Textiles and perishable materials

Abstract

This chapter challenges traditional views on Iron Age dress. Recent research has greatly enhanced our understanding of how textiles were manufactured in Iron Age Europe. The variety of qualities, textures, techniques, raw materials, colours, and cuts give insights into the detailed knowledge of the craftspeople involved. Textiles used for dress, blankets, or furniture fittings were appreciated not only for their appearance, but also for the quality of the work. In everyday life, their optical qualities were used to express and signal gender, social roles and status, while the labour expended on textiles found in wealthy burials underlines both the status of the deceased and the extent of conspicuous consumption in funerary rituals—for instance, for wrapping grave furniture and goods. The chapter also looks at experimental data showing how labour-intensive textile production was, and the types of clothing and accessories found in different archaeological contexts or depicted in visual representations.