Regina Hofmann-de Keijzer, Maarten R. van Bommel, Ineke Joosten (University of Applied Arts Vienna, Cultural Heritage Agency of the Netherlands)
OXFORD SCHOOL OF ARCHAEOLOGY
36 BEAUMONT ST OXFORD OX1 PG
WWWarch.ox.ac.uk
Report of the school of Archaeology 2011 - 2012
Achaemenid period and the other during Sasanian times.
It appears likely that there were two distinct mine collapse events, one occurring around 470 BC, and the second around AD 500.
Mummies are usually prepared for mummification, but sometimes they occur naturally. However, it is rare to have mummies in accidental burial and to be recovered through controlled excavation. Thus, we have a representative example of everyday dress of workers and elites, local and non-local people who were involved with the extraction of salt, from two discrete time periods spanning nearly a millennium. Moreover, the well-preserved textiles and other organics (wood and leather, and feathers) are from a region not generally known for organic preservation.
The textile remains from these bodies are quite varied.
Some are of complete garments or partial remains of dress. The rest are fragments of textiles used with equipment, as makeshift handles, for example, or of aprons and reuse drags and carrying sacks for working in the mine. Thus, the array of textile fragments helps to paint a picture of daily life working in the salt mine.
The picture is being further developed from insight gathered from more detailed scientific study of the textile remains, and some of the results are surprising. The quality and technical craftsmanship of the textiles are quite varied – some fabrics are very rough and plain, others are quite sophisticated and fine, with highly skilled spinning, weaving and dyeing. Two textiles from the Sasanian period show a sophisticated compound weave, helping us to reconstruct a part of textile history that is at present poorly understood.
The comparison between the earlier and later textile fibres is also interesting; there are distinct morphological changes in the sheep’s wool in the Sasanian period – possibly due to a later influx of Roman sheep breeds.
Furthermore, isotopic study of the wools shows that certain dyed threads in multi-coloured cloth were derived from an outside area, giving us insight into the organization of cloth production in Achaemenid Iran.
For further reading on the Chehr Abad Salt Mine Project there is a featured ‘Gallery’ article on the project in a forthcoming issue of Antiquity. There are also several forthcoming articles on the textiles from the Chehr Abad
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Project listed on the author’s webpage:
http://www.arch.ox.ac.uk/salt.html
http://www.arch.ox.ac.uk/IG1.html
and the official project website:
http://www.saltmen-iran.com/tiki-index.php
‘Below the Salt’ is a research project led by Professor Mark
Pollard (University of Oxford) and Professor Don Brothwell
(University of York). This is part of a larger international
research project being carried out in collaboration with the
German Mining Museum in Bochum, the Iranian Center
for Archaeological Research (ICAR) in Tehran, and the
Research Laboratory for Archaeology and the History of Art
at Oxford. Research is supported by the Arts and Humanities
Research Council (grant AH/H010998/1).
Hallstatt Textiles. Technical Analysis, Scientific Investigation and Experiment on Iron Age Textiles, edited by Peter Bichler, Karina Gr�mer, Regina Hofmann-de Keijzer, Anton Kern And Hans Reschreiter
Archaeopress (BAR International Series 1351): 2005; 189pp, c.150 B&W and line illustrations, 20 multi-image colour plates; ISBN 1 84171 697 9 (�39.00)
This volume presents a diverse collection of seventeen papers by twenty Continental scholars, presented at the first Symposium on the Hallstatt textiles, held in June 2004, at Hallstatt, Upper Austria. The dramatic setting of this salt mine and associated Iron Age cemetery is richly conveyed by the authors, who provide an impressive synthesis of recent research on its exceptionally preserved archaeology. The scope of the volume ranges from seminal studies on the site of Hallstatt and textiles associated with mining activity or mineralised traces preserved on metalwork within the graves (papers by Kern, Reschreiter and Gr�mer), to the analysis of ancient craft techniques and dyes (Mautendorfer, Hofmann-de Keijzer et al.). Evaluations of preservation are accompanied by new concepts for the storage of these internationally important textiles (Morelli and Gengler). In addition, there are five experimental reports, ranging from studies of tablet-woven ribbons, ancient dyeing and weaving methods, studies of weaving tools, warp-weighted looms and spindle whorls (Gr�mer, Hartl and Hofmann-de Keijzer, Schierer and Gr�mer, respectively). Finally, this type site is set in the broader context of other evidence for later prehistoric textiles, from Italy, the D�rrnberg, Slovakia and Moravia (papers by Rast-Eicher, J�rgensen, Bazzanella et al., St�llner and Belanov�). Both the history of antiquarian investigations and more ambitious recent research programmes are well summarised, setting the scene for more in-depth studies of the textiles themselves.
