But How Were They Made? More about Patterned Textiles in the Aegean Bronze Age
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.23858/FAH31.2018.003Keywords:
textile production, iconography of textiles, patterned textiles, Akrotiri, Bronze Age Greece, experimental archaeologyAbstract
This paper scrutinises the iconography of patterned textiles in Bronze Age Greece as a potential source of technical knowledge of the patterning and weaving techniques. The variety of patterns on costumes depicted in Xeste 3, Akrotiri, Thera is a case study, examined in close relation to the textile technology available at the time, evidence of archaeological textiles from Greece and Akrotiri, and experimental reconstructions of the depicted patterns in weaving. By analysing several specific features of the painted and woven patterns, a critical overview of the possible techniques of manufacturing patterned textiles is presented. It is argued that there is little possibility of identifying a specific technique of patterning or weaving, on the basis of the Aegean iconography. However, specific features of the painted patterns seem to imitate in a great detail the appearance of the woven patterns. Therefore, it is argued that the wall painters were generally aware of the technical details of actual textiles and that it was important for them to attain a veracity in the rendering of the patterns.
Downloads
References
Aloupi E., Karydas A. G., Paradellis T. 2000. Pigment Analysis of Wall Paintings and Ceramics from Greece and Cyprus. The Optimum Use of X-Ray Spectrometry on Specific Archaeological Issues, “X-Ray Spectrometry” 29, 18-24.
Andersson Strand E., Nosch M.-L. (eds.) 2015. Tools, Textiles and Contexts. Investigating Textile Production in the Aegean and Eastern Mediterranean Bronze Age, Ancient Textiles Series 21, Oxford, Philadelphia.
Barber E. J. W. 1991. Prehistoric Textiles. The Development of Cloth in the Neolithic and Bronze Ages with Special Reference to the Aegean, Princeton.
Barber E. J. W. 1994. Women’s Work. The First 20,000 Years. Women, Cloth, and Society in Early Times, New York, London.
Barber E. J. W. 2003. Archaeology by Experiment and Reproduction. In: K. P. Foster, R. Laffineur (eds.), METRON. Mea¬suring the Aegean Bronze Age. Proceedings of the 9th International Aegean Conference, New Heaven, Yale University, 18-19 April 200, Aegaeum 24, Liège, 193-195.
Barber E. J. W. 2016. Minoans, Mycenaeans, and Keftiu. In: M. C. Shaw, A. P. Chapin, Woven Threads. Patterned Textiles of the Aegean Bronze Age, Ancient Textiles Series 22, Oxford, Philadelphia, 205-237.
Bender Jørgensen L., Rast-Eicher A. 2016. Innovations in European Bronze Age Textiles, “Prähistorische Zeitschrift” 91 (1), 68-102.
Blakolmer F. 2012. Body Marks and Textile Ornaments in Aegean Iconography: Their Meaning and Symbolism. In: M.-L. Nosch, R. Laffineur (eds.), KOSMOS. Jewellery, Adornment and Textiles in the Aegean Bronze Age. Proceedings of the 13th Inter-national Aegean Conference / 13e Rencontre égéenne internationale, University of Copenhagen, Danish National Research Foundation’s Centre for Textile Research, 21–26 April 2010, Aegaeum 33, Leuven, Liège, 325-333.
Boulotis C. 1998. Les nouveaux documents en linéaire A d’Akrotiri (Théra): remarques preliminaries, “Bulletin de correspondance hellénique” 122, 407-411.
Bravermanová M., Březinová H., Malcolm-Davies J. (eds.) 2017. Archaeological Textiles – Links between Past and Present. North European Symposium for Archaeological Textiles XIII, Liberec, Praha.
Breniquet C., Michel C. (eds.) 2014. Wool Economy in the Ancient Near East and the Aegean. From the Beginnings of Sheep Husbandry to Institutional Textile Industry, Ancient Textiles Series 17, Oxford, Philadelphia.
Brysbaert A. 2007. Murex Uses in Plaster Features in the Aegean and Eastern Mediterranean Bronze Age, “Mediterranean Archaeology and Archaeometry” 7 (2), 29-51.
Brysbaert A. 2008. Painted Plaster from Bronze Age Thebes, Boeotia (Greece): A Technological Study, “Journal of Archaeological Science” 35, 2761-2769.
Brysbaert A., Melessanaki K., Anglos D. 2006. Pigment Analysis in Bronze Age Aegean and Eastern Mediterranean Painted Plaster by Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy (LIBS), “Journal of Archaeological Science” 33, 1095-1104.
