Loom Weight Research Articles

ΚΑΣΙ[…] on the island of Hvar? A new find of a Greek loom weight with a graffito from Pharos

U radu se donosi objava nalaza grčkog utega koji je otkriven tijekom istraživanja u Starome Gradu na otoku Hvaru provedenih u 2021. godini. Radi se o diskoidnom utegu za tkalački stan koji sadrži dvije vrste oznaka: grčki grafit s prvim spomenom grčkog imena ΚΑΣΙ[…] u Dalmaciji i otisak eliptičnog oblika s neodredivim prikazom. Donosi se osvrt na tipološko-kronološke odrednice utega, analizu natpisa te ulogu utega u kontekstu grčkog utjecaja na području srednje Dalmacije.

The Loom Weight, the Spindle Whorl, and the Sword Beater – Evidence of Textile Activity in the Early Neolithic?

AbstractAfter the development of an experimental protocol concerning an enigmatic tool rarely recognized archaeologically and potentially used as a sword beater, that is, blades in bone or wood, we were able to establish certain diagnostic criteria. These tools recur in sites in the south of France and Italy, for example, dated to 3023 BC. If our experimental reference work is extended, we may be able to determine which fibers were used for textile production during the Neolithic. This could reveal a virtually unknown field in the prehistoric economy and shed light upon the procurement and the use of plant and animal resources developed by populations living in a period when domestication was just beginning.

Child murder in the Early Bronze Age: proteomic sex identification of a cold case from Schleinbach, Austria

The identification of sex-specific peptides in human tooth enamel by nanoflow liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (nanoLC-MS/MS) represents a quantum leap for the study of childhood and social relations more generally. Determining sex-related differences in prehistoric child rearing and mortality has been hampered by the insufficient accuracy in determining the biological sex of juveniles. We conducted mass spectrometric analysis to identify sex-specific peptides in the dental enamel of a child from a settlement pit of the Early Bronze Age settlement of Schleinbach, Austria (c. 1950–1850 bc). Four perimortal impression fractures on the skull of a 5–6-year-old child indicate an intentional killing, with a co-buried loom weight as possible murder weapon. Proteomic analysis, conducted for the first time on prehistoric teeth in Austria, determined the child’s sex as male. While we cannot conclusively determine whether the child was the victim of conflicts between village groups or was slain by members of his own community, we suggest that contextual evidence points to the latter. A possible trigger of violence was the follow-on effects of an uncontrolled middle ear infection revealed by an osteological analysis. The boy from Schleinbach highlights the potential for further investigation of gender-biased violence, infanticide and child murder based on the recently developed method of proteomic sex identification.

ARACHNE'S WEB: WOMEN, WEAVING AND NETWORKS OF KNOWLEDGE IN THE BRONZE AGE SOUTHERN AEGEAN

The appearance of loom weights at a number of southern Aegean sites in the Middle and early Late Bronze Age is indicative of the adoption of a new weaving technology: the use of the warp-weighted loom. The specific type of loom weight (discoid) recovered is a Cretan form, and this evidence of Cretan influence is also seen in a wider range of material culture features at these settlements during this period. Weaving is a complex skill and learning requires contact between novice and expert practitioner over an extended period of time; the introduction of a new weaving technology therefore raises the question of how the necessary technical knowledge and know-how was transferred from one individual or community to another. The archaeological indicators of this new technological practice, the loom weights themselves, are objects that very rarely travel, except with their owners; the presence of loom weights manufactured from non-local ceramic fabrics at some of the southern Aegean sites can therefore provide a window into the patterns of mobility through which the new technology is likely to have spread. Both in the Bronze Age and subsequent Archaic and Classical periods, weaving was closely associated with women. Loom weights thus constitute archaeological markers for the craftswomen who used them. This paper explores the insight they can offer into female networks of teaching, learning and craft practice in the second millenniumbc.

