Recent Textile Discoveries in Archaeology

Archaeologists have made some textile discoveries in the past year that are of interest to spinners and clothmakers.

In Turkey, at a rather large Stone Age settlement known as Çatalhöyük, cloth was found in 1962. It took decades of discussion and new data and discoveries to determine if the cloth was made from wool or linen. Ultimately, researchers determined the cloth was made from bast fiber from oak trees. (from Norwegian SciTechNews)

In Spain, in a cave near Cordoba, archaeologists found a piece of fabric that is “the oldest evident of textiles in the Iberian Penninsula.” This loom-woven fragment is about 5400 years old. (from The Olive Press)

In Wales, in an Iron Age hillfort, one of the artifacts founds was a “stone spindle whorl.” (from The Past)

Two burial mounds in Poland, from the Wielbark culture about 2000 years ago, contained a number of items related to weaving such as spindles and spools. (from Heritage Daily)

In Norway, a number of discoveries have been found along Viking trade routes. One well-preserved piece of clothing has been called the “Lendbreen Tunic” and was made of wool. Also find was a distaff made from birch. (from Artnet News)

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