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Salt is described in the volume as �white gold�: a substance valued both for its preserving qualities and taste, which was traded extensively to support this thriving centre of production and consumption. Artefacts preserved deep in the mine provide an intimate insight into everyday Iron Age life� tools, bowls, remains of food, areas associated with cooking, repairing tools or latrines. The common feature in all of these deposits is the presence of well-preserved textiles. Old clothes were turned into the miner�s �bag of rags�, which could be used in various ways: as wraps around iron picks, fingerstalls on tool handles, loops for hauling loads or knots around splinted hafts and scaffold joists. There is something wonderfully intimate about the re-use of these cloths, to protect Iron Age hands and knees from the hard slog and unpleasant conditions within the mine. However, each fragment holds the potential to reveal another, earlier life: woven and sewn, dyed and decorated, adorning the bodies of both living and the dead.
Detailed studies of flax/hemp, wool and animal fibres, are complemented by an analysis of different yarns, and tabby and twill weaves. Both sewn and felted/fulled seams and decorative borders are identified within the textiles, revealing the strategic use of coarse hairs for hauling bags compared with finer fibres for personal clothing. Macroscopic observation is complemented by the use of microcopic analysis, including SEM-EDS, and liquid chromatography. Olive-green, black, red, blue and yellow dyes are characterised in terms of their constituent components: parent sources include insects, lichens, metallic ores, pigments and plants. Individual chapters are able to comment on the subtle control of shade and the intensity of contrasting colours, as well as the successful fixing of the dyes. The addition of braids, buttons and other decorative effects are also identified from stitching patterns, alongside patching and repair. One paper also identifies textiles with high thermic efficacy: insulated clothing created specifically for the cold conditions of the mine.
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All of this analysis proves vital for the experimental archaeology papers, which make important contributions towards the scholarly understanding of manufacturing techniques and offer a nuanced appreciation of the labour and skill involved in this work. The broader contextual analysis also throws up case studies which provide important starting points for new reconstructions: one highlight is the extraordinary site of Gars-Thunau, lower Austria, in which a loom appears to have been destroyed in situ (see paper by Schierer). In addition, these last papers comment more broadly on aspects of identity, social organisation, and patterns of production and trade.
The volume does contain minor editing errors, and it would have been useful to number each chapter for ease of cross-referencing. Readers should also be aware that the volume contains a mix of both English and German texts, though a good bi-lingual synthesis is provided at the beginning of each paper. High quality black and white line drawings and photographs are thoroughly embedded in the text, enabling the reader to move seamlessly between analysis, interpretation and illustration. In addition, multi-image colour plates take the standard of this kind of publication to a new level, conveying the vibrant palette used in the Iron Age, to decorate both people and objects. What is exemplary is the way in which representations of patterned cloth and adorned bodies from other forms of material culture � figurines, ceramics and metalwork such as the Hallstatt scabbard � are also used to complement the textile analysis. The rich interdisciplinary nature of this text makes it a unique contribution to the subject area, providing wonderful value for money. It is an essential read for anyone interested in Iron Age material culture, identity and representation, as well as those specialising in ancient textile analysis or experimental archaeology.
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Dyed or not dyed: That is the question! Investigation of coloured Bronze Age textiles from Europe
Regina Hofmann-de Keijzer, Maarten R. van Bommel, Ineke Joosten (University of Applied Arts Vienna, Cultural Heritage Agency of the Netherlands)
Modern chromatographic and microscopic techniques allow an insight in the beginning of textile dyeing in Europe. The presentation will focus on the investigations of coloured Bronze Age textiles from Hallstatt, Mitterberg and Radfeld (Austria) and Pustopolje (Bosnia-Hercegovina), which were performed during the CinBA project1. The results will be compared with those of the Hallstatt textiles from the Early Iron Age. In co-operation with the Prehistoric Department of the Natural History Museum Vienna, the dye analyses of the Hallstatt textiles took place since 20022,3, especially during the research project “Dyeing techniques of the prehistoric textiles from the salt mine of Hallstatt – analysis, experiments and inspiration for contemporary application” (2008 – 2012) which was supported by the Austrian Science Fund FWF [L 431-G02]4,5.
