Archeologia Della Tessitura Research Papers (original) (raw)

Between the late 12th and the early 13th Century, the church of St. Eufrasia, in the north-western part of the walled city of Pisa, was rebuilt with the facade facing north. Maybe during the building operations, on the inside and... more

Between the late 12th and the early 13th Century, the church of St. Eufrasia, in the north-western part of the walled city of Pisa, was rebuilt with the facade facing north.
Maybe during the building operations, on the inside and outside of a building located in the square on the western side of the church, a first metallurgical laboratory was installed, devoted mainly to the working of the iron.
The archeological excavation allowed to document, on the ground floor, five successive forges with the trace of buried bellows; in the external space, it has been possible to identify some holes, probably for a canopy and, under this, a forge and a set of overhead bellows. Then, inside of the building, a new pyrotechnological installation for bronze was built, maybe a kiln or a mould.
The trace of a little clay mould, located about 35 meters away from the metallurgical laboratory, testifies the construction of a small bell, that could be dated at the same time.
Against the southern side of St. Eufrasia church, in the early 13th Century, a textile workshop for the raw silk processing was set up. The traces, visible on the ground, suggest the presence of a twisting frame, rebuilt twice outside of the laboratory, located in an enclosure. Inside of the courtyard, it has been possible to recognize a horizontal treadle loom, a two-beam vertical loom, a spinning wheel and three circular brick tanks, fed by a well and a probable cistern.
The activities of the luxury textile workshop ended between the middle and the second half of the 13th Century, testifying, perhaps, a more general process of reconversion of the urban textile manufactures towards the production of wider consumption commodities.