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Soap is a substance now taken for granted, but there is uncertainty, myth and misinformation about its development, and little scholarly attention has been paid to the likely circumstances surrounding its discovery. As part of a MSc in Experimental Archaeology, a project collated the earliest mentions of proto-soaps, reassessed previous experimental conclusions, and developed testable scenarios to explore how soap was first discovered, suggesting that the degreasing of fatty cloths after straining perfumed fats and oils may provide the conditions under which soap was first reliably and repeatedly observed. This paper offers a condensed version of this work.

Back in 2020, I wrote an article entitled The Shroud of Turin and the Extra Sheds of Warping Threads (Olsen, 2020). When I was studying the weaving theory, I realised that it might be possible to weave 8-end satin with five rods on the warp-weighted loom. To date, I have not encountered any historical find showing satin woven on a warp-weighted loom eighter, nor have I heard or read about anybody else undertaking this, so I decided to try to test it.

Within textile Archaeology several key Etruscan sites provide experimental archaeologists with ample evidence for research and recreation. This project aims to look a the textile patterns themselves, and how these weavers might have created the images found on famous Etruscan paintings. Through looking at the Italic images of their own clothing alongside surviving textile fragments modern archaeologists can try to understand ancient weavers and their process of tablet weaving. Five tablet-woven patterns were chosen from Etruscan paintings with this approach in mind. These patterns were based off of the images from the Tomb of the Triclinium and the surviving textile fragments from Verucchio, providing a possible guide for future research and speculative pattern reconstruction.

Although the importance of textiles in Mesoamerica from the Classic period (AD 250-900) onward is well-recognised, until recently little research or exploration of earlier Mesoamerican textile production has been conducted. This paucity of scholarship is attributable predominantly to the scant preservation of perishable ancient tools and textiles. New sources of information have been recognized, however, in the re-identification of a number of Pre-Classic/Formative period (1500 BC-AD 250) stone objects as high-status versions of tools used for fabricating textiles. Some of these ancient objects, such as spindle whorls and weaving awls, are readily identifiable as tools because closely comparable, preserved counterparts are found in later Mesoamerican cultures. Other potential tools may be less obvious, however, since early tools were often derived from natural objects that were adopted and repurposed for specific tasks because of their serendipitously appropriate form; stone versions of these tools may, therefore, be indistinguishable from stone effigies of the natural objects. One Pre-Classic/Formative period stone effigy that may in fact be a tool takes the form of an elongated bivalve shell; not only are these shell effigies pierced for suspension in the same manner as artifacts that have been identified as elite tools but the effigies – and perhaps the shells themselves – are also depicted in ancient stone sculpture illustrating high-status individuals who wear the stone artifacts and/or the shells in the same manner as tools are worn. Experimental archaeology has been used successfully to test reproductions of stone artifacts as textile-making tools, and this methodology may also therefore serve as a pragmatic method for testing actual natural objects – in this case, the shells – as textile-making tools.

In this article, the intention is to show the documentations behind the reconstruction of a tablet woven band from the Oseberg discovery catalogued as 13B2. Parts of the band are well preserved, and it is possible to interpret motifs and techniques with considerable confidence. Some parts are poorly preserved and are not possible to interpret clearly. By analysing the band, criteria were developed as a framework for experiments with the diffuse and destroyed parts. In addition to these criteria, short reviews have been made of five other fragments (four bands and a decorative textile) with similar motifs and techniques from the same find. The intention was to compare the clear and unclear parts of 13B2 with similarities and differences in these fragments. The experiments consisted of several drawings and weave tests of possible designs of motifs and techniques. Weave experiments were performed with simple tools that are very similar to tools found in the Oseberg grave and different thicknesses of yarn, ply degree, and colours. Based on the criteria for experiments and the comparisons with motifs and techniques in the other fragments, two versions were developed, one of which satisfied all criteria. The reconstruction result can largely be said to be analogous of the original: motifs and techniques have an authentic aesthetic expression.

The book presents itself as a manual on women’s clothing in Northern Europe through the years 1360-1415, and is aimed at reenactors. The time frame - 1360-1415 - means that we are in the beginning of the Late Medieval period as defined by English and northern European historians (normally set to 1300-1500). The geographical setting is Northern Europe, here defined as: “from Germany til (sic) central Sweden, and from the Baltic region to the Norwegian West coast.”