High performance liquid chromatography with photo diode array detection (HPLC-PDA) was used for dye analysis. Additionally, the fibres of the textile fragments were examined by optical light microscopy and scanning electron microscopy coupled to energy dispersive spectroscopy (SEM-EDS). The microscopic techniques were carried out for observing special dyeing techniques and for evaluating the condition of the textile fragments. By SEM-EDS those elements were analysed which could have influenced the colours.
The possibilities and limitations in identifying the dyes and the dyeing material will be discussed. What are the limiting factors scientists are confronted with? The identification of dyes is sometimes hampered by analytical issues. Compared to historical textiles much less prehistoric ones have been analysed. While in later periods cultivated dye plants were preferably used, in Prehistory the emphasis lay on wild plants. The fingerprints or markers of these plants are not known. If no dyes or no coloured components are detected, it cannot be concluded that the textile was not dyed as the dyes could be below the detection limit due to degradation. In many archaeological textile fragments only unknown coloured components are detected. It will be discussed why in that case one cannot draw the conclusion whether a fabric was “dyed” or “not dyed”.
It is likely that in the Bronze Age the experimental phase of textile dyeing started simultaneously with the introduction of wool. Many plants were tested if they are suitable for textile dyeing which led to the use and cultivation of specific dye plants in a later phase.
References
1 Maarten R. van Bommel, Ineke Joosten, Regina Hofmann-de Keijzer, 2013: Dyestuff, mordant and condition of an early wool textile from Pustopolje, Bosnia-Hercegovina, and of Bronze Age textiles from copper mines of Mitterberg and Radfeld, Austria. Internal reports, Cultural Heritage Agency of the Netherlands, Amsterdam and University of Applied Arts Vienna.
2 Peter Bichler, Karina Grömer, Regina Hofmann-de Keijzer, Anton Kern, and Hans Reschreiter (Eds.), 2005: Hallstatt Textiles – Technical Analysis, Scientific Investigation and Experiment on Iron Age Textiles. BAR – British Archaeological Reports, International Series 1351, Oxford, Archaeopress, 2005.
3 Regina Hofmann-de Keijzer, Maarten R. van Bommel, Ineke Joosten, Hans Reschreiter, Karina Grömer, Helga Rösel-Mautendorfer, Anna Hartl, Michaela Morelli, 2005: Ancient textiles – recent knowledge. A multidisciplinary research project on textile fragments from the prehistoric salt mine of Hallstatt. ICOM-CC 15th Triennial Meeting, The Hague 2005, London, James & James, pp. 920-926.
4 Regina Hofmann-de-Keijzer, Maarten R. van Bommel, Anna Hartl, Karina Grömer, Helga Rösel-Mautendorfer, Hans Reschreiter, Katrin Kania, Ineke Joosten, Art Néss Proaño Gaibor, Rudolf Erlach, Eva Lachner, Manuel Wandl, Matthijs de Keijzer: Coloured Hallstatt Textiles – 3500-year-old Textile and Dyeing Techniques and their Contemporary Applications, Contributions to the publication of the 11th Northern European Symposium for Archaeological Textiles (NESAT), 2011, Esslingen, in preparation.
5 Regina Hofmann-de-Keijzer, Anton Kern, Barbara Putz-Plecko (Eds.): Colours of Hallstatt – Textiles connecting Science and Art, Magazine to the Exhibition “Colours of Hallstatt – Textiles connecting Science and Art”, Natural History Museum Vienna, February 1, 2012 – January 6, 2013 (extended until December 30, 2013).
The textiles in the Hallstatt mines had a greater chance of survival since special conditions prevailed in the mines - such as ice, salt or peat bog - conditions which enabled organic materials to survive.
If you are in Vienna, you should visit the Natural History Museum as well as its many galleries, where you will find a wonderful tome: Colors of Hallstatt – Textiles Connecting Science and Art (ISBN 978-3-902421-65-4), which contains articles by Regina Hofmann-de Keijzer, Anna Moser, Karina Gromer and Helga Rosel-Mautendorfer – just to mention a few! This blog is largely composed of a combination of their narratives on the textiles of Hallstatt.
The Textiles of Hallstatt
Evolution has engineered our eyesight in order that we see in the visible range of the electromagnetic spectrum. This range is transparent with respect to the Earth’s atmosphere and so it enables human beings to see far into the distance as well as to see colors: from blue through to green and yellow to red – thereby making color a very important innovator both psychologically and in practice. For example, psychologically a blue foodstuff is difficult to eat, since blue is often associated with poisons.
When confronted with a traditional textile three important components stand out, namely: the material or structure, the pattern or ornament and perhaps its most important aspect – its color.