Burke B. 2010. From Minos to Midas: Ancient Cloth Production in the Aegean and in Anatolia, Ancient Textiles Series 7, Oxford, Oakville.
Burke B. 2012. Looking for Sea-Silk in the Bronze Age Aegean. In: M.-L. Nosch, R. Laffineur (eds.), KOSMOS. Jewellery, Adornment and Textiles in the Aegean Bronze Age. Proceedings of the 13th International Aegean Conference / 13e Ren¬contre égéenne internationale, University of Copenhagen, Danish National Research Foundation’s Centre for Textile Research, 21–26 April 2010, Aegaeum 33, Leuven, Liège, 171-177.
Burnham D. K. 1964. Warp and Weft. A Textile Terminology, Toronto, Ontario.
Carington Smith J. 1975. Spinning, Weaving and Textile Manufacture in Prehistoric Greece – from the Beginning of the Neolithic to the End of the Mycenaean Ages; With Particular Reference to the Evidence Found on Archaeological Excavations, Unpublished PhD thesis, University of Tasmania.
Chapin A. P. 1997-2000. Maidenhood and Marriage: The Reproductive Lives of the Girls and Women from Xeste 3, Thera, “Aegaean Archaeology” 4, 7-25.
Chapin A. P. 2007. Boys Will Be Boys: Youth and Gender Identity in the Theran Frescoes. In: A. Cohen, J. B. Rutter (eds.), Constructions of Childhood in Ancient Greece and Italy, Hesperia Supplement 41, Princeton, New Jersey, 229-255.
Chapin A. P. 2008. The Lady of the Landscape: An Investigation of Aegean Costuming and the Xeste 3 Frescoes. In: C. S. Colbourn, M. K. Heyn (eds.), Reading a Dynamic Canvas: Adornment in the Ancient Mediterranean World, Newcastle, 48-83.
Chapin A. P. 2009. Constructions of Male Youth and Gender in Aegean Art: The Evidence from Late Bronze Age Crete and Thera. In: K. Kopaka (ed.), FYLO. Engendering Prehistoric Stratigraphies in the Aegean and Mediterranean, Proceedings of an International Conference, University of Crete, Rethymno 2-5 June 2005, Aegaeum 30, Liège, 175-182.
Chapin A. P. 2016. Spinning Ariadne’s Thread: Sources and Methodologies. In: M. C. Shaw, A. P. Chapin, Woven Threads. Patterned Textiles of the Aegean Bronze Age, Ancient Textiles Series 22, Oxford, Philadelphia, 1-16.
Cheval C. 2008. Protohistoric Weaving, the Minoan Loom-Weights: A First Approach. In: C. Alfaro, L. Karali (eds.), Vestidos, Textiles y Tintes. Estudios sobre la producción de bienes de consumo en la Antigüedad. Actas del II Symposium Internacional sobre Textiles y Tintes del Mediterráneo en el mundo antiguo (Atenas, 24 al 26 de noviembre, 2005), PURPUREAE VESTES II, Textiles and Dyes in Antiquity, València, 19-24.
Cutler J. 2016. Fashioning Identity: Weaving Technology, Dress and Cultural Change in the Middle and Late Bronze Age Southern Aegean. In: E. Gorogianni, P. Pavúk, N. Girella (eds.), Beyond Thalassocracies. Understanding Processes of Minoanisation and Mycenaeanisation in the Aegean, Oxford, Philadelphia, 172-185.
Doumas Ch. 1992. The Wall Paintings from Thera, Athens ; Douskos I. 1980. The Crocuses of Santorini. In: Ch. Doumas (ed.), Thera and the Aegean World, Vol. II, London, 141-146.
Egan E. C. 2016. Textile and Stone Patterns in the Painted Floors of the Mycenaean Palaces. In: M. C. Shaw, A. P. Chapin, Woven Threads. Patterned Textiles of the Aegean Bronze Age, Ancient Textiles Series 22, Oxford, Philadelphia, 131-148.
Evans E. 1921-1935. The Palace of Minos at Knossos, Vol. I-IV, London.
Gillis C., Nosch M.-L. B. (eds.) 2007. Ancient Textiles, Production, Craft and Society. Proceedings of the First International Conference on Ancient Textiles, Held at Lund Sweden and Copenhagen, Denmark, on March 19–23, 2003, Ancient Textiles Series 1, Oxford.