Soap is a substance now taken for granted, but there is uncertainty, myth and misinformation about its development, and little scholarly attention has been paid to the likely circumstances surrounding its discovery. As part of a MSc in Experimental Archaeology, a project collated the earliest mentions of proto-soaps, reassessed previous experimental conclusions, and developed testable scenarios to explore how soap was first discovered, suggesting that the degreasing of fatty cloths after straining perfumed fats and oils may provide the conditions under which soap was first reliably and repeatedly observed. This paper offers a condensed version of this work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The experiment aimed to investigate certain aspects of the textile dyeing process in Anglo-Scandinavian and Anglo-Saxon Britain: substances known as mordants and assists. This aspect of the dyeing process is often omitted by researchers, who mostly focus on dyestuff as a source of colour. Mordants and assists deserve wider research, however, as they play a great part in the dyeing process and can radically change the outcome. They are derived from different sources, both mineral and organic, and are added during the dyeing process to influence the final result, mostly in aspects of shade and/or fastness. For the experiment, madder (Rubia tinctorum) was chosen as a dyestuff, as it was one of the most popular dyeing plants in Britain before the Norman Conquest. The fibre of choice used for the experiment was wool spun from the Shetland sheep fleece. Investigation of several sources, written, archaeological and ethnographic, allowed compilation of a list of 16 mordants and assists which were available to use in Early Medieval Britain during the pre-Conquest period. One untreated sample was prepared as a comparison. During and after dyeing, quantitative and qualitative data were collected about pH of the solution, final colour (measured with a colourimeter) and lightfastness (measured with a Blue Wool Scale). A wide range of colours was obtained, and it was found that, in general, adding mordants/assists improved lightfastness.

This paper outlines the experimental weaving project of an ancient Greek chlamys to investigate the weaving production capacity of a typical household and reconstruct women’s contribution to household GDP in ancient Greece. While some scholars have researched finer textiles and tech-niques based on visual evidence, very little is known about the skills and time needed to produce the most basic clothing form (the chlamys) produced in an ancient Greek domestic setting. The experiment, which involved the creation of a single heddle warp-weighted loom based on ar-chaeological and iconographic evidence, found that a team of three weavers could spin and weave this common use textile in roughly three to four weeks. Cutting extra-long warp threads made this process easier, as multiple garments can be made with one warp and then separated once they have been taken off the loom. Based on these results, it is possible to calculate the amount of money that an average household could earn in a calendar year. The author estimated that a family could sell enough textiles to make about 60-140 drachmae a year while keeping some textiles for their own use. Little is known about the exact demographics of who bought these textiles. However, there is some evidence for a market in the context of funerals as well as evidence for large, physical fiber craft markets in Athens. As an experimental archaeology pro-ject, this research sheds light on aspects of Greek household economics, the contribution of women’s household labor, and craft production skills within the domestic context.

In previous replication studies and experiments, a lunate jade artifact from the Pre-Classic/Formative period (1500 BC-AD 250) of Mesoamerica was analysed, researched, and tested for its similarities to the crescent weight, a specialized type of loom weight found in ancient Central and Southern Europe. These analyses successfully established that even a form of this artifact made of wood, shell, or other common, everyday materials would have served effectively as a loom weight that was comparable in form and function to the European crescent weight for warp-weighted weaving looms; in addition, further experiments showed that this artifact, and the European crescent weights, can effectively and efficiently be used to create different types of sheds for weaving both basic and more complex textile patterns, greatly reducing the need to use a pick or batten to lift individual warp threads or the need for complex groups of heddles. In this current project, further replication studies serve as a pragmatic method for testing the lunate artifacts as specialized weights for twining on warp-weighted looms. The efficacy of the artifacts for warp twining and for weft twining is tested using methodologies that were developed to test the function of the European crescent weights. Also explored are new possibilities for the practical applications of these types of weights as specialized twining tools.

