Textile archeology
The textile archeology is a branch of archeology that deals with archaeological finds of textiles , clothing and costumes engaged in every detail of their production and use. The aim of the research is to preserve textile finds for research and presentation and to research as much knowledge as possible about the production, processing, appearance and wearing of historical clothing, as well as the use of everyday textiles. Further goals are to develop sociological , sociological and economic knowledge from the textile finds.
Textiles can only be preserved in the soil over long periods of time under extremely rare and favorable conditions . Textile fibers are changed or damaged by the chemical properties of their environment. Animal materials made of proteins such as wool , silk , fur , leather or feathers are preserved in a slightly acidic environment at a pH value of 5.5 to 7, whereas vegetable materials such as flax fibers , cotton and nettle fibers are kept in a neutral to alkaline environment for their preservation need around 10 pH. In addition, as soon as they get into the earth, textile materials are decomposed by microorganisms , bacteria and fungi until they are completely destroyed. For this reason, finds of clothing or textiles are extremely rare. However, special storage conditions inhibit the activity of these small organisms and enable the finds to be preserved. Optimal storage conditions are always made up of a combination of different conditions, such as the complete exclusion of oxygen and light or extreme and constant dry storage. Furthermore, textiles can be preserved if they are stored in an environment that is unfavorable for microorganisms , in which substances are, for example, in contact with metal surfaces, the corrosion products of which penetrate the textiles and indirectly receive them as metal corrosion products. In these cases, the textile materials are also mostly gone, but their plastic image has been preserved as a layer of metal salt such as rust or verdigris on the metal surface.
Even if textiles have been preserved for several centuries under the most favorable conditions, they often passed by at the time of the excavation due to contact with light and atmospheric oxygen. Many excavators observed textiles from freshly opened graves whose bright colors changed to an unsightly gray or brown within seconds and whose fabric instantly crumbled into dust. For a long time, insufficient recovery and conservation options prevented science from dealing more intensively with it. In addition, the importance of prehistoric textiles was only recognized by a few early excavators.
Well-known examples of prehistoric and early historic textile finds originate from the bogs of northern Europe, such as the many bog bodies or the Bronze Age tree coffin burials , which have been preserved partly full costume fittings. There are other rich textile finds from Egyptian mummy burials or Scythian Kurgan . Excavations from medieval towns, especially in former rubbish pits or latrine pits , often yield a wide variety of textile finds.
International specialist conferences such as NESAT and numerous publications are now devoted to textile archeology.
literature
- Johanna Banck-Burgess: Opportunities for Textile Archeology. A research project about the textile finds from the pile dwellings. In: Preservation of monuments in Baden-Württemberg. Vol. 48 (2019), Issue 3, pp. 170–176 (PDF)
- Johanna Banck-Burgess: A long-neglected department. Textile archeology in monument preservation. In: Preservation of monuments in Baden-Württemberg. Volume 37 (2008), Issue 2, pp. 82–87 (PDF)
- Elizabeth W. Barber: Prehistoric textiles. The evolution of cloth in the neolithic and bronze ages with special reference to the Aegean . Princeton 1992, ISBN 0-691-00224-X (English).
- Elizabeth W. Barber: Women's work. The first 20,000 years. Women, cloth and society in early times . New York 1994, ISBN 0-393-03506-0 ( formally incorrect ) (English).
- Christoph Eger: Gold textiles from the late antique period from North Africa . In: Report of the Bavarian soil monument preservation . tape 53 . Munich 2013, p. 341-354 .
- Niklot Krohn: Goldlahn in the Alamannia: Example from Dürbheim "Häuslerain" (Tuttlingen district) and Lahr-Burgheim, St. Peter (Ortenau district) . In: Report of the Bavarian soil monument preservation . tape 53 . Munich 2013, p. 355-360 .
- Susan Möller-Wiering: Symbolic textiles . In: Studies on Saxony Research . tape 5.8 . Isensee, Oldenburg 2005, ISBN 3-89995-217-0 .
- Britt Nowak-Böck: Gold textiles from the early Middle Ages - comments on practical handling and scientific evaluability . In: Report of the Bavarian soil monument preservation . tape 53 . Munich 2013, p. 261-269 .
- Karl Schlabow : Textile finds from the Iron Age in Northern Germany . In: Göttingen writings on prehistory and early history . tape 15 . Wachholtz, Neumünster 1976, ISBN 3-529-01515-6 .
- Karl Schlabow: Fabric and garment for the Bronze Age . Neumünster 1983, ISBN 3-529-01703-5 .
- Ina Schneebauer-Meißner: Technological investigations on gold textiles of the early Middle Ages . In: Report of the Bavarian soil monument preservation . tape 53 . Munich 2013, p. 271-336 .
- Carina Stiefel-Ludwig: Gold textiles from the Merovingian period in southern and western Germany in a social context . In: Report of the Bavarian soil monument preservation . tape 53 . Munich 2013, p. 337-340 .
- Walter von Stokar : Spinning and weaving among the Teutons. A prehistoric-scientific investigation . Leipzig 1938.