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SYCH: Intersectional Symposium Cultural Heritage in the Light of Physical Methods
SYCH 2: Cultural Heritage in the Light of Physical Methods II
SYCH 2.4: Invited Talk
Thursday, March 17, 2011, 18:00–18:30, HSZ 02
Identification of Ancient Plant Textiles — •Bodil Holst1 and Bridget Murphy2 — 1University of Bergen, Department of Physics and Technology, Bergen, Norway — 2University of Kiel, Institute of Experimental and Applied Physics, Kiel, Germany
Archaeological textiles are made of natural fibers, which can be divided into two subgroups according to their origin. The two subgroups are animal fibers (wool, hair and silk) and plant fibers (flax, nettle, hemp etc.). Based on archaeological finds, it is believed that the first textiles were made of wild plant fibres. Up till now it has been the general assumption that the development of textile production was closely linked to the development of agricultural society through the use of cultivated textile plants (primarily flax and hemp). In this paper we challenge this assumption: Using new analysis methods which we have recently developed, we present conclusive evidence for high quality textile production based on the collection of wild plants in a Bronze Age agricultural society. Specifically, we show that the 2800 year old Bronze Age textile found in Voldtofte, Denmark is made of nettle.
Our investigation suggests that plant textile production in Bronze Age central Europe was based not only on agriculture, but also on the targeted exploitation of wild plants. It highlights the importance of nettle as a textile plant and suggests that a re-examination of many existing plant textile finds with new analysis techniques is called for.