The Colorful Iron Age

I continue to find extremely interesting articles in NESAT X. Two of the articles I read recently strongly support the idea that dyed fabrics may have been more common than we suppose in Scandinavia during the Roman period--and probably later as well.

The following article describes a relatively simple experiment.

Riggaard, Maj G. and Scharff, Annemette Bruselius.  The Impact of Dyes and the Natural Pigmentation of Wool on the Preservation of Archaeological Textiles. NESAT X (page 221).

The researchers obtained a number of specimens of wool fabrics woven from pigmented and unpigmented wool, and one natural silk fabric.  Some of the wool samples were dyed and/or mordanted with substances known to have been used during the Iron Age, including the Viking period. Also, some of the wool samples had a piece of undyed white wool attached to them as a manner of ascertaining whether dyes or mordants from the other piece of wool would migrate to the untreated wool.  The dyes included madder, cochineal, Brazilwood, indigo, weld, and walnut, and the mordants included alum, copper, cream of tartar, and tin. The specimens were buried in soil-filled boxes and left in a hothouse (to accelerate any deterioration) for eight months. Some of the boxes were buried without lids (to help simulate aerobic burial conditions) while others had sealed lids (to simulate anaerobic burial conditions). All boxes were watered originally and the aerobic boxes were watered monthly also. 

When the researchers  retrieved the samples, visual examination (with and without microscopy of several kinds) led to the following interesting conclusions:

1) Except for the specimens dyed with madder or another red dye, which still appeared reddish in color, most of the specimens appeared to be brown, beige or "natural" in color. This suggests that many archaeological textiles which look undyed may well have been dyed originally.

2) The specimens dyed with indigo all appeared to be very pale blue or yellow-beige.  The blue color survived best in the "aerobic" boxes.  The authors theorize that the anaerobic conditions tended to change the indigotin back to its "leuco" state (when the dye solution is yellowish), eliminating the intense blue color.

3)  Mordants tended to cause color changes too.  Iron mordanted specimens became brighter after burial, while copper mordanted specimens became darker.

4)  Madder-dyed samples mordanted with alum suffered the smallest amount of change.

The authors note that these changes correspond well with the observations made of known (from testing) dyed specimens from bog finds (e.g., Lønne Hede).  Copies of the "before" and "after" photographs published with this article are reproduced here for educational purposes. (The uppermost photo is the "before" picture.)

The other article is more technical, but tends to confirm the conclusion that many early textiles were dyed, even if they do not appear dyed when archaeologists remove them from the soil.  Here is the citation:

Berghe, Ina; Devia, Beatrice; Gleba, Margareta and Mannering, Ulla.  Dyes:  to be or not to be.  An Investigation of Early Iron Age Dyes in Danish Peat Bog Textiles.  NESAT X (page 247).

This article reports the results of laboratory testing of 186 archaeological textile specimens from Denmark that are dated to between about 380 BCE and 410 CE for dyestuffs. The results detected chemicals associated with common Iron Age dyestuffs in most of the specimens. The authors observe:

The results of the natural organic dye analysis, using HPLC-DAD [high-performance liquid chromatography with photo diode array detection], clearly indicate that the majority of Danish Early Iron Age bog textiles were originally dyed.  Eight different dye constituents, belonging to the three main groups of natural organic dyes were identified, significantly enlarging out knowledge of the use of biological dye sources in the Early Iron Age. However, dye components were only detected at trace level; hence it has to be considered that some dyes might have been missed.  (page 250)

The eight dye substances, which will be familiar to many Early Period textile researchers, amateur and otherwise, are: luteolin, apigenin, quercetin (found in weld, saw-wort, dyer's broom, and chamomile), indigotin, indirubin (woad), rhamnetin (found in Rhamnus cartharticus L. and other berries), alizarin, and purpurin (found in madder, ladies' bedstraw, and dyer's woodruff). Five unidentified substances were also found; the evidence suggests that one of those came from a Scandinavian orchil, a kind of lichen.

It is good to see technology beginning to confirm the instinct of many Early Period reenactors to dress in bright primary colors!

Book Review: Extending Knowledge of Costume Through Art Analysis

From the Casemate Academic website

From the Casemate Academic website

The two books I have obtained for my costume history library most recently involve very different historical periods but a common method; they both seek to increase our knowledge of clothing from their respective periods through a through analysis of period art.

These are the books I mean (links below are to the hardback editions, but e-book versions of both are available, and my copy of Woven Threads is an e-book):

Mannering, Ulla.  Iconic Costumes:  Scandinavian Late Iron Age Costume Iconography.  Oxbow Books--Ancient Textiles Series No. 25 (2017).

Shaw, Maria C. and Chapin, Anne P., eds.  Woven Threads:  Patterned Textiles of the Aegean Bronze Age.  Oxbow Books--Ancient Textiles Series No. 22 (2015).

I have finished reading Iconic Costumes, but am still thinking my way through the material, and I am still reading Woven Threads.  Even so, there are some observations I would like to make about both that, in my opinion, demonstrate that both books are well worth reading.