Gleba M., Mannering U. (eds.) 2012. Textiles and Textile Production in Europe: From Prehistory to AD 400, Ancient Textiles Series 11, Oxford, Oakville.
Grömer K., Kern A., Reschreiter H., Rösel-Mautendorfer H. (eds.) 2013. Textiles from Hallstatt. Weaving Culture in Bronze Age and Iron Age Salt Mines / Textilien aus Hallstatt. Gewebte Kultur aus dem bronze- und eisenzeitlichen Salzbergwerk, Archaeolingua 29, Budapest.
Hackl R. 1912. Die Fussböden. In: G. Rodenwaldt, Tiryns II. Die Fresken des Palastes, Athen, 222-237.
Harris S. 2012. From the Parochial to the Universal: Comparing Cloth Cultures in the Bronze Age, “European Journal of Archaeology” 15 (1), 61-97.
Hoskins N. A. 2015a. Fabric Patterns Found in Minoan Frescoes, “Complex Weavers Journal” 107 (February), 21-29.
Hoskins N. A. 2015b. Fabric Patterns Found in Minoan Frescoes from Crete, “Complex Weavers Journal” 108 (June), 21-24.
Immerwhar S. A. 1990. Aegean Painting in the Bronze Age, University Park, London.
James M. A, Reifah N., Mukherjee A. J., Crump M. P., Gates P. J., Sandor P., Robertson F., Pfälzner P., Evershed R. P. 2009. High Prestige Royal Purple Dyed Textiles from the Bronze Age Royal Tomb at Qatna, Syria, “Antiquity” 83 (322), 1109-1118.
Jarva E., Lipkin S. 2014. Ancient Textiles Were Expensive. How Do We Know That?, “Faravid” 38, 23-38.
Jones B. R. 2015. Ariadne’s Threads: The Construction and Significance of Clothes in the Aegean Bronze Age, Aegaeum 38, Leuven, Liége.
Kantor H. 1947. The Aegean and the Orient in the Second Millennium B.C., “American Journal of Archaeology” 51 (1), 1-103, Pls. I-XXVI.
Karnava A. 2008. Written and Stamped Records in the Late Bronze Age Cyclades: The Sea Journeys of an Administration. In: N. Brodie, J. Doole, G. Gavalas, C. Renfrew (eds.), Horizon. Ορίζων. A Colloquium on the Prehistory of the Cyclades, McDonald Institute Monographs, Cambridge, 377-386.
Kritseli-Providi I. 1982. Toichografíes toy Thrīskeytikoý Kéntroy tōn Mykīnṓn (Τοιχογραφίες του Θρησκευτικού Κέντρου των Μυκηνών), Athenai.
Landenius Enegren H., Meo F. (eds.) 2017. Treasures from the Sea. Sea Silk and Shellfish Purple Dye in Antiquity, Ancient Textiles Series 30, Oxford, Philadelphia.
Lang M. L. 1969. The Palace of Nestor at Pylos in Western Messenia. Vol. II. The Frescoes, Princeton, London.
Lillethun A. 2003. The Recreation of Aegean Cloth and Clothing. In: K. P. Foster, R. Laffineur (eds.), METRON. Measuring the Aegean Bronze Age. Proceedings of the 9th International Aegean Conference, New Heaven, Yale University, 18– 19 April 2002, Aegaeum 24, Liège, 463-472.
Lillethun A. 2012. Finding the Flounced Skirt (Back Apron). In: M.-L. Nosch, R. Laffineur (eds.), KOSMOS. Jewellery, Adornment and Textiles in the Aegean Bronze Age. Proceedings of the 13th International Aegean Conference / 13e Rencontre égéenne internationale, University of Copenhagen, Danish National Research Foundation’s Centre for Textile Research, 21–26 April 2010, Aegaeum 33, Leuven, Liège, 251-254.
Marcar A. 2004. Aegean Costume and the Dating of the Knossian Frescoes. In: G. Cadogan, E. Hatzikaki, A. Vasilakis (eds.), Knossos: Palace, City, State. Proceedings of the Conference in Herakleion organised by the British School of Athens and the 23rd Ephoreia of Prehistoric and Classical Antiquities of Herakleion, in November 2000, for the Centenary of Sir Arthur Evans’s Excavations at Knossos, British School at Athens Studies 12, London, 225-238.
Marinatos N. 2015. Akrotiri, Thera and the East Mediterranean, Athens.
McGillivray J. A., Driessen J. M., Sackett L. H. 2000. The Palaikastro Kouros: A Minoan Chryselephantine Statuette and its Aegean Bronze Age Context, British School at Athens 6, London.