Kapa (Hawaiian barkcloth) was the ubiquitous fabric of historic Hawaiʻi, used for everything from clothing to bedding, from swaddling newborns to enshrouding the deceased, and all things in between. This textile is crafted from the bast (inner bark) of several plant species, most notably wauke (paper mulberry tree, Broussonetia papyrifera). The laborious process involves harvesting an adequate number of trees, scraping off the outer bark, stripping the bast from the heartwood, and retting the bast in both salt water and fresh water for several days. Once the bast is adequately softened, it is beaten on a large, flat kua pōhaku (rock) using a rounded wooden beater called a hohoa to make moʻomoʻo, which is a precursor to kapa. Several sheets of moʻomoʻo are laid on top one another on a kua lāʻau (wood anvil) and felted together by beating with an iʻe kuku (grooved wooden beater). Once the resulting fabric is deemed completed, it is dried, smoothed, and finally decorated with plant dyes and earth pigments.

Within textile Archaeology several key Etruscan sites provide experimental archaeologists with ample evidence for research and recreation. This project aims to look a the textile patterns themselves, and how these weavers might have created the images found on famous Etruscan paintings. Through looking at the Italic images of their own clothing alongside surviving textile fragments modern archaeologists can try to understand ancient weavers and their process of tablet weaving. Five tablet-woven patterns were chosen from Etruscan paintings with this approach in mind. These patterns were based off of the images from the Tomb of the Triclinium and the surviving textile fragments from Verucchio, providing a possible guide for future research and speculative pattern reconstruction. These patterns were created to further the conversation on Etruscan textiles and tablet-weaving. All of them could be improved upon, or other tablet-woven patterns could be created with the same paintings from the tomb of the Triclinium. Then the entirety of the Tomb of the Triclinium could be examined through tablet-weaving and other experimental archaeology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

What a pleasure it was when this book landed on my coffee table! The book is bilingual Vietnamese – English, well designed and covers over 200 pages with hundreds of full-colour images. The book is a joint project by several Vietnamese from around the world who wished to add to the awareness of Vietnamese identities around the world. Viet Nam is so much more than what people remember of the Vietnam War. Even a quick peek into Wikipedia highlights the long standing culture of the country and its people.

The remote mountain area of Guizhou in southwest China is ethnically diverse, and interesting textile traditions survive among the groups. Perhaps the best known are the multicoloured costumes of the Miao people that are skilfully decorated with embroidery and braids (Smith, 2007). Another ethnic group are the "Lao Han" (the ancient Han Chinese) who consider themselves unique from the rest of the majority Han population of China as a whole. They have lived in the Guizhou region since at least the 14th century CE when they were sent there as soldiers on military campaigns. Many stayed and took minority women as wives and formed separate communities. They are also known as the Chuanlan (Blue Dressed people) and are among the many ethnic groups in Guizhou province not officially recognised (Wikipedia, 2020; Joshua Project, 2020). Traditional costume has survived in the isolated Lao Han villages, especially amongst the women. Part of their costume includes a very long handwoven belt that incorporates two different weaving techniques on the same warp and is finished with a complex knotted tassel at each end. The belt begins and ends with a tube that is woven in a tabby weave, whereas the middle section has one or two textured areas that are achieved by using hexagonal weaving tablets in an unusual way.

While the importance of textiles in Mesoamerica from the Classic period (AD 250-900) onward is well-recognized, scholars have conducted little exploration of earlier Mesoamerican textile production. This lack of scholarship may be attributed in great part to the scant preservation of perishable textiles and tools from ancient times. New sources of information have been recognized, however, in the re-examination of extant Pre-Columbian textiles that illustrate unusual manufacturing techniques and in the rich depictions of textiles that are preserved in early sculpture. Further sources are found in the re-identification of a number of ancient jade objects as high-status versions of tools used for making textiles. Many of these textile tools are readily identifiable because closely comparable, preserved counterparts are found in later Mesoamerican cultures. Other early artifacts are much more difficult to identify, however, because they were involved in textile technologies used only during the Pre-Classic/Formative period (1500 BC-AD 250) and earlier; tools used for these extinct technologies would no longer be produced nor have comparable counterparts after the widespread Mesoamerican adoption of the backstrap loom at the beginning of the Classic period. One such possible tool used in early, experimental weaving technologies is a lunate jade artifact that compares closely with a crescent weight, a specialized type of loom weight found in ancient Central and Southern Europe. Replication studies serve as a pragmatic method for testing these lunate objects as warp-weighted loom weights, both by verifying their efficacy using methodologies developed to test the function of the European crescent weights, and also by exploring new possibilities for the practical applications of these types of weights.

