Abstract
At the onset of the 2nd millenniumbc, a wool economy emerged across continental Europe. Archaeological, iconographical, and written sources from the Near East and the Aegean show that a Bronze Age wool economy involved considerable specialised labour and large scale animal husbandry. Resting only on archaeological evidence, detailed knowledge of wool economies in Bronze Age Europe has been limited, but recent investigations at the Terramare site of Montale, in northern Italy, document a high density of spindle whorls that strongly supports the existence of village-level specialised manufacture of yarn. Production does not appear to have been attached to an emerging elite nor was it fully independent of social constraints. We propose that, although probably managed by local elites, wool production was a community-based endeavour oriented towards exports aimed at obtaining locally unavailable raw materials and goods.
Highlights
At the onset of the 2nd millennium BC, a wool economy emerged across continental Europe
Resting only on archaeological evidence, detailed knowledge of wool economies in Bronze Age Europe has been limited, but recent investigations at the Terramare site of Montale, in northern Italy, document a high density of spindle whorls that strongly supports the existence of village-level specialised manufacture of yarn
In this article we present a study of spindle whorls from the Bronze Age Terramare settlement of Montale in the Po Valley, Italy, and their role in community-based specialised wool economy
Summary
Any attempt to understand Bronze Age textile production beyond the coasts of the Mediterranean is like doing a jigsaw. The archaeological record is not homogeneously spread, either chronologically or geographically It seems, profitable to make use of comparative data and information from areas outside continental Europe, such the Aegean and the Near East. A growing demand for clothing of different quality fuelled production activities in specific centres that managed collection and redistribution of raw materials and textile making It was a year-around activity that relied on access to vast numbers of sheep/goats, paid and/or unfree specialised craft-labour, and conspicuous elite consumption (eg, Burke 2010; Breniquet & Michel 2014). The archaeological evidence from the Bronze Age Po valley in northern Italy, as presented in this paper, represents a convincing case that, during the 2nd millennium BC, wool economies emerged and developed beyond the coastal region of the Mediterranean to supply continental demand
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