Michailidou A. 1990. The Lead Weights from Akrotiri: The Archaeological Record. In: D. A. Hardy, C. G. Doumas, J. A. Sakellarakis, P. M. Warren (eds.), Thera and the Aegean World III. Proceedings of the Third International Congress, Santorini, Greece, 3–9 September 1989, London, 407-419.
Moulhérat C., Spantidaki Y. 2007. Preliminary Results from the Textiles Discovered in Santorini. In: A. Rast-Eicher, R. Windler (eds.), Archäologische Textilfunde. Archaeological textiles. North European Symposium for Archaeological Textiles IX, Ennenda, 49-52.
Nosch M.-L., Laffineur R. (eds.) 2012. KOSMOS. Jewellery, Adornment and Textiles in the Aegean Bronze Age. Proceedings of the 13th International Aegean Conference / 13e Rencontre égéenne internationale, University of Copenhagen, Danish National Research Foundation’s Centre for Textile Research, 21–26 April 2010, Aegaeum 33, Leuven, Liège.
Nosch M.-L. 2015. The Loom and the Ship in Ancient Greece. Shared Knowledge, Shared Terminology, Cross-Crafts, or Cognitive Maritime-Textile Archaeology. In: H. Harich-Shwarzbauer (ed.), Weben und Gewebe in der Antike: Materialität – Repräsentation – Episteme – Metapoetik / Texts and Textiles in the Ancient World. Materiality – Representation – Epis¬teme – Metapoetics, Oxford, Philadelphia, 109-132.
Nosch M.-L. 2016. Spinning Gold and Casting Textiles. In: J. Driessen (ed.), RA-PI-NE-U. Studies on the Mycenaean World Offered to Robert Laffineur for His 70th Birthday, Actes de colloques, “Aegis” 10, Louvain, 221-232.
Panagiotakopulu E., Buckland P. C., Day P. M., Doumas C., Sarpaki A., Skidmore P. 1997. A Lepidopterous Cocoon from Thera and Evidence for Silk in the Aegean Bronze Age, “Antiquity” 71 (272), 420-429.
Peterson Murray S. 2016. Patterned Textiles as Costume in Aegean Art. In: M. C. Shaw, A. P. Chapin, Woven Threads. Pat¬terned Textiles of the Aegean Bronze Age, Ancient Textiles Series 22, Oxford, Philadelphia, 43-104.
Rahmstorf L. 2015. An Introduction to the Investigation of Archaeological Textile Tools. In: E. Andersson Strand, M.-L. Nosch (eds.), Tools, Textiles and Contexts. Investigating Textile Production in the Aegean and Eastern Mediterranean Bronze Age, Ancient Textiles Series 21, Oxford, Philadelphia, 1-24.
Rehak P. 2002. Imag(in)ing a Women’s World in Prehistoric Greece: The Frescoes from Xeste 3 at Akrotiri. In: N. Rabinowitz, L. Auanger (eds.), Among Women. From the Homosocial to Homoerotic in the Ancient World, Texas, 34-59.
Sackett L. H. 2006. The Palaikastro Kouros: A Masterpiece of Minoan Sculpture in Ivory and Gold, Athens.
Shaw M. C. 2016. String Lines, the Artist’s Grid, and the Representation of Textiles in Fresco. In: M. C. Shaw, A. P. Chapin, Woven Threads. Patterned Textiles of the Aegean Bronze Age, Ancient Textiles Series 22, Oxford, Philadelphia.
Shaw M. C., Chapin A. P. 2016. Woven Threads. Patterned Textiles of the Aegean Bronze Age, Ancient Textiles Series 22, Oxford, Philadelphia.
Siennicka M., Rahmstorf L., Ulanowska A. 2018. Introduction. In: M. Siennicka, L. Rahmstorf, A. Ulanowska (eds.), First Textiles. The Beginnings of Textile Manufacture in Europe and the Mediterranean. Proceedings of the EAA Session Held in Istanbul (2014) and the ‘First Textiles’ Conference in Copenhagen (2015), Ancient Textiles Series 32, Oxford, 1-16.
Skals I., Möller-Wiering S., Nosch M.-L. 2015. Survey of Archaeological Textile Remains from the Aegean and Eastern Mediterranean Area. In: E. Andersson Strand, M.-L. Nosch (eds.), Tools, Textiles and Contexts. Investigating Textile Pro-duction in the Aegean and Eastern Mediterranean Bronze Age, Ancient Textiles Series 21, Oxford, Philadelphia, 61-74.