Using a credit theory of money, we propose that at least some Slavic tribal communities underwent a process of social monetization. In order to fully support this hypothesis, however, many linguistic and historiographic sources would need to be discussed – a task which exceeds the scope of a single article. Therefore, we will here focus on examining (from technical perspective) the oldest type of “money” mentioned by Slavic tribal communities, which we interpret as physical records of mutual obligations.

On the 10 May 2020, Mr. Hugh Farey sent me an email. He introduced himself as “a researcher into the weaving of the linen cloth known as the Shroud of Turin”. Then he described the size of the Shroud and how it looked. His question to me was this: “If you had a piece of cloth as described and looked at it closely, could you tell if it was made by a warp-weighted or treadle loom, or would there be no difference?”

This Conference was organised by the TRC Leiden and the Knitting History Forum in Leiden. On the 2nd of November 2019 I had the opportunity to visit Leiden to take part in the Knitting History Symposium. What follows are my notes and observations and therefore may not accurately reflect what was said. I am very much hoping that the different papers will with time be published and made accessible.

In the modern world currently, there is an interest in and desire to understand ancient craft technologies, along with learning the practical side of these skills. Nålbinding is a craft which has been taught and demonstrated for the last 50 years, mainly within heritage and re-enactment communities. The cultural and social history of this craft has survived as a narrative better in some countries than others. In some places it has completely disappeared, leaving only fragmented archaeological remains behind. With a limited collection of archaeological examples surviving, each nålbinder or scholar comes up with their own way of assessing, learning and teaching this craft. In many cases it is this practical knowledge that is passed-down from archaeologists or fibre historians to a student; this then starts to create its own social application of the craft. Once that tutor has gone or the student moves on, nålbinding then can either evolve into an artistic craft form for the nålbinder, or frequently it slips back into the mists of time, until someone finds it again. Its teaching, understanding and research needs to be constantly investigated so that it can be understood for others. Nålbinding is also not just a fixed historical craft, it has the ability to evolve and adapt into the modern world too.

Replication of archaeological and ethnographic Māori textiles, under the direction of customary knowledge and previous practical experience, can provide a more nuanced understanding of the manufacture of taonga (treasures) made from fibre materials. A case study is presented here from the unique perspective of a weaver who is also an archaeologist, and familiar with the essential components of replication work. This paper introduces tāniko, a Māori weft-twining technique, and the replication of a unique tāniko pattern on the hem border of an ethnographic kākahu (cloak), known as ‘the Stockholm cloak’. The project follows experimental archaeology standards and customary Māori practices and protocols for all processes and steps involved. A variation of the known tāniko technique was identified, alongside an appreciation of the enormous skill involved not only in the weaving technique but in the fibre preparation and processing. Further, a renewed awareness was acquired for the importance of skilled mentors willing to share their fibre working expertise. This type of study provides empirical data to the archaeological discipline, while supporting, and contributing to, the continuity of customary knowledge systems.

This contribution focuses on residues developing on spindle-whorls during spinning. Such a kind of tools is largely diffused in archaeological contexts where spindle-whorls were used in textile activities or deposited in burials as grave goods. Scholars recently approached the analysis of these objects through experimental archaeology to better understand their wide variation in size and shape especially in relationship with the adoption of specific spinning techniques or the quality of the fibres processed for producing different kinds of yarn. The method presented here highlights the contribution of controlled experiments to identify and to study the formation of organic deposits on spindle-whorls after repeated and intentional use. Moreover, this article provides a preliminary reference collection of experimental residues combining different techniques of observation and different magnifications (Optical Light Microscopes - OLM and Scanning Electron Microscope - SEM) on ceramic replicas to address the residues investigation on textile tools in archaeological contexts.

We live in a world where scientific method is both the expected and accepted path to knowledge. With any scientific method, experiments based on detailed, well-documented, well-considered theories, and precise set-ups must be replicated exactly by others who come to the same conclusion to consider the information gleaned from them to be valid. This has become the accepted practice for most education and exploration. Using this method produces great results, observable in the scientific disciplines that affect our daily lives as well as progress in many fields of research. As experimental archaeologists, we have an unspoken, and sometimes unnoticed, expectation that we prove our theories with the same exactness in detail and scope.

