Museum Studies Commons^™

Maa': An Analysis From The May Weber Ethnographic Study Collection, Claire T. Chilla

Department of Anthropology

Research of a maa’ textile within the May Weber Ethnographic Study Collection (MWESC) from Central Sulawesi, Indonesia. Report discusses different knowledge systems including technical and physical as well as cosmological and spiritual from the Toraja people. Also analyses affects of colonialism, trade, spirituality, tourism, and funerary practices.

Ideas Y Materialidades Que Viajan. Las Cabezas Como Contenedoras De Poder En Las Sociedades Malagana, Nazca Y Huari, Catalina Simmonds Caldas, Sonia Blanco, Marisa Sánchez David

Actas seleccionadas del SIMPOSIO ARTE 4.2: Migraciones en la imagen prehispánica: transitando territorios del pasado al presente. 58º Congreso Internacional de Americanistas, Novi Sad, Serbia, 2025.

Un cuenco en cerámica perteneciente a la sociedad Malagana (800 a. C. – 600 d. C.), – Suroccidente de Colombia – y cuya descripción es el de ser un contenedor con cabezas antropomorfas circundantes, adheridas a su contorno, quizá esté vinculado a los aspectos conceptuales e ideológicos que encarna en las sociedades Nazca (s. I - VII d. C.) y Nazca-Huari (500 – 700 d. C.) el culto a las cabezas-trofeo; de ser así, se puede presuponer en estas sociedades distintas, un uso ritual asociado al concepto de la cabeza como materialización de formas de poder. Respecto a esta noción …

Introducción, Victòria Solanilla, Anabel Villalonga Gordaliza

Actas seleccionadas del SIMPOSIO ARTE 4.2: Migraciones en la imagen prehispánica: transitando territorios del pasado al presente. 58º Congreso Internacional de Americanistas, Novi Sad, Serbia, 2025.

El presente volumen reúne una selección de contribuciones derivadas del simposio «Migraciones en la imagen prehispánica: transitando territorios», coordinado en el marco del 58º Congreso Internacional de Americanistas (ICA58). Este congreso, celebrado en distintas sedes en Novi Sad, Serbia, del 30 de junio al 4 de julio de 2025, conmemoró los 150 años del ICA y reunió a investigadores de todo el mundo bajo el lema «Nuevos desafíos, Nuevos espacios», incorporando además una valiosa «mirada balcánica» al estudio de las Américas. En ese escenario — un cruce de lenguas, trayectorias y tradiciones académicas — nuestro simposio propuso detenerse ante un …

The Authors

Textile Crossroads: Exploring European Clothing, Identity, and Culture across Millennia

Short professional biographies of the Contributors: Dimitra Andrianou, Giacomo Bardelli, Magali An Berthon, Tina Boloti, Cecilie Brøns, Ana Cabrera-Lafuente, Francesca Coletti, Roxana Coman, Catarina Costeira, Cristina Cumbo, Camilla Cziffery Nielsen, Klara Dankova, Anna Maria Desiderio, Kerstin Droß-Krüpe, Arianna Esposito, Astrid Fendt, Nade Genevska Brachikj, Francisco B. Gomes, Judith Goris, Audrey Gouy, Karina Grömer, Morten Grymer-Hansen, Mary Harlow, Susanna Harris, Sophia Larissa Hayda, Angela Huang, Floor Huisman, Alina Iancu, Zofia Kaczmarek, Marisa Kerbizi, Meghan Korten, Tetiana Krupa, Karolina Anna Kulpa, Lena Larsson Lovén, Ronja Lau, Yuliia Lazorenko, Susanne Lervad, Petra Linscheid, Christina Margariti, Maria João Melo, Elena Miramontes Seijas, Leyre Morgado-Roncal, …

The Euroweb Textile And Clothing Terminology Network And The Digital Atlas Of European Textile Heritage: Some Reflections And Results, Louise Quillien, Alina Iancu, Meghan Korten, Susanne Lervad, Joana Sequeira, Catarina Costeira

