The first plant bast fibre technology: a new method for identifying splicing in archaeological textiles
Publication Date
2019-05Journal Title
Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences
ISSN
1866-9565
Publisher
Springer Nature
Pages
1-18
Language
english
Type
Article
This Version
VoR
Metadata
Show full item recordCitation
Gleba, M., & Harris, S. (2019). The first plant bast fibre technology: a new method for identifying splicing in archaeological textiles. Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences, 1-18. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12520-018-0677-8
Abstract
Recent research into plant bast fibre technology points to a Neolithic European tradition of working fibres into threads by splicing, rather than draft spinning. The major issue now is the ability of textile specialists and archaeobotanists to distinguish the technology of splicing from draft spun fibres. This paper defines the major types of splicing and proposes a method to observe, identify and interpret spliced thread technology. The identification of spliced yarns is evaluated through the examination of textiles from Europe, Egypt and the Near East. Through the application of this method we propose that the switch from splicing to draft spinning plant fibres occurred much later than previously thought. The ramifications of this shift in plant processing have profound implications for understanding the chaîne opératoire of this ubiquitous and time-consuming technology, which have to be factored into social and economic reconstructions of the past.
Keywords
Plant bast fibre, Splicing, Spinning, Technology, SEM, Identification method
Sponsorship
ERC
Funder references
European Research Council (312603)
Embargo Lift Date
2100-01-01
Identifiers
External DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12520-018-0677-8
This record's URL: https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/285970
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