Exploring Ancient Textiles: Pushing the Boundaries of Established Methodologies

Exploring Ancient TextilesPushing the Boundaries of Established MethodologiesOver the past 30 years, research on archaeological textiles has developed into an important field of scientific study. It has greatly benefited from interdisciplinary approaches, which combine the application of advanced technological knowledge to ethnographic, textual and experimental investigations. In exploring textiles and textile processing (such as production and exchange) in ancient societies, archaeologists with different types and quality of data have shared their knowledge, thus contributing to well-established methodology. In this book, the papers highlight how researchers have been challenged to adapt or modify these traditional and more recently developed analytical methods to enable extraction of comparable data from often recalcitrant assemblages. Furthermore, they have applied new perspectives and approaches to extend the focus on less investigated aspects and artefacts. The chapters embrace a broad geographical and chronological area, ranging from South America and Europe to Africa, and from the 11th millennium BC to the 1st millennium AD. Methodological considerations are explored through the medium of three different themes focusing on tools, textiles and fibres, and culture and identity. This volume constitutes a reflection on the status of current methodology and its applicability within the wider textile field. Moreover, it drives forward the methodological debates around textile research to generate new and stimulating conversations about the future of textile archaeology.Additional ISBNs9781789257281Exploring Ancient Textiles: Pushing the Boundaries of Established Methodologies is written by Alistair Dickey, Margarita Gleba, Sarah Hitchens, and Gabriella Longhitano and published by Oxbow Books. ISBNs for Exploring Ancient Textiles are 9781789257267, 1789257263 and the print ISBNs are 9781789257250, 1789257255. Additional ISBNs include 9781789257281.