Although there is a wide variety of publications about costume history and of single archaeological sites with textile remains of period clothing, the number of books that interdisciplinarily cover the fashion of past eras in the context of different source categories is, frankly, really small. Some attempts to draw a complete image of medieval fashion simply fail just because of the scale of it; others try to approach the topic from the side of art history. In the periphery of living history or reenactment, several illustrated books emerged - some of which gained vast popularity- including guides for reconstructing, or, at least, re-sewing clothing from several periods, most of them with a very narrow focus. This book takes the same approach as the latter, and aims for the most popular period among reenactors.

Medieval re-enactment, especially late 15th century, has become increasingly popular during the past 15-20 years and it seems like the growth will not stop anytime soon (unless the Viking re-enactment takes over as a consequence of the popular culture and mainstream focus – but that is another discussion). In 1994 the book ''The Medieval Soldier'' by Gerry Embleton and John Howe was published. It has been the bible for many a medieval re-enactor and has also been one of the reasons why the late 15th century has been increasingly popular to re-enact.

The ‘West Coast Cumbria’ hoard, discovered in 2014, is a late ninth/ early tenth-century Viking silver hoard, housed at the Beacon Museum, Whitehaven, UK. It is composed of 20 Viking silver objects: bar-shaped ingots and ornaments, in various stages of fragmentation (PAS ‘Find-ID’ LANCUM-FA14C8). One, complete ingot (museum no. 2016.162.5) bears coarse cloth-impressions on its upper surface i.e. the face that was in direct contact with the mould. How such textile imprints were acquired is somewhat of a mystery.

Of Erasmus, prince of humanists (1466?-1536), no less than eight portraits from life survive – all eight in the exact same bonnet. A recently published investigation of this iconic garment (Kruseman, Sturtewagen and Malcolm-Davies, 2016) involved establishing a 250-year typology of the bonnet from iconographical sources, compiling technological and economic data from archival sources, and systematic experiments addressing numerous, various and fundamental questions, from yarn characteristics in archaeological knitted textiles to the use (or not) of hatter's forms in the finishing of bonnets.

There can be various reasons for reconstructing clothing for museum purposes. The most frequent one, as in the case of this paper, is to improve and liven up an exhibition with 3D models (Hendszel et al., 2008), which present the fashion culture of individual periods, nationalities or specific regional features to the general public. Clothing as a source of knowledge itself gives us information on several factors. The technological development in textile production, the climate of a given historic period, the social status, gender or ethnicity of the bearers and many other aspects. It was and still is an important part of everyday culture, which is reflected in it. Anyone who participates in the reconstruction of historical clothing must try to capture the past faithfully, based on all accessible sources, archaeological, iconographic and written, and the current state of the art (Krištofová and Urbanová 2010, p.113).

The paper deals with a reconstruction of a warp-weighted loom based on a rare find of 36 in situ loom weights in an object interpreted as a weaving hut at an archaeological site Virje-Sušine in Northern Croatia dated in late Iron Age (La Tène C period, 2/2 3rd – 2/2 2nd century BC). The case study includes a theoretical framework for warping based on defining functional elements of different types of loom-weights (thread density, what yarn to use) and study of wear marks on weights which defined the usage. A series of experiments were carried out to define possible distributions of weights in the same loom setup, characteristics of woven cloth, and wooden loom construction. The linear distribution of different types of loom-weights and weights with incised signs within the optimal loom setup showed some regularities which can be connected with technological requirement of producing cloth on a warp-weighted loom but also with design/pattern making.

The eighth European Textile Forum took place 6-12th November 2017, organised by Katrin Kania and Sabine Ringenberg. It was held at its adopted home LEA (Labor für Expermentelle Archäologie) in Mayen, Germany, a satellite of the RGZM (Römisch-Germanisches Zentralmuseum) at Mainz, by invitation of LEA director Michael Herdick. The European Textile Forum is a gathering of academics, professional re-enactors, textile specialists and enthusiasts. Through academic presentations, on-site experiments and round-table discussion they present new findings and test theoretical ideas, acting as the proving ground between theory and practice. Previous findings have been published through Oxbow in 2013 as ‘Ancient Textiles Modern Science’. A new proceedings is currently being finalised.