Structure of the Hallstatt Textiles
The woollen fabrics of Hallstatt were well preserved due to the salt. The electron microscope images of Professor Joosten show mostly minor degradation of the woollen fibers with the characteristic scales on the woollen fibers still clearly recognisable.
Electron microscopic image of wool fibers from the prehistoric Hallstatt textiles with well recognizable scales (above) and with hardly visible scales removed due to contamination (below).
Courtesy of The Cultural Heritage Agency of the Netherlands.
Textile production is very time consuming. For example, it has been estimated that using prehistoric processes it would take: one hour to sort the fleece; one hour to tease the wool; five hours to card the wool; eighty hours to spin and twist the yarn; five hours to wash and dry the yarn; twenty-five hours to weave. In total, one hundred and seventeen hours would be spent in order to produce a textile, making it an extremely valuable commodity that would be readily traded and certainly repaired rather than discarded.
Teasing, combing and carding wool.
Note: The oldest finds of long-toothed combs came from the late Neolithic Age around 3700 B.C. that were still in use until the Middle Ages. Carded wool was removed from the comb, resulting in so-called tops.
Photograph courtesy of G. Rosel
Weaving is the interlacing at right angles of warp and weft threads. The warp is a set of threads that run longitudinally along the weave. The weft or filling is the set of threads running at right angle across the direction of the work. By raising all the even-numbered and lowering all the uneven-numbered warp threads a shed is formed. The weft thread is inserted into the shed and pressed against the fabric. The shed is changed and the process repeated.
In prehistory, warp-weighted looms were used from as early as the Neolithic. The loom employed clay or stone weights to stretch the warp threads. The loom was leaned against the wall and this inclination produced a natural shed. From the position of loom weights in the Iron Age found in homes, it is estimated that materials were produced in widths of 60 to 120 cm, but also up to three to four meters.
Weaving on a weighted loom.
Photograph courtesy of G. Weinlinger.
Patterns or Ornaments of the Hallstatt Textiles
Only fragments of the textiles of Hallstatt have been discovered and so the primary functionality of the fabric has been lost. Nevertheless, much can be gleaned from these fabric fragments. For example, the weave and thread count of the fabric informs about the loom or type of weaving; felting of the textile surface indicates deliberate thickening of the weave or signs of wear and tear; seams and hems also informs about the cut, sewing techniques and construction of the garment etc.
Some of the textiles from Hallstatt.
Courtesy of NHMV.
The fabrics from the salt mines are mainly woollen and some are of extraordinarily fine quality. These woollens were woven on warp-weighted looms that could produce not only a plain tabby (first picture of the top row) but more complex weave constructions including various twills. The most popular is the even sided twill (first image on second row). Less common are pointed twill (third from the left on the second row), herringbone twill or basket weave.
Interesting patterns were created with simple twills by alternating groups of S and Z-spun threads. The resulting weave gives the optical impression of a “pointed twill”: depending on the angle of the light falling on the fabric, some stripes appear darker than others. The leading edges of the fabric are often in a rep weave to achieve extra robustness. Rep is also applied in the manufacture of braids that can form part of grid weaves. The rep bands (similar to today’s costume ribbons) are sometimes executed in several colors. Evidently the people of the Hallstatt period prized colored ribbons as a facing for woven edges: this is evidenced by some fine examples of tablet weaving.
Rep ribbons can be easily manufactured using a wooden grid or heddle rod. Tablet weaving requires tablets with four holes to create colorful strong braids. It was especially favored as a method for producing complicated patterns. Five tablet woven bands have been found in the Hallstatt salt mines, made in different ways. Two carry patterns that replicate triangle, fret and diamond forms – designs that were also used on clay vessels of the period.
The original multi-colored rep and tablet woven braids.
Courtesy of NHMV.
There are many examples of sewn work in Hallstatt. Some evidence of methodical tailoring is dated as early as 700 B.C. Hems and seams were deftly executed: impressive stitching in blue and white. Repairing clothing (patches to replace heavy worn regions) testifies the value of cloth in those ancient times. Unfortunately, the remnants of fabrics are too small in order to back-engineer the items of clothing that they were derived from.
The very smooth yarn of Hallstatt edging bands informs us about the many deliberate and carefully executed procedures in the preparation of the wool. The quality achieved in the edgings and the enormous energy involved in making these woven bands is a testament of the importance of fabrics in prehistoric societies.
Hallstatt textiles in one of the draws of a repository of the NHMV.
Courtesy of NHMV.
