This remarkably ambitious project began as an international conference in 2007 and culminated in a remarkable and beautifully colour-illustrated volume. It deals with a wide chronological and geographical range in a series of case studies which present current research from across Europe. It creates a series of snapshots of the current state of research, innovative techniques and new discoveries in textile archaeology. Its aim is to make ‘textile research a more user-friendly field’ for non-textile experts (1). It does this by providing an introduction to the making of textiles from raw material to finished product and by outlining the various methodologies, analytical techniques and wider issues that form the debate in subsequent chapters.
As with many edited volumes it is hard to do it justice in a relatively short review and to avoid privileging some chapters over others. Readers will no doubt start with chapters focused on regions that they have an interest in or know well, but all of the chapters bear further study. Each region is prefaced by a relevant chronology and map showing sites mentioned. Readers new to the idea of textile research will be pleasantly surprised by the amount of material, the number of sites and the range of current research, research which sadly is only slowly becoming mainstreamed in university curricula.
The introduction by Gleba and Mannering sets out the background to textile preservation, analysis, production and associated technology. It provides a framework for the subsequent chapters which are regionally based. It is also a clear, succinct precis of textile archaeology and its parameters and provides an excellent introduction for beginners both in terms of content and the range of technical terms shared throughout the volume. Each chapter has its own extensive bibliography providing an invaluable resource for researchers.
Grömer's chapter on Bronze and Iron Age finds in Austria clearly illustrates the array of textile techniques that were in play from earliest times. As with other chapters, the drawings and photographs provide excellent illustrations of the subject. Fig. I.9, for example, shows 30 samples of different types of weave and colours used in wool textiles found in the Hallstatt salt mines, dating from the Early Iron Age. The surviving patterns and colours evidence a highly sophisticated and technologically adept craft industry, which over time expands from household activity to some form of standardised mass production in workshops. Gostenčnik examines textiles from the Roman provinces that make up modern Austria. In the process she catalogues a range of finds (spindle whorls, loom weights, needles, bobbins, distaffs, heddles etc.) and discusses their potential for re-examining Roman textile production, alongside written and iconographic evidence. She also makes several points that can be generalised across much of the field: lack of archaeological textile remains; a lack of awareness among excavators of textile tools or the importance of textile production to the economy of a community, which has, until recently, resulted in poor collection or recording of relevant finds (cf. Möller Wiering on similar problems in Germany (123)).
The Scandinavian environment has allowed the preservation of some of the most ancient examples of textile. Mannering, Gleba and Bloch Hansen provide an overview of finds in Danish collections from early woven plant fibres from the ninth–eighth century b.c. to the Roman Iron Age. These remarkable finds have had a major impact on assumptions about textiles and clothing in neighbouring and trading regions. For Germany, Möller Wiering introduces the diversity of cultures and their associated finds for the Bronze and Pre-Roman Iron Ages, and together with Subbert, also covers the Roman Iron Age. These chapters sandwich a case study by Banck-Burgess of the textiles from the ‘princely burial’ at Eberdingen-Hochdorf dating to c. 530–20 b.c.
Some regions are covered by single survey chapters of differing lengths. Greece is discussed by Spantidaki and Moulherat. While few textiles survive in the Greek climate and burial conditions, there are some exceptions such as the richly woven purple and gold sheet finds from Vergina (196). Many mineralised fragments do survive, however, and the chapter provides detailed tables recording weave types, thread counts and, where possible, material, demonstrating the emergence of different textile traditions at different times. Žeiere deals with Latvia which, despite minimal evidence, demonstrates the range of techniques available to the region's cloth-makers from the Neolithic to early Iron Age. Norway (Halvorsen) and Poland (Maik) are surveyed from the Bronze Age to the Migration period; the chapter on the Slovak and Czech Republics by Belanová-Štolcová includes impressive amounts of material from La Tène period graves (table 15.2); Carmen Alfaro deals with Spanish material; an overview of Swedish finds is provided by Franźen, Lundwall, Sundström and Andersson Strand; Switzerland in the Neolithic is discussed by Médard, who includes drawings and reconstructions of starting and finishing borders; Rast-Eicher discusses the difference between Bronze Age finds from lake dwellings and Iron Age grave material preserved alongside metal objects, revealing how tiny fragments can provide a wealth of information about fibre, weave techniques etc., and can raise questions about wool and flax production. Finds from Ukraine (Gleba and Krupa) reflect its geographic position and access to eastern materials with examples of gold embroidery and silks. The survey of Scotland and Ireland (Wincott Heckett) includes a study of skin capes. Two brief chapters provide outlines to material from Bronze and Iron Age (DeRoche) and Roman England (Wild).
Bazzanella records textile and tool finds from Neolithic and Bronze Age Italy, including the famous Iceman discovered in the Alps in 1991, dressed in skins and twined plant fibres. The Italian Iron Age and Etruscan finds are covered by Gleba. For Italy there is a two-part case study on the textiles from Verruchio, dating to c. 700 b.c. Of these Stauffer noted especially the semi-circular mantles which might be considered precursors of the later toga, and could perhaps be identified as tebennae. The tablet-woven borders of the two mantles are further analysed by Knudson, demonstrating the complex techniques required to interweave a curved border with the main body of the garment.
This weighty volume (in content and in actuality) forcefully illustrates the point that textiles, in one form or another, have been around for at least 100,000 years and for most of this time clothing has been as much about decoration and communication as about pure functionality (1). It suggests that humankind is hardwired for decoration and display and that textiles provide a clear route for this habit. It is a timely volume for the many disciplines engaged in textile and dress research.