This volume of Experimentelle Archäologie in Europa does not only serve as 2017’s year book of the European Association for the advancement of archaeology by experiment (EXAR), but also acts as a Festschrift dedicated to Professor Mamoun Fansa, who celebrated his 70th birthday. Mamoun Fansa is one of the most influential figures in establishing experimental archaeology as a means of disseminating research results and public engagement in Germany, as well as central to the foundation of EXAR. Julia Heeb’s introduction dignifies his many important achievements towards the discipline and his past and current work.

A unique popular education publication called Oblékání pravěku (Dressing prehistory) has appeared on the Czech book market. It is a work by archaeologist Kristýna Urbanová, and Jan T. Půlpán, an experienced experimenter. At first glance the book attracts attention with an unusually large format, well chosen because of the foundation elements of the publication – colour photographs of prehistoric clothes reconstructions.

Experimentelle Archäologie in Europa. Bilanz 2013 published by Gunter Schöbel and the European Association of Archaeology by Experiment e.V. is the product of the experimental archaeology conference AEAS/GAES, held between the 4th - 7th October 2012, Switzerland. The presented papers cover the period from the Mesolithicum to the Middle Ages, with topics including experiments, education and theory of archaeology. As a result, the book invites all readers to participate in active thinking and active experiments in experimental archaeology.

The exceptional preservation of organic material in the early Neolithic site of La Draga (Banyoles, north-east Iberian Peninsula) has allowed lines of research that had rarely been undertaken in the region. The research project carried out at the site of La Draga involves experimental archaeology as a methodological tool in order to characterize the technological procedures and to test the functional hypotheses of tools. Data obtained in these investigations are the foundation stones for the pedagogical project of La Draga, mainly based on hands-on experience. These outreach activities are held in the Archaeological Park of the Neolithic Settlement of La Draga, where early farmers’ dwellings, tools and agricultural plots have been replicated following the results of archaeological research. In this paper, some examples of the interaction between experimental research, digital technologies, and outreach activities will be described.

The annual European Textile Forum took place from 7-13 November 2016. This year the focus was ‘mistakes’, the unintended consequences in textile manufacture or preservation that reveal more about the artefact, the techniques used and its makers than a ‘perfect’ piece could do. The programme was rich in practical experiments, making use of the conference and laboratory facilities. There were lectures, workshops, roundtable discussions and a day’s visit to the Römisch-Germanisches Zentralmuseum (RGZM) in Mainz. The forum is a place where academics, professionals, re-enactors, skilled amateurs and novices can meet to present new ideas and findings, compare notes, advise, reflect and learn new skills. The European Textile Forum is a proving ground for new theories in a friendly environment, organised by Katrin Kania and Sabine Ringenberg. Delegates could stay the length of the conference, a couple of days or use day passes to visit as they wished.

Recent archaeological adventures in the beautiful Friulian region of Northern Italy had introduced me to the history of the Langobards, a Germanic people who settled in the Adriatic during the 6th century AD after a long period of southerly migration from the German/Scandinavian Baltic area. Their architecture has stood the test of time, with churches such as the Oratorio di S Maria in Valle (Cividale), and its stunning murals of saints, sinners, kings and clergy. The museum of Cividale del Friuli is replete with their material culture, as they interred grave goods with their dead well into their conversion into Christianity. Yet, there are massive gaps in our knowledge of their everyday life.

Textile research has made significant advances in recent years as new technologies and methods are developed, tested, and applied to the analyses of archaeological textiles. The FWF-Project1, a collaborative research effort involving researchers and artists from institutions in Austria, the Netherlands, and Germany, engaged in a four-year effort during 2008-2012, to examine dyeing and fabrication techniques used in the production of prehistoric textiles from Austria and neighboring countries. A number of publications and exhibits resulted from this groundbreaking body of work, including this ambitious book version, the subject of this review, which includes more recent research and additional finds, such as the Iron Age Hammerum Girl textiles.