Iconic Costumes seeks to obtain information about costume from the Migration Period through the Viking Age by examining and analyzing the details of artistic depictions of human beings in of Viking and pre-Viking Age Scandinavian art.  Most of this art is in the form of carvings on artifacts such as the Oseberg cart, guldgubbar (tiny, thin gold-foil plaques found in graves), or jewelry.  In contrast, Woven Textiles primarily analyzes surviving frescoes from buildings erected by the Minoan and Mycenaean Bronze Age cultures in order to learn more about costumes and patterned textiles depicted in those frescoes.  Both books reference non-artwork archaeological finds to support their conclusions.

Professors Shaw and Chapin have an easier time than Professor Mannering, for all that few textile remains survive from either culture, because despite its peculiar lack of perspective to a modern eye, Minoan and Mycenaean art is much more representational than early Scandinavian art, and has the additional benefit of having been originally created in color (and the colors survive to a surprising degree) while early Scandinavian art is mostly sculptural in nature.  Early Scandinavian art is also highly stylized, and the human figures depicted are nearly always too small to show much detail.  The Aegean frescoes often showed human figures life-sized, or close to life size, and many of them survive nearly complete and in good condition.  Even the fragmentary frescoes have much to say about patterns that may well have been used to decorate fabric.

That being said, both books manage to answer a significant question relevant to the history of clothing for their period of study.   It's the same question for both books:  Does period art really reflect what people actually wore as costume?

The authors' answer in both cases is "yes."  Having observed and analyzed most of the human figure representations dating from Iron Age Scandinavia, Professor Mannering observes: 

The vast majority of the iconographical costumes recorded are encountered in the archaeological textile and clothing material.  At the same time, there is information on the depictions [sic] that is not seen in the archaeological textile finds and vice versa. ... 

A typical male outfit in the Late Iron Age consisted of trousers, a tunic with sleeves, a rectangular cloak, belt, and shoes, while a typical female outfit included various dresses, skirts, blouses, cloaks, hairnets, and shoes, demonstrating both continuity from previous periods and new trends. ...

Generally, the investigation shows that the depictions represent clothing items that occur in the archaeological record. ... Thus, the depictions reveal costume items, e.g., kaftans, female jackets, and skirt and blouse ensembles that most likely were present in the archaeological record in the Late Germanic Iron Age, but that have not been positively identified yet.  They also demonstrate that the female dress most likely was long-sleeved, something which has not yet been securely documented via the archaeological record. (pp. 176-177) .

Professors Shaw and Chapin focus more of their efforts on comparing Minoan and Mycenaean styles by means of the surviving pictorial art.  They rely heavily on Elizabeth Wayland Barber's work as support for their conclusion that the patterns observed in clothing shown in fresco art could have achieved on textiles.  Like Professor Mannering, they conclude that certain patterns likely were used on real clothing from the fact that the same patterns turn up in clothing depictions on multiple frescoes.   However, there are enough surviving decorated fragments of cloth in archaeological finds to support Professor Barber's belief that patterned cloth was produced in the Aegean during the Bronze Age.  There is also support in contemporary Egyptian tomb art, which shows foreigners wearing garments, decorated in patterns, that compare closely to the Aegean fresco designs.

In general, Shaw and Chapin show that the creation of patterned textiles (whether through weaving, embroidery, applique, block printing, or other textile-related arts) came from centralized workshops, centered upon the great palaces of the Minoan and Mycenaean civilizations, and that such items were worn only by the elite; ordinary folk made do with plain cloth.  It appears that Mycenae produced less elaborate fabrics and costumes, and reserved the more elaborate ones they did produce for unusual occasions.

Artistic evidence for how the Minoans themselves defined the luxury in luxury textiles is not confirmed by recent archaeological discoveries surveyed in Chapter 2.  Artists working in the Neopalatial era depicted their best fabrics as finely woven with colorful and complex patterns and embellished with decorative borders, fringes, and tassels; these pictorial details are consistent with the bits of surviving textiles.

*   *   *   *

The few fragments of cloth--all linen--that survive from Mycenaean contexts support the impression that Mycenaean textiles were plainer and less decorative than textiles of the Minoan era.  Linen fragments found in Grave Circle B at Mycenae and in a tomb at Ayia Kryiaki on the island of Salamis, for example, were tabby-woven (a plain weave) and undecorated.

*   *   *   *

Some Minoan-styple forms of costume, particularly festal attire with flounced skirts, continued to appear in Mycenaean art, particularly in procession frescoes, but the fanciest rapport patterns of earlier generations were replaced by simple striped designs or by fabrics woven with uncomplicated all-over scatter patterns.  Decorative bands that reinforced edges, seams, and hems on bodices, skirts, and tunics were still made by the Mycenaean weavers, but even these were plainer than before.  (Chapter 9, italic emphasis in original).

Both books are well-illustrated with excellent photogtaphs of items of the period artworks that were analyzed.  Understandably, most of the illustrations in Iconic Costumes are black and white or line-drawings, but there are also some color pictures of actual clothing finds and guldgubbar.  Woven Threads includes both color photographs of surviving frescos and portions of frescoes as well as colored illustrations of particular pattern motifs.

There is a large amount of food for thought in both books.  (For example, Professor Mannering concludes that the scale of the female figures in period art makes it impossible to draw conclusions about women's wearing of the two-brooch costume--e.g., the "apron dress" or "smokkr".)  I think people interested in the history of clothing should read them, whether or not they are interested in the clothing of the Bronze Age Aegean or Iron Age Scandinavia, just to observe how the authors analyze and apply the different types of clothing evidence available to them.