age sources in terms of costume history 5 Iron Age 5.1 Complete Iron Age garments from Northern Europe 5.2 Evidence for Early Iron Age clothing in Central Europe 5.3 Representations of clothing on situlae 5.4 Evidence for Late Iron Age clothing in Central Europe 5.5 Iron Age head coverings and shoes 5.6 Interpretation of Iron Age sources in terms of costume history VI 428 The meaning of clothes and jewellery 429 6.1 Attraction and chastity 431 6.2 Protection of the body 434 6.3 Psychological effects of clothing 6.4 Gendered design 6.5 Social function-vestimentary codes 443 6.6 The value of clothing 445 7 Pre-Roman clothing history: conclusions
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2016
Textile crafts, and weaving in particular, have contributed much to the overall development of technology. Looms were invented in the Neolithic and represent the first ‘machines’ of human history. Essential goods for daily use, especially clothing, as well as utilitarian textiles, ostentatious objects for display and luxury items were produced with this craft. Textiles were valuable, as can be inferred from the recycling of fabrics. Worn out garments were used as binders, packaging and even as a dressing material in prehistoric times. Clothing, however, not only offered protection against the elements – even in prehistoric times textiles and jewellery were more than just simply means to dress – they are an essential feature of every culture. In the past as well as today, clothing represents an important non-verbal means of communication and conveys aspects of identity about the wearer such as age, gender, social status and group memberships. This book is dedicated to historians, costume designers, archaeologists, and anyone interested in handcraft and artisanship. The temporal and geographical scope of this investigation is the Neolithic to Late Iron Age of Central Europe, which is the period before the introduction of writing. The book ends with the Roman occupation in Central Europe. Austrian finds and sites as well as those of neighbouring countries are the primary focus.
2019
This Habilitationsschrift (University Vienna) “Archaeological Textile Research: Technical, economic and social aspects of textile production and clothing from Neolithic to the Early Modern Era” reflects two decades of applied research on archaeological textiles and related sources. The motivation is to improve understanding of the role of textile production and textile products in the history of humankind. Embedding finds and their context information into socio-economical and cultural discourse contributes to a cultural anthropology of textile use. For pre- and protohistory in the region of Central Europe, it is a challenge that textiles are among those organic materials that are rarely preserved under the prevailing climatic conditions. Despite the scarcity of organic finds, nevertheless, for the studies of the author the analysis of actual textiles from archaeological contexts serves as main source of knowledge. This are mainly textiles from grave contexts that survived attached to metal artefacts, as well as textiles from saltmines. Minor importance for my research play waterlogged and dry conditions. Textile finds, together with tools, pictorial and written sources, yield information on the chaîne opératoire of textile production. Thus one of the research foci is to help identify different production processes and sequences such as preparing raw materials, making threads, weaving (and other methods of constructing fabrics), patterning and sewing techniques. Textile techniques and their uses in different periods of time are studied to gain information about developments in techniques such as inventions, innovations, traditions, and the various modes of production. This research about the technological aspects of textile craft is also set in context with the social and economic background of innovation in Central European Prehistory. The period from the 3rd to 1st millennium BC is specifically the focus of studies on textile technology. Besides textile technology, the most important research undertaken by the author are about functions, resource management, dress and identity, as well as creativity and design. The function of textiles in Prehistory and Antiquity is identified from context information and the properties of the textiles. Finds consist of clothing, soft furnishings, textiles used for technical purposes (e.g. linings of scabbards), including grave goods or textiles as tools (e.g. carry sacks in mines). Research about resource management, use, reuse and “recycling” addresses questions which are also important today. The same applies to the field of dress and identity and the social value of clothing and textiles from the Bronze Age to the Medieval era. The material can also be studied in terms of representation and appearance of textile surfaces and patterns, visual codes, creativity and design – such as the relevance for non-verbal communication.
The 2nd and 1st millennia BC (roughly the Bronze and Iron Ages) represent a period, when many textile inventions can be recognized and developments in textile craft can be studied in Central Europe. One of our key sites to explore innovations in textile technology is the salt mine of Hallstatt in Austria. Bronze Age textile art clearly represents an invention phase, to give the textiles an attractive appearance, e.g. weaving twill, fine quality textiles and dyeing. The production of textiles has reached a high level of technical and aesthetic achievement during the Iron Age, with advanced methods of wool preparation, artfully used dyes, diverse patterning techniques. Textile craft even influenced the social organisation, ideology and economy, especially of the representation culture of the higher strata of Hallstatt Period and Early La Tène Period society. The inventions and innovations made in textile techniques during the Bronze and Iron Ages in Central Europe go hand in hand with the development of sheep types during the 2nd and 1st millennia BC. Textile quality, appearance and performance depend on the raw material.
North European Symposium for Archaeological Textiles X (2010)
2010
The NESAT symposium has grown from the first meeting in 1981 which was attended by 23 scholars, to over 100 at the tenth meeting that took place in Copenhagen in 2008, with virtually all areas of Europe represented. The 50 papers from the conference presented here show the vibrance of the study of archaeological textiles today. Examples studied come from the Bronze Age, Neolithic, the Iron Age, Roman, Viking, the Middle Ages and post-Medieval, and from a wide range of countries including Norway, Czech Republic, Poland, Greece, Germany, Lithuania, Estonia and the Netherlands. Modern techniques of analysis and examination are also discussed.
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