The eye-catching and colourful cover illustration of the Egyptian creator-God Ptah, fully-equipped with modern toolkit, promises an informative journey into experiential and experimental archaeology in Egyptology. In the introductory chapter to a collection of papers presented at a conference in 2010, Graves-Brown provides a good overview and definitions of the two approaches, clearing up many controversial misconceptions. Succeeding chapters can be broadly categorized into a number of diverse topics covering woodworking, stone preparation, embalming, textiles and painting materials. The overviews of pioneering experimental work provide a sound basis for some of the other chapters.

An overview of finds, their regional spread and significance though the ages. The spiral tubes are made of an alloy that consists of copper supplemented mainly with zinc and/or tin (Rammo, Ratas 2015, table 1). The outer diameter of the spiral tubes usually range from 2.5 to 5 mm. Woollen and linen threads as well as horse hairs, were used to join spiral tubes into decorations.

The European Textile Forum (Textilforum) was held between the 2nd and 9th November 2015, at the Laboratory for Experimental Archaeology (LEA) in Mayen, Germany. LEA kindly hosted the European Textile Forum as part of their inaugural event in 2012 and since then the Director Michael Herdick has invited the conference to return annually. LEA is part of the Römisch-Germanisches Zentralmuseum (RGZM) in Mainz and was founded to allow experiments in spacious surroundings. It contains modern replication equipment, including a forge, and new replicas such as a full-scale Roman kiln, based on findings from Mayen. The European Textile Forum has grown into its surroundings, making good use of the well-equipped laboratory, conference presentation hall, on-site accommodation and copious outdoor space. LEA is situated on a crest above Mayen, within a former basalt mine that is now a sculpture park. Above the mine lies a bat cave and former brewery. It is easy to reach by car or public transport.

During summer 2014, just over 30 students from Archaeological Studies at the University of Hamburg, as well as four children, participated in a practical week of experimental archaeology at the Steinzeitdorf Albersdorf. In preparation for this week, the students attended a seminar at the University of Hamburg, held by lecturers T. Friedrich and B. Meller. The participants were introduced to the basic theories and skills involved in experimental archaeology as well as museum didactics. They were also given an overview of the archaeological context of the project, encompassing chronological frameworks, archaeological cultures and archaeological finds.

Testing Tagelus plebeius Shells as Netting Gauges Finally, to test Tagelus shells as netting gauges, a four-foot wide net was started using 2 mm sisal twine, and aTagelus shell was employed as a netting gauge. Nevertheless, asillustrated in this study, the Tagelus plebeius Atlanticstout razor clam is more likely the model for the jadeshell effigies, as not only may Tagelus shells sometimes besimilarly tapered, but the mussel shells tend to be muchmore irregular in silhouette, and they do not tend toassume the three predominant shapes of the jade effigies asdoes Tagelus plebeius. As the largest of the Tagelus shells native to theOlmec, Olmec-related, and Maya regions of Mesoamerica,ranging from five cm to nearly 12 cm in length, Tagelusplebeius are also the shell closest in size to the vastmajority of the extant provenienced jade clam shelleffigies (Sealifebase, 2022).6 One possible argument against the identification of Tagelusplebeius as the model for the jade clam shell effigies isthis shell's dull white exterior and matte, chalkyinterior. [Extracted from the article]

According to James Mathieu in 2002, experimental archaeology is “A subfield of archaeological research which employs a number of different methods, techniques, analyses and approaches within the context of a controllable imitative experiment to replicate past phenomena (from objects to systems) in order to generate and test hypotheses to provide or enhance analogies for archaeological interpretation”. This is still a valid definition, though one can see a rise for a “new kind” of experimental archaeology. One where craftspeople combine their knowledge and skills with archaeologists, where there is a more humanistic touch. This allows for finding anomalies which can change our ideas of the past through experience and it also allows for a greater co-operation between academics and open-air centers just as EXARC is doing.

Textile impressions on pottery provide evidence for fabrics and weaves in areas where the fabrics themselves do not survive. This article argues that the impressions can provide information on the uses of different fibres, the weaving technologies and possible trading or agricultural advances connected with these fibres. This experimental study attempts to develop a method of identifying whether the fibres used in pottery impressions of Northern European prehistoric textiles are wool or made from plant bast fibres, specifically flax in this comparison. It was believed at first that it may be possible to identify the fibres in these impressions, since woollen yarn would leave a rougher, fuzzier impression when compared to the smoothness of flax yarn. The results of this experiment indicate that it was easier to identify woollen and flax fabrics from the impressions left from the different spinning methods used in the Neolithic and Bronze Age.

