Check(er)ed clothing in the Roman army, 1st C

[Crispianus]

Hi Jose
I wouldnt say it was dogtooth I think it would have been but each suceeding band of colour has been woven reversed or at least thats the way it seems to me... heres an enchanced image as well as a falkirk 260AD reconstruction and dogtooth...

Ive just realised its actually a 2/2 chevron woven as a check it helps when you get the images together and the orientation right but still 2/2 twill and consistant with the remains from east yorkshire..

your quite right about the scottish register falkirk/shepards Tartan its incorrect to describe it as the Falkirk 260AD as its clearly a different weave...

[Joze Noriker]

Tartan weaving style:
warp and weft: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tartan = simple twill

link of the weft tartan: http://www.tartanregister.gov.uk/tartanL...x?ref=1022

warp and weft tartan: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Tartan...eft)_C.svg

http://clanmckerrell.awardspace.com/tart...and%20weft

Falkirk tartan is weft tartan:
"Tartan is made with alternating bands of coloured (pre-dyed) threads woven as both warp and weft at right angles to each other. The weft is woven in a simple twill, two over - two under the warp, advancing one thread each pass. This forms visible diagonal lines where different colours cross, which give the appearance of new colours blended from the original ones. The resulting blocks of colour repeat vertically and horizontally in a distinctive pattern of squares and lines known as a sett."
Link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tartan

Joze

[Crispianus]

Without a closer examination and an edge I think it would be very difficult to tell if the original chevron weave of the cloth was woven vertically or horizontally it would make sense to weave it vertically, although theres no reason why you couldnt weave it horizontally, swings and roundabouts really I think...

[Tim Edwards]

See attached some original Iron Age examples.

[attachment]C:\\fakepath\\HallstattStrukturen.png[/attachment]

Clearly this doesn't prove the Roman army wore such weaves, but they are out there.

There is some checked woolen cloth from Qasr Ibrim, a Roman military site in Eqypt which dates to the first century AD, which I believe was blue/white. Unfortunately we don't know whether it was an item of clothing or not. (actually it looks like a tea towel!)

Even the above example was an exception rather than the rule.

Would be nice to see some more Roman military reenactors in decent woolen diamond twill, as per the Vindolanda evidence, and perhaps fewer others using tartan dog blankets to be 'Celts'!!

[Caballo]

One imperial statue in the Archeological Museum in Istanbul shows clearly a checkered pattern on the tunic. I'll try and find a photograph, but it needs a closeup to show the details.

[Joze Noriker]

In the late Roman time&Bysantinian period are some clothes' embroideryies checkered (tunic of the religious persons), but not in the 3 rd cent. AD by the normal population.

Joze