Prehistoric Textiles

The earliest cotton fibers and Pan-regional contacts in the Near East

“…For example, indigo blue, one of the earliest blue dyes, was made from plant indigo ( Indigofera tinctoria ), possibly originated in ancient South Asia; and the most common yellow dye was obtained from safflower ( Carthamus tinctorius ), which was grown in Egypt and Iran ( Ahmed, 2009 ; Melo, 2009 ). The archaeological and textural records have revealed that dyeing textiles and threads began at a very early date and developed with an increasing range of colors, techniques and color sources ( Barber, 1991 ; Abel, 2012 :223-243; Melo, 2009 ). The earliest known examples have been traced to the Upper Paleolithic times.…”

“…Fiber technology (including cordage and textiles) has played a central role in human societies for tens of thousands of years, and its production, application, trade, and exchange have deep roots in prehistory ( Barber, 1991 ; Gilligan, 2010 ; Sabatini and Bergerbrant, 2020 ; Schier and Pollock, 2020 ). This was recently exemplified by the rare find of a 46,000-y-old cord fragment made from inner bark fibers at the Neanderthal site of Abri du Maras in France ( Hardy et al., 2020 ).…”

A necrópole do Olival do Senhor dos Mártires (Alcácer do Sal, Portugal). Práticas funerárias, Cultura Material e Identidade(s) na Idade do Ferro do Baixo Sado (séculos VII – II a.n.e.)

“…A origem destes elementos parece remontar, no Próximo Oriente, ao Neolítico Antigo (Barber 1991), enquanto que no Norte da Bacia Mediterrânea a sua difusão não parece anteceder o Neolítico Final -Calcolítico (Castro Curel 1980: 128). Na Península Ibérica, estes elementos encontram-se documentados a partir do Calcolítico (Cardito Rollán 1996; Costeira 2017), não se generalizando contudo antes do Bronze Pleno, período no qual começam a estar bem representados em certas regiões, nomeadamente na área argárica do Sudeste peninsular (López Mira 1995).…”