What is a textile?
The word textile refers to any woven or knitted piece of cloth as well as a fibre, filament, or yarn used in the making of cloth. The word textile originally comes from the Latin word texere meaning ‘to weave’. The term refers to more than just clothing and pieces of cloth and extends to things such as netting, rope, and basketry.
Why are textiles important and what can they tell us?
In addition to having a multitude of uses such as clothing, packaging, and soft furnishings, textiles can provide valuable information about an individual and the society, economics, status, culture, identity, and the environment to which a person belonged and interacted with.
Where do we find them?
Textiles are often found in a variety of different contexts such as settlements, rubbish dumps, and burials. However, organic materials such as textiles often do not survive in the archaeological record. They need specific conditions such as arid, frozen or waterlogged environments in order to survive. Fragments of textiles can also survive as carbonised remains or become mineralised on metals. Certain environments also favour the preservation of plant fibres over animal fibres and vice versa which affects the evidence available for study. This is why places such as Egypt have a relatively large number of surviving textile finds. Egypt is known for its hot dry climate which is ideal for the preservation of organic remains including textiles. Most places, however, have no or very few surviving textile remains.
How do we study textiles when none survive?
As a result, archaeologists often have to rely on indirect methods - tools, iconography, literary sources, statues, impressions - in order to study textiles in areas where none have physically survived.
Textile processing tools in the form of loom weights and spindle whorls are most often the only indication for the presence of textiles at a site, particularly in areas such as Europe. Spindle whorls are primarily used in the production of threads and yarns whilst loom weights are used in the weaving of cloth. Loom weights and spindle whorls are generally made from inorganic materials such as ceramic, stone, bone or even precious metals. These materials have a greater chance of surviving in the archaeological record over plant-based materials such as wood.
Recording and analysing a tool’s weight and dimensions (height, width, length, diameter, diameter of perforations) along with a general description which includes the tool’s physical appearance, material, and any manufacturing and use-wear marks enable textile archaeologists to hypothesise the range of textiles that may have been produced using the available tools.
Iconography in statuary form and in painted scenes is also a great source for studying clothing styles and fashion. This evidence provides some of the only sources for studying potential decorative elements such as embroidery as well as colours which might have been available as dyes. Literary sources, on the other hand, can provide valuable information on the economic aspects of textile production, movement, and trade.
Impressions of textiles are another, but lesser studied, form of evidence for textile remains. Throughout history, pots were decorated with cord impressions. Clay sealings often bear the impressions of basketry, cloth, and rope on their obverse sides. Plaster, in its various forms and uses, also has the ability to preserve impressions. This includes the Roman gypsum burials from Yorkshire which form the basis of the Seeing the Dead project.
The gypsum burials – dressed to impress
As part of the project, I am looking at the textile evidence from the gypsum casings. Gypsum was either poured over or applied to the deceased body during the burial process. As it dried and hardened, it created a cast or an impression of the textiles which had been used to dress or wrap the body. Most of the textile evidence on the casings comes in the form of impressions, but a small number of mineralised fragments also survive. They are the only source of textile evidence for these burials.
The impressions are a valuable source of information not only for the textiles themselves but also for information about the deceased individual’s socio-economic status as well as wider Roman attitudes and treatments of the dead at the edge of the empire.
Methodology
In order to study the textile impressions on the gypsum casings as well as the smaller fragments, a number of different techniques are used. The Keyence Microscope is ideal for the smaller fragments which can be placed under the microscope. The Shadow Effect mode allows for easy light manipulation which makes the details of the textile impressions easier to see and analyse whilst a Dinolite (a hand-held microscope), manoeuvrable lights, 3D scans, and a camera with a macro lens are being used to analyse the larger gypsum casings. The fragments and the larger casings each have their own unique challenges. Some of the impressions are very clear whilst others are very difficult to see, providing differing degrees of information.
The weave type, spin direction, yarn diameter, thread count, and a general description of the appearance of the textile is the basic information I try to record for each fragment and casing, although that is not always possible. I am also looking for any evidence of borders, selvedges, fringing, and possible decorative elements. This information can tell us about the type and quality of textile used in the burial.
Preliminary Results
The research is still in its initial stages. However, some initial results and patterns are emerging. The majority of the textiles used in the gypsum burials are plain or tabby woven. The pieces of cloth were made from Z spun yarns. This is just an indication of which direction the fibres were twisted during yarn production. This information does have a cultural significance and could indicate that a textile came from a specific region. Egypt, for example, was known throughout antiquity for its S-spun linen textiles while most textiles from central and northern Europe were primarily Z-spun. Fibre identification was possible on some of the mineralised remains and so far all of the identifiable fragments are a form of bast fibre, likely linen.
To date, the Infant burial (YORYM:2007.6212) is the only gypsum burial with any indication of a dyed fabric. Remnants of purple dye can be seen on part of the textile impressions on the gypsum casing along with gold threads making fibre identification impossible. However, it is likely that the purple textile was made from an animal fibre such as wool as the evidence for purple dyed linen with gold threads is quite limited.
Some of the impressions and mineralised fragments also appear to be covered in some sort of resinous substance which may be part of the burial ritual; this will be determined by mass spectrometry in another work package of the project. Another pattern that has emerged is that all of the analysed fragments so far show that multiple textiles were used to cover the body, either as shrouds or wrappings.
It is unlikely that any of these textiles came from clothing as they would have been closer to the decomposing body and likely not survived; furthermore, clothing would be worn under the funerary wrappings or shrouds, and we cannot see them. The impressions that we see, therefore, likely belong to the burial assemblage as a shroud or used in the wrapping of the deceased. Currently, the only evidence for an identifiable piece of clothing found in the gypsum burials is the purple and gold textile from the Infant burial (YORYM:2007.6212) which was draped over the infant’s body.
It is impossible to say from only small fragments whether they belonged to a shroud or wrappings, but the impressions left on the surfaces of some of the larger casings do allow us to recognise shrouds or covering sheets and/or as wrappings wound around the limbs and body.
It is hoped that all of the information gathered will aid in our understanding of society during this time especially when it comes to the treatment of the dead. It is also hoped that we can bring aspects of those buried in the gypsum burials back to life.