Making Textiles in Pre-roman and Roman Times: People, Places, Identities

Textile production is an economic necessity that has confronted all societies in the past. While most textiles were manufactured at a household level, valued textiles were traded over long distances and these trade networks were influenced by raw material supply, labour skills, costs, as well as by regional traditions. This was true in the Mediterranean regions andMaking Textiles in pre-Roman and Roman times explores the abundant archaeological and written evidence to understand the typological and geographical diversity of textile commodities. Beginning in the Iron Age, the volume examines the foundations of the textile trade in Italy and the emergence of specialist textile production in Austria, the impact of new Roman markets on regional traditions and the role that gender played in the production of textiles. Trade networks from far beyond the frontiers of the Empire are traced, whilst the role of specialized merchants dealing in particular types of garment and the influence of Roman collegia on how textiles were produced and distributed are explored. Of these collegia, that of the fullers appears to have been particularly influential at a local level and how cloth was cleaned and treated is examined in detail, using archaeological evidence from Pompeii and provincial contexts to understand the processes behind this area of the textile trade.

Table of Contents

Preface Margarita Gleba
Maps
Introduction John Peter Wild

1. Textile Production and Trade in pre-Roman Italy Margarita Gleba
2. Textile Making – Questions Related to Age, Rank and Status Sanna Lipkin
3. Discovering the People behind the Textiles: Iron Age Textile Producers and their Products in Austria Karina Grömer
4. Textile Production and Trade in Roman Noricum Kordula Gostenčnik
5. Craftspeople, Merchants or Clients? The Evidence of Personal Names on the Commercial lead tags from Siscia Ivan Radman-Livaja
6. Female Work and Identity in Roman Textile Production and Trade: A Methodological Discussion Lena Larsson Lovén
7. Trade, Traders and guilds (?) in Textiles: the Case of Southern Gaul and Northern Italy (1st-3rd Centuries AD) Jinyu Liu
8. Textile Trade in the Periplus of the Erythraean Sea Manuel Albaladejo Vivero
9. Textiles and their Merchants in Rome’s Eastern Trade Kerstin Droß-Krüpe
10. (In)visible Spinners in the Documentary Papyri from Roman Egypt Sophie Gällnö
11. Textile Production Centres, Products and Merchants in the Roman Province of Asia Isabella Benda-Weber
12. Ulula, Quinquatrus and the Occupational Identity of Fullones in Early Imperial Italy Miko Flohr
13. A ‘Private’ Felter’s Workshop in the Casa dei Postumii in Pompeii Jens Arne Dickmann
Index

This book is an inspiration to those dealing with sociological aspects of the field, as well as craft and workmanship, trade, and textile research in antiquity. It contains rich empirical materials, but also considers problems of method. It therefore fosters the discipline of textile research in archaeology in a holistic way.
(Annette Paetz gen. Schieck, Deutsches Textilmuseum Krefeld Bryn Mawr Classical Review, 2015.07.35)

The editors must be commended for bringing together specialists from diverse fields to address this important topic...the volume successfully shows how the integration of various types of sources can be used to shed light on the complexities of this ancient craft. (Agnete Wisti Lassen American Journal Of Archaeology, January 2016 120/1)