textile

Soap is a substance now taken for granted, but there is uncertainty, myth and misinformation about its development, and little scholarly attention has been paid to the likely circumstances surrounding its discovery. As part of a MSc in Experimental Archaeology, a project collated the earliest mentions of proto-soaps...

Back in 2020, I wrote an article entitled The Shroud of Turin and the Extra Sheds of Warping Threads (Olsen, 2020). When I was studying the weaving theory, I realised that it might be possible to weave 8-end satin with five rods on the warp-weighted loom. To date, I have not encountered any historical find showing satin woven on a warp-weighted loom...

Within textile Archaeology several key Etruscan sites provide experimental archaeologists with ample evidence for research and recreation. This project aims to look a the textile patterns themselves, and how these weavers might have created the images found on famous Etruscan paintings...

Review of the Research

Scholarship of the past century has demonstrated that textiles have long played an important role in Mesoamerica, from the Classic period (AD 250-900) through contemporary cultures.

Introduction

The textile fragments from the Oseberg tomb (834 AD) in Norway are considered the world's largest and most important textile finds from the Viking Age. Among the textiles, 48 tablet-woven bands were identified and roughly divided into five categories by Margareta Nockert: I) Brocade, II) Tabby, III) Mixed I and II, IV) Ready threaded and V) Three or more colours without brocade (Nockert, 2006, pp. 147-155).

The book gives a short historical overview of major events in the chosen area, followed by an informative chapter on colours, a likewise very competent chapter on fabrics, and one on sewing techniques. Then the dress parts are presented, with very clear and informative modern illustrations. The focus is on ordinary dresses, not the really posh ones.

There are no sewing patterns as such, but the experienced seamstress can easily transfer the small silhouette patterns to real patterns, or one can search the bibliography in the book for relevant publications.

#EAC12 World Tour 2021
***This paper outlines the experimental weaving project of an ancient Greek chlamys to investigate the weaving production capacity of a typical household and reconstruct women’s contribution to household GDP in ancient Greece. While some scholars have researched finer textiles and tech-niques based on visual evidence...

The experiment aimed to investigate certain aspects of the textile dyeing process in Anglo-Scandinavian and Anglo-Saxon Britain: substances known as mordants and assists. This aspect of the dyeing process is often omitted by researchers, who mostly focus on dyestuff as a source of colour. Mordants and assists deserve wider research, however, as they play a great part in the dyeing process...

Review of the Research

Research conducted over the past century has conclusively demonstrated that textiles played an important role in Mesoamerica, particularly from the Classic period (AD 250-900) through contemporary cultures.