GREETINGS FROM NOVÉ ZÁMKY – 40 YEARS OF TEXTILE RESEARCH IN SLOVAKIA.

This article briefly presents the history of textile archaeology in Slovakia, the foundations of which were laid out by Karol Pieta. With his scientific curiosity and hunger for the new adventures, Karol Pieta has been crossing the boundaries of his discipline his whole life. The conditions for the preservation of organic materials are generally very unfavourable, which is why they were often overlooked by archaeologists. Interest for textiles first started with remains hidden in tubular anklets dated to the La Tène Period, initially noticed and studied by Karol Pieta. The most unique ones come from Nové Zámky and shed light on an embroidery technique of the Late Iron Age. The majority of prehistoric textiles in Slovakia are dated to the La Tène Period and it is comparable with finds from the Czech Republic and Austria. A find from an unknown location analysed in 2021, can with certainty be assigned to the corpus of La Tène Period textiles. It can be assumed that linen tabbies made of simple z-spun threads were preferred in this period. Textiles were found in different circumstances, usually mineralised on metal artefacts in graves. The primary use of these textiles was for clothing and ritual wrappings. A secondary use is evidenced by textile fillings of bronze hollow anklets. A Celtic female dress was reconstructed based on the position of artefacts found in the graves, as well on the observations of La Tène Period textiles, in particular the Nové Zámky embroidery. It is interesting to see, that textiles were apparently used as a code to reflect social and aesthetic values. In society they played an important role in the definition and expression of social space and of group relations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]