Innovative or Traditional? Diachronic Approach to Weaving Technology in Bronze Age Greece

This paper aims at recognising potential innovations in weaving technology that may have occurred in Bronze Age Greece. It discusses whether these assumed developments may be examined diachronically. This discussion is based on archaeological evidence of textile implements, such as loom weights and presumed traces of warp-weighted looms, as well as knowledge of traditional craft and experimental archaeology. After a short introduction discussing how technical innovations could possibly be recognised in weaving, the paper explores possible changes in the construction and functionality of the warp-weighted loom and potential uses of other types of looms in Greece. A distribution pattern of specific forms of a loom weight, e.g. discoid loom weights in particular, is examined as an innovation responding to the demand for fabrics of specific technical qualities and appearance, possibly associated with a spread of new weaving techniques which accompanied the transmission of these tools. Social relations and modes of organisation of textile production are considered factors that must have had a significant impact on creativity and innovativeness in weaving technology. However, the final conclusion is that specific relations between the organisation of weaving and the occurrence of innovative processes cannot be clearly recognised based on the available evidence.

Ithyphallic figurines from Geangoești Hulă, a north to Danube Kodjadermen-Gumelnița Karanovo VI culture site

Forty years after the first excavation on Geangoești-Hulă, a new archaeological research project on site, a Kodjadermen-Gumelnița-Karanovo VI culture settlement, allow a better understanding of the stratigraphic sequences and gives new insight over constructive solutions and dimensions of a KGK VI settlement, sketching regional patterns. In the last five years, an impressive quantity of archaeological artefacts, mostly ceramic sherds, but over 200 whole vessels, a big lot of clay figurines and chipped flint and obsidian industry, some clay miniature objects, zoomorphic clay figurines, whirls and loom weight, but also copper and polished stone objects, was collected from different archaeological features and structures, as contemporaneous pits, foundation ditches, constructive pits, waste areas, houses etc. The present study brings to light the only three male figurines from the anthropomorphic collection from Geangoești, occasion to analyse them in a larger context, by comparing them with other male figurines from K G K VI culture and by reviewing some other forms used in Neolithic and Copper Age Eastern Europe to express masculine element.

Loom weights as a research tool

The function of loom weights was to stretch and space the warp threads on a vertical loom. The loom weight is often the only preserved remnant of a loom used in antiquity. Because of their ubiquity, loom weights are the main key to the study of textile production in the Iron Age in the Levant.During excavations loom weights are easy to recognize if they are made of metal, stone or ceramics. Within burnt layers, unfired clay loom weights can be accidentally fired and thus well preserved. But it is difficult to recognize and securely excavate unfired raw clay loom weights. The two main problems are:1. Unfired loom weights disintegrate when they get wet.2. When excavating a mudbrick site, the clay of the loom weights resembles the matrix they were found in.Clay loom weights were sometimes fired, resulting in durable terracotta weights, but the majority were made of unfired clay. Unlike Staermose Nielsen (Staermose Nielsen, K.-H. In: Pritchard, F. and J.F. Wild (ed.). Northern Archaeological Textiles NESAT VII. Oxbow Books, Oxford, 2005:130), who states: “Groups of unbaked clay weights are the more numerous of all, but as clay loom weights reveal themselves on excavations only as disintegrated lumps, their usefulness in a classification is minimal.” For many excavations Staermose Nielsen is right. But that is because of the way the weights are excavated rather than preserved in the ground. I will demonstrate that clay loom weights, when properly excavated and preserved, can be classified and studied in a meaningful way, enabling us to reconstruct textile production. The practical part.I would like to share a registration form for loom weights to be used in excavations and research projects (see abstract link below). Your comments and ideas on my conceptual form are very welcome!

