Wild Silks traces in Europe. Circulations, usages and acclimations from Antiquity to the present day

International audience; Archaeological finds show a long-lasting use in Human industries and activities of various species belonging primarily to the Saturniidae family but also to the Lasiocampidae and Notodontidae families, i.e. species qualified as ‘wild’ by silk specialists. While Asia – notably China, India, Japan, Thailand, and Korea – is well known for its wild silk moths industries, Europe seems less resourceful from this perspective. Nevertheless, from the Roman Period, it proves to have been a steady destination for wild silks textiles and fibres made in Asia, and much later a hub for acclimation attempts. In this poster, we shall review some samples gathered from a selected bibliography or studied by our project, WILDSILKS, MATERIAL & CULTURE, focusing on the longue durée – since Antiquity to the present day. We aim to highlight the main issues these samples raise for the history and anthropology of silks in Europe besides the prevalent Bombyx mori L.