Prehistoric textiles : the development of cloth in the Neolithic and Bronze Ages with special reference to the Aegean / by E. J. W. Barber.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Barber, E. J. W., 1940- author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Bronze age--Middle East.

Bronze age.

Neolithic period--Europe.

Neolithic period.

Neolithic period--Middle East.

Bronze age--Europe.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (512 pages)

Place of Publication:

Princeton, New Jersey : Princeton University Press, [1991]

Summary:

This pioneering work revises our notions of the origins and early development of textiles in Europe and the Near East. Using innovative linguistic techniques, along with methods from palaeobiology and other fields, it shows that spinning and pattern weaving began far earlier than has been supposed. Prehistoric Textiles made an unsurpassed leap in the social and cultural understanding of textiles in humankind's early history. Cloth making was an industry that consumed more time and effort, and was more culturally significant to prehistoric cultures, than anyone assumed before the book's publication. The textile industry is in fact older than pottery--and perhaps even older than agriculture and stockbreeding. It probably consumed far more hours of labor per year, in temperate climates, than did pottery and food production put together. And this work was done primarily by women. Up until the Industrial Revolution, and into this century in many peasant societies, women spent every available moment spinning, weaving, and sewing. The author, Elizabeth Wayland Barber, demonstrates command of an almost unbelievably disparate array of disciplines--from historical linguistics to archaeology and paleobiology, from art history to the practical art of weaving. Her passionate interest in the subject matter leaps out on every page. Barber, a professor of linguistics and archaeology, developed expert sewing and weaving skills as a small girl under her mother's tutelage. One could say she had been born and raised to write this book. Because modern textiles are almost entirely made by machines, we have difficulty appreciating how time-consuming and important the premodern textile industry was. This book opens our eyes to this crucial area of prehistoric human culture.

Contents:

Cover Page

Half-title Page

Title Page

Copyright Page

Dedication Page

Contents

List of Illustrations and Tables

Preface

Site Maps

Chronology (in Logarithmic Scale) of Main Eras Mentioned, 20,000-400 B.C.

Chronology of Later Cultures Mentioned, 3000-400 B.C.

Introduction

Part I: The Basic Textile Crafts The Data

1. The Domestication of Fibers

Flax

Hemp

Nettle and Other Bast Fibers

Wool

Other Hair Fibers

Silk

Cotton

Esparto

Appendix to Chapter 1: The Archaeolinguistics of Hemp

2. Spinning

Twisted Thread

Spinning, Drafting, and Splicing

The Evidence for Spindles and Whorls

Other Accoutrements

3. Looms and Weaving

The Ground-Loom

The Warp-Weighted Loom

The Vertical Two-Beam Loom

Band Looms

Tablet-Weaving

Sprang

Conclusions

4. The Textile Weaves: (1) The Beginnings

The Earliest Remains

Neolithic Europe

5. The Textile Weaves: (2) Egypt

Early Techniques

The Later (18th Dynasty) Techniques

6. The Textile Weaves: (3) The Bronze Age

Mesopotamia

The Levant

Anatolia, the Caucasus, and the Aegean

Italy, France, and Spain

Denmark

Germany, Holland, and Britain

7. The Textile Weaves: (4) The Iron Age

Hallstatt, North, and South

Greece, Anatolia, and the Steppes

8. The Textile Weaves: (5) An Overall View

9. Felt and Felting

10. Dyes

Survey of the Artifacts

Dye Processes

Some Dyes

Some Colors

Mordants

Dve-Works

Part II: Discussions

Introduction to Part II

11. Beginnings Revisited

12. Word Excavation

13. Women's Work

14. The Weight Chase

15. Minoans, Mycenaeans, and Keftiu

16. And Penelope?

Appendices

A. The Loom Weights: Data Table and Its Bibliography for Chapter 3

B. The Hollow Whorls: List and Its Bibliography for Chapter 14.

C. Aegean Representations of Cloth: List and Its Bibliography for Chapter 15

D. Egyptian Tombs with Aegean Data: List and Its Bibliography for Chapter 15

Bibliography

Index.

Notes:

Description based on print version record.

Includes bibliographical references (pages [387]-430) and index.

Other Format:

Print version: Barber, E. J. W. Prehistoric Textiles

ISBN:

9780691201412

0691201412

OCLC:

1281966729