Un village chasséen dans le Sud de la France: Cazan «le Clos du Moulin», Vernègues (Bouches-du-Rhône)

Une fouille réalisée en 2013 à Cazan «le Clos du Moulin » Vernègues (Bouches-du Rhône) a permis de mettre en évidence une importante occupation du Chasséen récent en fond de vallon. Aucun niveau de sol n’a été retrouvé, mais plus de 600 structures en creux permettent de documenter un des premiers sites d’habitat structuré de cette période dans le Sud de la France. Les attributions chronologiques reposent sur huit datations au 14C comprises en 4100 et 3800 avant notre ère et sur un abondant mobilier archéologique qui concorde avec l’attribution à une étape récente du Chasséen. Le gisement livre plusieurs fosses, des puits et une concentration de structures à pierres chauffées, mais aussi et surtout de nombreux trous de poteau et fosses d’implantation qui permettent de restituer les plans d’environ quinze bâtiments. Ces derniers correspondent notamment à dix édifices standards ; trois ensembles architecturaux plus imposants s’insèrent au sein de cette organisation et traduisent sans doute la présence d’édifices socialement plus valorisés. L’analyse du mobilier archéologique ne permet pas de déterminer assurément de chronologies relatives au sein de ces structures et aménagements, mais elle met en évidence plusieurs zones d’activités privilégiées en particulier pour le travail du silex et de l’obsidienne. Ces activités signent une occupation domestique a priori pérenne au sein d’un paysage largement anthropisé et maitrisé d’après les observations anthracologiques et malacologiques. L’ensemble de ces résultats tend à prouver l’attachement des populations chasséennes à ce territoire où elles se sont installées et ont vécues. Ce site permet donc enfin d’approcher pleinement la notion de village pour le Chasséen récent.

GÜNCEL ARKEOLOJİK BULGULAR IŞIĞINDA MÖ 2. BİNYILDA AMASYA BÖLGESİ

Recent excavations and surveys in the Central Black Sea Region expanded our knowledge on this, one of the le­ast researched regions of Anatolian Archaeology. Especially the excavations continuing since 2007 in Oluz Hoyuk, which is situated in Amasya and one of the largest mounds of the said region, proved the uninterrupted inhabitation from Late Chalcolithic to the Persian Period in the region. 7 th and 8 th architectural layers of Oluz Hoyuk dated to the Hittite Kingdom Period. Although the Hittite Period remains are not fully recovered yet, stone seals, a bronze sickle, fragment of a baked-clay loom weight and pottery fragments points out that Oluz Hoyuk was an important Hittite settlement.

SHAPE OF THINGS: UNDERSTANDING A LOOM WEIGHT

If there is one thing to be learnt from watching people work in old traditional crafts it is this: The tools and the working procedures are never clumsy, never impractical (Hoffmann 1988) SummaryLoom weights are common finds in archaeological excavations in Europe and the Near East. They represent the only remains of warp‐weighted looms. The function of the warp‐weighted loom is well known from ethnographic studies. The function of loom weights, however, has not been investigated and cannot be deduced directly from ethnographical data, since loom weights in antiquity were very different from those used in the twentieth century AD. This paper reviews the functional elements of a loom weight. The weight and thickness of loom weights are established as the defining functional parameters for the operation of the warp‐weighted loom. A series of systematic tests demonstrated that the weight of a loom weight defines what yarn to use and the thread density. The thickness of a loom weight, and thus the width of the row of loom weights hanging closely together, defines the width of a fabric and – together with the weight of the loom weight – the thread count and density of the fabric. This new knowledge provides the methodological framework for archaeologists to calculate textile production possibilities from any given loom weight, as long as the weight and thickness are preserved. Furthermore, it allows scholars to assess textile production on sites where no textiles are preserved.

Myrhøj, 3 hustomter med klokkebægerkeramik

Myrhøj, 3 hustomter med klokkebægerkeramik

A Bronze Age Settlement at Chalton, Hants (Site 78)

SummaryRoad works in 1968 led to the excavation of an unenclosed Bronze Age farm at SU 717181. Two circular huts, 23 ft. and 14 ft. in diameter, were uncovered together with two ‘working platforms’ and three pits. Stratified finds included pottery, a loom weight, a whetstone, an unlooped low-flanged palstave, a bronze knife, an awl, and a conical fitting, all pointing to a date within the Middle Bronze Age. Tentative estimates might suggest a single family unit of approximately four people, farming about 16 acres of arable. The farm appears to have been in use for only a short time.

Stensatte Jernalder-Kældre i Vendsyssel

Stensatte Jernalder-Kældre i Vendsyssel