Theme:
5. Theories and methods in archaeology: interactions between disciplines
Session format:
Regular session
Title:
Multidisciplinary Approaches to Identify and Preserve Fibres and Textile Products in the Archaeological Field
Content:
Fibre identification is a key element in ancient textile studies but surprisingly, yet not thoroughly explored.
The study of the nature and provenance of archaeological fibres is extremely important in understanding a large variety of economic and social aspects of human societies dealing with the selection and processing of natural resources on a small and larger scale and the kind of expertise required in each step of the textile production process. In order to reconstruct these aspects, a pivotal role is played by scientific analyses to support wider interpretative models.Nevertheless, archaeological textiles and fibre remains are usually rare finds in excavation contexts, and are mainly preserved in specific environmental conditions, since they are generally made of organic material, which is sensitive to the aggressive post depositional processes. There are cases where certain environmental conditions, such as the proximity of textiles to metals, carbonization and waterlogged environments, considerably decelerate deterioration. However, these conditions might also greatly affect the morphology and physico-chemical properties of textile fibres, which are the main features leading to their identification. Prolific work has been done in the past but very often with inconclusive results mainly due to the rarity and poor condition of the finds, and also the immense variety of fibre producing plants and animals used locally since antiquity. Currently, comprehensive studies on more traditional fibre identification techniques, such as Scanning Electron and Optical microscopy, spectroscopic techniques (e.g. IR, Raman) and recent advances in αDNA and paleoproteomics, along with experiments on artificial ageing and deterioration of textiles, constitute a promising path down the exploration and analysis of archaeological textiles.
This session aims to bring together scholars investigating fibres as evidence of textile activity for their identification and preservation in order to improve the current methodological approaches in the study and conservation of textiles and related material.
Keywords:
Archaeometry and Archaeology of textiles, Fibre identification, Fibre conservation, Microscopy
Session associated with MERC:
no
Session associated with CIfA:
no
Session associated with SAfA:
no
Session associated with CAA:
no
Session associated with DGUF:
no
Session associated with other:
Main organiser:
Francesca Coletti (Italy) 1,2
Co-organisers:
Vanessa Forte (Italy) 3
Christina Margariti (Greece) 4
Stella Spantidaki (Greece) 5
Affiliations:
1. Ruprecht Karl University of Heidelberg, Institut für Klassische Archäologie (Germany)
2. Sapienza University of Rome, Department of Classics
3. Sapienza University, Laboratory of Technological and Functional Analyses of Prehistoric Artefacts
4. Head of the Applied Research Department, Directorate of Conservation, Hellenistic Ministry of Culture
5. Director of ARTEX - the Hellenic Centre for Research and Conservation of Archaeological Textiles
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