We are excited that scientific research on early plant fibre technology, carried out by archaeologists Dr Susanna Harris at the University of Glasgow and Dr Margarita Gleba at the University of Cambridge, is one of the most popular articles published by Springer Nature.

A major issue in examining archaeological textiles is the ability of textile specialists and archaeobotanists to distinguish the technology of splicing from draft-spun fibres. This paper defines the major types of splicing and proposes an explicit method to observe, identify and interpret spliced thread technology. The identification of spliced yarns is evaluated through the examination of textiles from Europe, Egypt and the Near East. Through the application of this method, we propose that the switch from splicing to draft spinning plant fibres occurred much later than previously thought. The ramifications of this shift in plant processing have profound implications for understanding the chaîne opératoire of this ubiquitous and time-consuming technology, which will have to be factored into social and economic reconstructions of the past.

The paper can be downloaded free here:

Choice Diagram

Splice Ply WEb IMage

 

SEM thread Tarkhan

 

First published: 4 May 2020

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