Everyone knows that the Ancient Greeks wore bronze armour. Examples have been excavated, mentioned in the literature and depicted on vases, statues et cetera. But there is also mention of something they called 'linothorax': literally, 'linen chest', meaning linen armour for the chest. The very idea of using linen as armour has been dismissed by academics for decades on the grounds that cloth is useless as armour. It took someone willing to look at the evidence to propose the hypothesis that linen could be used to construct viable armour and what it would need to be proof against.

Dyeing, especially in bright, intense colours, has been one of the methods used to embellish textiles and add to their value. A considerable dyeing industry can be shown to have existed in Pompeii. The city of Pompeii was destroyed in a volcanic eruption in AD 79, but its remains were preserved in situ (after Allison 1992). This includes six dyeing workshops (Moeller 1976). The six workshops, together contained between them, forty apparatus consisting of a kettle in a brick or rubble and mortar surround to house a fire for heating the kettle (A survey was undertaken in 1994; Robinson and Janaway, unpublished). The kettles were supported by a ring of material which their bottom edge rested on; thereby leaving most of the kettle bottom unsupported. The dyeing apparatus were extensively researched by Hopkins (2007, 2008) to gain a better understanding of the scale of industry.

A set of eleven articles resulting from the call for papers for the Sixth UK Experimental Archaeology Conference (held in York in January 2012) is now published in a special issue of the Journal of Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences. Edited by the conference conveners, Lisa-Marie Shillito, Eva Fairnell and Helen S. Williams, the issue is available online (http://link.springer.com/journal/12520) prior to print publication anticipated later this year (2014).

This paper takes the form of a critical analysis of archaeological experiments using spinning tools. The archaeological experiments regarding whorl weight and wool spinning of the Tools and Textiles – Texts and Contexts project, through the Danish National Research Foundation’s Centre for Textile Research, are examined with respect to a number of variables. These variables include the experience of the technicians, the details of the reconstructed spindles and technical aspects of preparation and spinning methods. The variables and their implications are insufficiently addressed in the technical reports of the experiments, and further consideration and elucidation would enhance the interpretation of experimental results. Archaeological experimentation of this type would also benefit from the incorporation of ethnographic observation to provide contextual information and comparative behavioural data. The assumptions inherent in modern approaches to fibre technology and their influence on archaeological experimentation are considered, with a view toward encouraging a more self-conscious approach to the analysis of fibre experiments.

In this article, the intention is to show the documentations behind the reconstruction of a tablet woven band from the Oseberg discovery catalogued as 13B2. Parts of the band are well preserved, and it is possible to interpret motifs and techniques with considerable confidence. Some parts are poorly preserved and are not possible to interpret clearly. By analysing the band, criteria were developed as a framework for experiments with the diffuse and destroyed parts. In addition to these criteria, short reviews have been made of five other fragments (four bands and a decorative textile) with similar motifs and techniques from the same find. The intention was to compare the clear and unclear parts of 13B2 with similarities and differences in these fragments. The experiments consisted of several drawings and weave tests of possible designs of motifs and techniques. Weave experiments were performed with simple tools that are very similar to tools found in the Oseberg grave and different thicknesses of yarn, ply degree, and colours. Based on the criteria for experiments and the comparisons with motifs and techniques in the other fragments, two versions were developed, one of which satisfied all criteria. The reconstruction result can largely be said to be analogous of the original: motifs and techniques have an authentic aesthetic expression. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bilanz 2011 once again supplies an exciting, diverse and interesting view into the world of experimental archaeology. Published by EXAR in cooperation with the Pfahlbaumuseum Unteruhldingen, Isensee Verlag, Oldenburg 2011, 270 pp, ISBN 978-3-89995-794-5

The top popular magazine in Germany on archaeology is called Archäologie in Deutschland, simply referred to as ‘AiD’. It has been published every two months since 1984 and is 84 pages in length. The publisher is Theiss from Stuttgart. They publish on archaeology, history and ethnography and carry about 650 titles. AiD carries many adverts for their publications, as well as offers from others.