08-24-2009, 05:20 PM
To reconstruct clothes or fabrics bases on the findings we have.
In the last twenty years the textile-research became more and more important in german, austrian an also danish archology.
The most important finds of "celtic" or iron age textiles are the ancient salt mines hallstatt and hallein in austria. Until today archologists find hundreds of fabric-fragments in the mines dating from the bronze age to the eraly laténe age. (it is quite difficult sometimes to make exact datings because if you just find some small fabric pieces and no fibulae or something like that, the fragments often dated to the general use of the salt mines [in hallstatt from 800-400 before christ]).
The fabric fragments in hallstatt, up to 400 (!) (maybey even more unpublished or unknown finds) are partly well researched with modern methods. Just 50% of this fragments have patterns. And of this 50% percent most of the fabrics have stripes or checked just with to colours. The same thing with the hundreds of fragments from hallein (thios saltmine was used from the end of the hallstatt period to the end oft the 3. century before christ).
The fragments in the graves, often obtained on metalfinds, like sword, fibules etc., are also in one colour. Ok most of these grave fragments were used to cover the single garve funitures in the grave (for example the tombs from glauberg, hessen germany). Everything was packed in fabrics.
A more well known example is the late hallstatt grave from Hochdorf. Here the same: monochromatic textiles but with a big variation of colours: blue, bright red, purple.
Ok most of the finds i enumerate are from the hallstatt and early laténe period, but the few finds from the late laténe graves are also monochromatic.
Finally some works (all in german, sorry) about the findings i mentioned:
Die Textilfunde aus dem späthallstattzeitlichen Fürstengrab von Eberdingen-Hochdorf (Kreis Ludwigsburg) und weitere Grabtextilien aus hallstatt- und latènezeitlichen Kulturgruppen / Johanna Banck-Burgess. Mit Beitr. von Lise Ræder Knudsen ...
Stuttgart : Theiss , 1999. - 292 S. : Ill. + 2 Beil.
(Hochdorf / Landesdenkmalamt Baden-Württemberg. [Hrsg.: Landesdenkmalamt Baden-Württemberg, Archäolog. Denkmalpflege. Red.: Christoph Unz] ; 4)
Rast-Eicher, Antoinette : Textilien, Wolle, Schafe der Eisenzeit in der Schweiz / Antoinette Rast-Eicher
Basel : Archäologie Schweiz , 2008. - 212 S. : Ill., graph. Darst., Kt.
(Antiqua ; 44)
Katharina von Kurzynski. ".....und ihre Hosen nennen sie bracas". Textilfunde und Textiltechnologie der Hallstatt- und Latènezeit und ihr Kontext. Magisterarbeit Universität Marburg/Lahn, 1993. Internationale Archäologie Band 22. Leidorf Verlag.
In the last twenty years the textile-research became more and more important in german, austrian an also danish archology.
The most important finds of "celtic" or iron age textiles are the ancient salt mines hallstatt and hallein in austria. Until today archologists find hundreds of fabric-fragments in the mines dating from the bronze age to the eraly laténe age. (it is quite difficult sometimes to make exact datings because if you just find some small fabric pieces and no fibulae or something like that, the fragments often dated to the general use of the salt mines [in hallstatt from 800-400 before christ]).
The fabric fragments in hallstatt, up to 400 (!) (maybey even more unpublished or unknown finds) are partly well researched with modern methods. Just 50% of this fragments have patterns. And of this 50% percent most of the fabrics have stripes or checked just with to colours. The same thing with the hundreds of fragments from hallein (thios saltmine was used from the end of the hallstatt period to the end oft the 3. century before christ).
The fragments in the graves, often obtained on metalfinds, like sword, fibules etc., are also in one colour. Ok most of these grave fragments were used to cover the single garve funitures in the grave (for example the tombs from glauberg, hessen germany). Everything was packed in fabrics.
A more well known example is the late hallstatt grave from Hochdorf. Here the same: monochromatic textiles but with a big variation of colours: blue, bright red, purple.
Ok most of the finds i enumerate are from the hallstatt and early laténe period, but the few finds from the late laténe graves are also monochromatic.
Finally some works (all in german, sorry) about the findings i mentioned:
Die Textilfunde aus dem späthallstattzeitlichen Fürstengrab von Eberdingen-Hochdorf (Kreis Ludwigsburg) und weitere Grabtextilien aus hallstatt- und latènezeitlichen Kulturgruppen / Johanna Banck-Burgess. Mit Beitr. von Lise Ræder Knudsen ...
Stuttgart : Theiss , 1999. - 292 S. : Ill. + 2 Beil.
(Hochdorf / Landesdenkmalamt Baden-Württemberg. [Hrsg.: Landesdenkmalamt Baden-Württemberg, Archäolog. Denkmalpflege. Red.: Christoph Unz] ; 4)
Rast-Eicher, Antoinette : Textilien, Wolle, Schafe der Eisenzeit in der Schweiz / Antoinette Rast-Eicher
Basel : Archäologie Schweiz , 2008. - 212 S. : Ill., graph. Darst., Kt.
(Antiqua ; 44)
Katharina von Kurzynski. ".....und ihre Hosen nennen sie bracas". Textilfunde und Textiltechnologie der Hallstatt- und Latènezeit und ihr Kontext. Magisterarbeit Universität Marburg/Lahn, 1993. Internationale Archäologie Band 22. Leidorf Verlag.
