Following the Thread: Elite Iconography on Weaving Objects at Poggio Civitate (Murlo)

Nora K Donoghue

doi:10.3390/arts11010015

Abstract

Evidence for industrial scale production of numerous manufacturing processes has been attested in all phases of occupation at Poggio Civitate (Murlo). A subset of these, tools for the production of textiles and fibers, indicates that textile crafts were manufactured on a large scale as a part of a centralized and organized industry. These industrialized practices occurred within and around the monumental seventh and sixth century BCE complexes which displayed architectural decoration bearing iconographic themes that served to secure the positions of the aristocratic elites. This paper investigates the stamped decoration present on rocchetti and its relationship to the architectural decoration present on the monumental structures of the site. As small moveable objects used by members of the community, rocchetti present an opportunity to investigate the movement of elite images through the non-elite population of a community and their reception of aristocratic ideology presented in monumental structures.

Highlights

Excavations at Poggio Civitate (Murlo), an Etruscan settlement 25 km south of the modern city of Siena, have illuminated facets of the daily life of the community between the eighth and sixth centuries BCE
Of the numerous types of production attested at the site, the processing of fibers and manufacture of textiles indicate that Poggio Civitate had a centralized and organized industry which met the consumption needs of the local community under the aristocratic control of the site’s ruling elite
This paper investigates the decoration present on rocchetti, or spools for thread, and its relationship to the iconography of the architectural decoration present on the monumental structures of the site

Summary

Introduction

Excavations at Poggio Civitate (Murlo), an Etruscan settlement 25 km south of the modern city of Siena, have illuminated facets of the daily life of the community between the eighth and sixth centuries BCE. Following the Thread: Elite Iconography on Weaving Objects at Poggio Civitate (Murlo). Of the numerous types of production attested at the site, the processing of fibers and manufacture of textiles indicate that Poggio Civitate had a centralized and organized industry which met the consumption needs of the local community under the aristocratic control of the site’s ruling elite.

Results

Conclusion