Dyeing Of Hallstatt Textiles
It is part of the human psychology to be creative with any made item. The functionality of an item, material or garment made from it, may be the primary driver but once it is made it is the aesthetic qualities that elevates the primary purpose to a secondary ideal (its cut or style) to a tertiary quest (covering function-style-color). The Hallstatt textiles give us an important glimmer of that latter.
Optical light microscope image of a yarn sample from an Iron Age textile. When dyeing strongly twisted yarn with woad, the parts of fibers that lie in the center of the yarn often remain undyed.
Photography courtesy of R. Sauer.
Numerous barks, leaves and galls contain tanning substances that bond directly to textile fibers. Modern methods of detection can yield the dyed molecule but not necessarily the plant from which the dye molecule was extracted. Therefore prehistoric humans could dye brown colors, from a yellowish to a reddish shade. Already in the Bronze Age the technology of dyeing dark brown to black using tannin and iron containing components was well known.
Yellow flowers and green parts of plants are sources for yellow dyes. The yellow dyes used in the Hallstatt textiles employed the dyestuffs - luteolin and apigenin. Sources of these may have been weld (Reseda luteola), dyer’s broom (Genista tinctoria) and sawwort (Serratula tinctoria). In the textiles from the Iron age, the following yellow dyes were detected: rhamnetin (from Persian berries perhaps - Rhamnus species); crocetin (from saffron perhaps - Crocus sativus).
Iron Age textile fragment from the salt mine of Hallstatt. Dyed with a plant that contains luteolin and apigenin (e.g. weld).
Courtesy of NHMV.
In nature red dyes for textiles are not common. Yet the prehistoric people had discovered them already in lichens, in the roots of plants of the Rubiaceae family (Lady’s bedstraw and madder) and in dye insects (e.g. kermes and cochineal). Kermes and madder were not found in the Hallstatt textiles of the Bronze Age and the early Iron Age. It is only in the latter stages of the Iron Age red dyes were found, possibly extracted from Polish cochineal.
Optical light microscopic image of a textile fragment from the Bronze Age with the oldest woad dyeing from the salt mines of Hallstatt. The fabric was dyed after weaving. Places where threads were covered by others remain not dyed.
Courtesy of NHMV.
Yellow and red dyes are soluble, and so upon washing they can easily be detached from the fibers. Tanning agents and fermentation could have created stronger bonds between the fiber and dyes. However, it is only when mordants were discovered that prehistoric people could achieve long-lasting yellow and red fabrics. Mordants, with polyvalent metal ions, gave the best result. When the color shade had to remain unaltered, aluminium containing mordants were used. Clubmosses (Lycopodiaceae) with a relatively high content of aluminium was readily available. Copper based mordants change the color of the fabric to green, iron compounds and tannins to brown.
Aluminium, iron and copper were identified in the prehistoric textiles of Hallstatt. These elements may have originated from mordants. However, they may have also originated from the salt mine itself.
The production of indigotin, a blue pigment from the green leaves of indigo plants, and of purple red to blue pigments from the glands of purple snails were among the most outstanding achievements of prehistoric peoples.
In order to dye textiles with these insoluble pigments prehistoric people had to develop a special technology – vat dyeing. In an alkaline and reducing solution it was possible to alter the insoluble pigments into soluble greenish-yellow compounds. The textile was immersed in a vat dye and when it was taken out of the vat, its contact with the oxygen in the air re-converted the green-yellowish compound into an insoluble pigment, which became bound to the fibers.
In more than 40% of the investigated textiles dating back to Bronze Age, scientists identified the blue pigment indigotin, thereby suggesting the use of the indigo plant. The indigo plant of prehistory in Europe was most likely woad (Isatis tinctoria).
So far red textiles have not been found in the prehistoric salt mines of Hallstatt. Nevertheless, analysis has shown that red dyes from insects and lichens came into use in the dyeing practice of the Hallstatt period. Scientists analyzed traces of red dyes in textiles dyed blue with woad. Apart from the vat dyeing with woad apparently a red dye was used in order to give the blue a more reddish shade.
Iron Age textile fragment from the salt mine of Hallstatt. The woad blue was tinted with red dye from a dye insect, probably Polish cochineal.
Courtesy of NHMV.
Leaf green (chlorophyll) is unsuitable for dyeing a textile green. Some 2500 years ago in Hallstatt the prehistoric peoples realized that in order to obtain a green textile, yellow and blue dyeing needed to be combined. They dyed the textile blue possibly with woad and then yellow with a plant like weld.
Iron Age textile fragment from the salt mine of Hallstatt. It is colored green by combining a blue dyeing with woad and a yellow dyeing with example weld.
Courtesy of NHMV.
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