Textile Crossroads: Exploring European Clothing, Identity, and Culture across Millennia

One of the research areas of the EuroWeb project during the four years of the COST Action (November 2020 – October 2024) is the comparative study of textile and clothing terminologies in European languages across time. Inside the EuroWeb network, the research group on Textile and clothing terminologies has three topics of particular interest: 1. the specificities of these terminologies, and the strategies for naming textiles and garments; 2. the impact of European geography on textile and clothing terminologies, especially visible through textile terms formed after a toponym or through the circulation of loanwords; 3. the influence of textile and …

Exploring Dress, Gender, And Bodily Capital Through Pre- And Protohistoric Funerary Contexts: Case Studies From Southwestern Europe, Francisco B. Gomes, Catarina Costeira, Anna Maria Desiderio, Arianna Esposito, Giacomo Bardelli

Textile Crossroads: Exploring European Clothing, Identity, and Culture across Millennia

While uneven in their scope and reach, studies of dress and dress complements (fibulae, belt buckles, buttons, etc.) have a significant tradition within the broader study of the pre- and protohistory of Mediterranean Europe. Many of these studies, however, have had a strong focus on the typology of the dress complements and ornaments themselves, either as chronological indicators, ethnic markers, or both. In more recent years, however, a shift in research agendas has ushered in the introduction of new perspectives and new ways of thinking about dress and bodily adornment.

This contribution explores one such perspective in particular — namely, …

Displaying And Experiencing Dress Identities In Museums: Case Studies From The Etruscan Period To Modern Times, Karina Grömer, Astrid Fendt, Morten Grymer-Hansen, Anna Zimmermann, Kayleigh Saunderson, Camilla Cziffery Nielsen, Francisco B. Gomes

Textile Crossroads: Exploring European Clothing, Identity, and Culture across Millennia

Dress, clothes, and accessories receive and give meaning through their nearness to the human body. As P. Stallybrass writes: “Bodies come and go: the clothes that have received those bodies survive.” It is through the close interaction between dress and person that they both receive their meaning. Clothes shape the human body, and we in return shape our clothes. Dress communicates class, gender, nationality, and marital status, and we leave behind parts of us in its smell, wrinkles, wear, and tear: “Clothes receive the human imprint.” Archaeological and historical dress — no matter how ancient — remain intrinsically linked to …

Red Dyes From West To East In Medieval Europe: From Portuguese Manuscript Illuminations To Romanian Textiles, Irina Petroviciu, Paula Nabais, Maria J. Melo

Textile Crossroads: Exploring European Clothing, Identity, and Culture across Millennia

Red is the color par excellence, its symbolism being linked with protection and magic through its primary attributes, fire and blood. It was the predominant color from the earliest times, certainly during the Greek and Roman periods and into Medieval Europe, until blue became a competitor around the 13th century. Mineral pigments, like iron oxides, were the first red sources, used to draw lines, dots, or spots on cave walls or stones. Later, other mineral red pigments were also exploited: Cinnabar, natural mercury sulfide, since the Neolithic, and realgar, arsenic trisulfide, in Ancient Egypt. Scientific investigation revealed that, although …

Searching For The Exotic: Textiles, Orientalism, And Identities, Ana Cabrera, Roxana Coman, Karolina A. Kulpa, Tim Parry-Williams

Textile Crossroads: Exploring European Clothing, Identity, and Culture across Millennia

Textiles, with their economic, sartorial, and identity-constructing functions, have long been at the center of cultural discourses, whether narrative or visual. Objects of desire, but also objects of curiosity, textiles have been the topic of costume books, offered in diplomatic exchanges, collected by private collectors and museums alike, and have traveled, sometimes as sample books. Their Othering function did not only differentiate between members of different civilizations, but also the members of the same society, where clothing was used to signal rank and function. The case studies presented intend to elaborate further on the role and symbolism associated with textiles, …

Clothing In Transition: Social, Symbolic, And Legal Aspects Of Garments From Prehistory To The Early Byzantine Period, Tina Boloti, Francesca Scotti, Cristina Cumbo, Petra Linscheid

Textile Crossroads: Exploring European Clothing, Identity, and Culture across Millennia

Since ancient times, garments served a wide range of purposes: Either functional, providing protection by covering the body, or symbolic, as an element of non-verbal communication and marker of identity. In particular, this stimulates the development of specific characteristics in shape, decoration, or material composition, which generate distinctions among garments, as acknowledged by Roman jurists too.