Spantidaki Y., Moulherat Ch. 2012. Greece. In: M. Gleba, U. Mannering (eds.), Textiles and Textile Production in Europe: From Prehistory to AD 400, Ancient Textiles Series 11, Oxford, Oakville, 185-200.
Spantidaki S. 2008. Preliminary Results of the Reconstruction of Theran Textiles. In: C. Alfaro, L. Karalis (eds.), Vesti¬dos, Textiles y Tintes. Estudios sobre la producción de bienes de consumo en la Antigüeadad. Actas del II Symposium Internacional sobre Textiles y Tintes del Mediterráneo en el mundo antiguo (Atenas, 24 al 26 de noviembre, 2005), PURPUREAE VESTES II, Textiles and Dyes in Antiquity, València, 43-47.
Tzachili I. 1990. All Important yet Elusive: Looking for Evidence of Cloth-Making at Akrotiri. In D. A. Hardy, C. G. Doumas, J. A. Sakellarakis, P. M. Warren (eds.), Thera and the Aegean World III. Proceedings of the Third International Congress, Santorini, Greece, 3–9 September 1989, London, 380-389.
Tzachili I. 1997. Yfantikī́ kai yfántres sto Proϊstorikó Aigaío 2000–1000 p.Ch. (Υφαντική και υφάντρες στο Προϊστορικό Αιγαίο 2000–1000 π.Χ), Heraklion.
Tzachili I. 2007. Weaving at Akrotiri, Thera: Defining Cloth-Making Activities as Social Process in a Late Bronze Age Aegean Town. In: C. Gillis, M-L. B. Nosch (eds.), Ancient Textiles, Production, Craft and Society. Proceedings of the First International Conference on Ancient Textiles, Held at Lund Sweden and Copenhagen, Denmark, on March 19-23, 2003, Ancient Textiles Series 1, Oxford, 190-196.
Tzachili I., Spantidaki S., Andersson Strand E., Nosch M.-L., Cutler J. 2015. Textile Tools from Akrotiri, Thera, Greece. In: E. Andersson Strand, M.-L. Nosch (eds.), Tools, Textiles and Contexts. Investigating Textile Production in the Aegean and Eastern Mediterranean Bronze Age, Ancient Textiles Series 21, Oxford, Philadelphia, 243-246.
Ulanowska A. 2018a. Textiles in Cross-Craft Interactions. Tracing the Impact of Textile Technology on the Bronze Age Aegean Art. In: B. Gediga, A. Grossman, W. Piotrowski (eds.), Inspiracje i funkcje sztuki pradziejowej i wczesnośredniowiecznej, Biskupińskie Prace Archeologiczne 12, Prace Komisji Archeologicznej 22, Biskupin, Wrocław, 243-263.
Ulanowska A. 2018b. In Search of ‘Invisible’ Textile Tools and Techniques of Band Weaving in the Bronze Age Aegean. In: M. Siennicka, L. Rahmstorf, A. Ulanowska (eds.), First Textiles. The Beginnings of Textile Manufacture in Europe and the Mediterranean. Proceedings of the EAA Session Held in Istanbul (2014) and the ‘First Textiles’ Conference in Copenhagen (2015), Ancient Textiles Series 32, Oxford, Philadelphia, 201-212.
Ulanowska A., Siennicka M. forthcoming. The Economics of Textiles in Bronze Age Greece. In: M. S. Busana, M. Gleba, F. Meo (eds.), Textiles and Dyes in the Mediterranean. Economy and Society. Proceedings of VI PURPUREAE VESTES International Symposium (Padua, 17-20 October 2016), Zaragoza.
Van Damme T. 2012. Reviewing the Evidence for a Bronze Age Silk Industry. In: M.-L. Nosch, R. Laffineur (eds.), KOSMOS. Jewellery, Adornment and Textiles in the Aegean Bronze Age. Proceedings of the 13th International Aegean Conference / 13e Rencontre égéenne internationale, University of Copenhagen, Danish National Research Foundation’s Centre for Textile Research, 21–26 April 2010, Aegaeum 33, Leuven, Liège, 163-169.
Vogelsang-Eastwood G. 1999. Tunakhamun’s Wardrobe: Garments from the Tomb of Tutankhamun, Rotterdam. Wace A. J. B. 1927. A Cretan Statuette in Fitzwilliam Museum – A Study in Minoan Costume, Cambridge.
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2018 Fasciculi Archaeologiae Historicae
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
