An Experimental Comparison of Impressions Made from Replicated Neolithic Linen and Bronze Age Woollen Textiles on Pottery

Abstract

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.

Keywords

• textile
• ceramics
• flax
• wool
• neolithic
• bronze age
• united kingdom