Textile and dress production, from raw materials to finished items, has had a significant impact on society from its earliest history. The essays in this volume offer a fresh insight into the emerging interdisciplinary research field of textile and dress studies by discussing archaeological, iconographical and textual evidence within a broad geographical and chronological spectrum. The thirteen chapters explore issues, such as the analysis of textile tools, especially spindle whorls, and textile imprints for reconstructing textile production in contexts as different as Neolithic Transylvania, the Early Bronze Age North Aegean and the Early Iron Age Eastern Mediterranean; the importance of cuneiform clay tablets as a documentary source for both drawing a detailed picture of the administration of a textile industry and for addressing gender issues, such as the construction of masculinity in the Sumerian kingdoms of the 3rd millennium BC; and discussions of royal and priestly costumes and clothing ornaments in the Mesopotamian kingdom of Mari and in Mycenaean culture. Textile terms testify to intensive exchanges between Semitic and Indo-European languages, especially within the terminology of trade goods. The production and consumption of textiles and garments are demonstrated in 2nd millennium Hittite Anatolia; from 1st millennium BC Assyria, a cross-disciplinary approach combines texts, realia and iconography to produce a systematic study of golden dress decorations; and finally, the important discussion of fibres, flax and wool, in written and archaeological sources is evidence for delineating the economy of linen and the strong symbolic value of fibre types in 1st millennium Babylonia and the Southern Levant. The volume is part of a pair together with Greek and Roman Textiles and Dress: An Interdisciplinary Anthology edited by Mary Harlow and Marie-Louise Nosch.

About the Author
Mary Harlow is Honorary Associate Professor in Ancient History at the University of Leicester. She is the author or editor of a number of books. Recent publications include A Cultural History of Hair in Antiquity (ed., 2021) and A Cultural History of Dress and Fashion in Antiquity (ed., 2021). Cecile Michel is Director of Research at the CNRS. She specialises in the study of cuneiform tablets, and trade and society in Upper Mesopotamia and Anatolia. Marie-Louise Nosch is Research Professor at the SAXO Institute, University of Copenhagen and former Director of the Danish National Research Foundation's Centre for Textile Research, University of Copenhagen. She has published widely on the cross-cultural study of textiles from across the ancient Mediterranean and Near East, and is editor of many titles in Oxbow Book's Ancient Textiles series.

Reviews
The collected papers with their extensive bibliographies and revelation of multifarious outstanding problems inherent in the research field offer a pressing stimulus to further enquiry. * Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society *



Book Information
ISBN 9781782977193
Author Mary Harlow
Format Hardback
Page Count 224
Imprint Oxbow Books
Publisher Oxbow Books