Textile Production in Some Early Neolithic Settlements in North Macedonia

Abstract

The most conclusive evidence for the existence of textile production in North Macedonia during the first quarter of the sixth millennium BC are textile imprints on pottery bases. We analyzed 45 imprints from six settlements of two geographically close Early Neolithic cultural groups, Velušina-Porodin and Amzabegovo-Vršnik. We identified the textile structures, measured the yarn diameters and their twist directions and angles, as well as the thread count. The close double weft twining in S direction and the spliced fibres from decorticated plant stems are common features of all of these textiles. The weft rows are either very close or tightly packed, producing weft-faced and flexible fabrics. Fraying and holes attest secondary use of the worn-out textiles during the construction of the vessels. In these settlements, there was a persistent and uniform community of practice in the production of twined textiles, differing from the twining structures practiced by the other Neolithic groups in the Balkans. Textile tools are represented by 22 perforated rounded pottery sherds, probably used as spindle whorls, while only a few objects can be recognized as loom weights: one dumbbell weight and five discoid weights.