A Report on the Examination of Animal Skin Artefacts from the Bronze Age Salt Mines of Hallstatt, Austria

My PhD research focuses on the social context of cloth from the Neolithic to Bronze Age with case studies from the Alpine area. One aspect of this is the interrelationship of the technologies used to create flexible, thin sheets of material that can be wrapped, folded, shaped and tied. This includes fibre-based cloth such as textiles, netting and twining as well as animal skins (leather and fur). This short report summarises preliminary research findings stemming from the examination of animal skins from the Bronze Age Hallstatt salt mines. These mines offer an ideal preservation environment for cloth as the salt inhibits the action of microorganisms that would otherwise lead to the decay of organic materials, such as plant and animal fibres, and animal skins. Of these the least commonly preserved in contexts outside the salt mines are animal skins, making finds of this type significant for my research.