The Textile Revolution in Bronze Age Europe

Abstract

In recent years, numerous books and articles have been written about Bronze Age textiles, woollen textile production in particular, from the Mediterranean and the Near East. This volume encompasses a wide range of studies aiming to broaden the horizon, and, in the light of recent scientific advances, to shift the focus to continental and northern Europe. Iconographical and archaeological evidence shows that Bronze Age Europe was not only a dressed world, but also one that was open to innovation as far as fibres and textile technology are concerned. Since technological innovations necessarily affected economic and social frameworks, this whole work maintains that the study of textile production holds great potential for enhancing our understanding of the Bronze Age world.

An Undervalued Archaeological Resource: Social Aspects of Bronze Age Textile Production in the Eastern Iberian Peninsula

“…Wool may have been obtained on a domestic scale by communities or kinship groups raising small flocks of sheep. In this sense, the absence of large flocks, necessary for a supra-domestic consumption (Sabatini & Bergerbrant, 2019), leads us to propose that wool production was limited to the household sphere and less developed than the production of bast fibres. We also contend that specialized labour did not exist in Bronze Age eastern Iberia, nor did the levels of production and exchange operate on the same scale as, for example, in Mesopotamia (McCorriston, 1997;Algaze, 2008), Egypt (Lucas & Harris, 1962;Vogelsang-Eastwood, 1992), the Aegean (Killen, 2007;Militello, 2007), or even some parts of Europe, such as northern Italy (Sabatini et al, 2018).…”

“…While studies carried out in the Eastern Mediterranean and elsewhere in Europe have highlighted the economic and social importance of textiles (e.g. Lucas & Harris, 1962;Barber, 1991;McCorriston, 1997;Killen, 2007;Gleba, 2008;Harris, 2012;Andersson Strand & Nosch, 2015;Frei et al, 2017;Bender Jørgensen et al, 2018;Sabatini et al, 2018;Sabatini & Bergerbrant, 2019), textiles have been undervalued and gone almost unnoticed on the Iberian Peninsula. Research conducted in its south-eastern part has identified three cultural groups in the region: El Argar, the Valencian Bronze Age culture and the Motillas or La Mancha culture (Figure 1).…”