Rituals of the Past: Prehispanic and Colonial Case Studies in Andean Archaeology

Abstract

similarly organized, making cross-cultural comparisons relatively easy, limited only by the quality of the original data (for which these authors are not to be faulted). Some of the most significant insights from these cases include examples where yarn quality estimates derived from spindle whorl weight do not match well with suggested tensions estimated from preserved loom weights, thus supporting conclusions that loom alternatives to the warp weighted loom existed, for example the horizontal ground or two-beam upright loom for which we have no preserved archaeological examples; and instances where estimates of thread types based on excavated loom weights supports the existence of multiple looms. The final chapter summarizes the volume and offers some concluding remarks about broader areas to which an understanding of textile tools can speak: for example, labor hours, workshops, gender, labor mobility and seasonality. Editorially, this is a nicely formatted volume with a map of the sites included in the database and a chronological table by region for the eastern Mediterranean Bronze Age that also incorporates formal and descriptive terms, both of which are used in the case studies, and additional reference markers such as “advent of sailing” and “Thera eruption,” which assist in recognizing a few pivotal historical moments in textile technology. Two appendices contain records of textile remains in the Eastern Mediterranean, organized both regionally and chronologically. My only critique is that all the remains are discussed as a single site record, so it is not always clear as to which fragment the data describes. Finally, many of the authors call for publication standards for textile tool descriptions, preserved textile remains and reporting guidelines for textile experimental archaeology, the need for which is clearly seen in the case studies presented here and something that the TTTC database and this volume should go a long way towards rectifying.