These distinctions are determined by various factors. One important factor is the social meaning of clothing: There are garments for public life, garments expressing rank, garments suited for special professions, or garments intended for sacred/priestly rites reflecting particular religious symbols. And, of course, clothes …

Túnicas Masculinas A Fines Del Horizonte Medio En La Costa Sur Central Del Perú, No Uno Sino Varios Estilos, Rommel Angeles Falcón

IX Jornadas Internacionales de Textiles Precolombinos y Amerindianos / 9th International Conference on PreColumbian and Amerindian Textiles, Museo delle Culture, Milan, 2022

Las excavaciones arqueológicas en Huaca Malena (valle bajo de Asia), en la costa sur central del Perú, han permitido recuperar una importante cantidad de textiles procedentes de tumbas y de contextos secundarios de fines del período Horizonte Medio (Siglos VIII-XI d.C.). Destaca la variedad de túnicas o uncus que permiten visualizar la vestimenta masculina de la época y conocer aspectos de su tecnología, iconografía y de las relaciones inter-regionales que se dieron durante el estado wari.

Archaeological excavations at Huaca Malena (lower Asia valley), on the south central coast of Peru, have allowed the recovery of a significant amount of …

Moche-Wari Textiles From Huaca Del Sol, Moche Influence In The Middle Horizon, Amy Oakland

IX Jornadas Internacionales de Textiles Precolombinos y Amerindianos / 9th International Conference on PreColumbian and Amerindian Textiles, Museo delle Culture, Milan, 2022

This paper analyzes a selection of textiles excavated in 2013 in the destroyed late Middle Horizon (AD 800-1000) cemetery on Huaca del Sol, Huacas de Moche in the Moche Valley of northern Peru. The Huaca Sol textile group was woven with local, Moche style S-spun cotton yarns between AD 888-1050, calibrated radiocarbon dates along with a small number of Wari textiles, late Moche and Wari ceramics and ceramics in Casma and Cajamarca styles. Textile structure and design provide the basis for reconstruction into complete garment types known to other Middle Horizon collections on the central and southern coast where Moche …

An Examination Of An Inka(?) Aksu In The Collections Of The Textile Museum, Shelley Burian

IX Jornadas Internacionales de Textiles Precolombinos y Amerindianos / 9th International Conference on PreColumbian and Amerindian Textiles, Museo delle Culture, Milan, 2022

This paper presents the preliminary results and conclusions from an examination of an exceedingly rare example of a weft-face and tapestry-woven aksu in the collections of The Textile Museum. Patterned with figurative butterflies, the garment closely resembles those depicted by Felipe Guaman Poma de Ayala in several of his illustrations of ceremonies and elite women. Its features present challenges for determining its dates and the level of social status it represents or confers. The similarity between the aksu’s butterflies and those in a checkerboard unku in the Field Museum provides suggestive evidence for its use in an official state setting. …

Inka Khipus, Thread Wrappings And Subject Markers, Lucrezia Milillo

IX Jornadas Internacionales de Textiles Precolombinos y Amerindianos / 9th International Conference on PreColumbian and Amerindian Textiles, Museo delle Culture, Milan, 2022

This work aims to contribute to our current understanding of how information was organized in khipus, Andean colourful knotted cords used as writing. If the idea that khipu signs could work as a flow chart was common in the last two decades, it is not until the notion of kayte as subject marker was elaborated by Sabine Hyland on the basis of Julio C. Tello's notes that the theory could be discussed on more empirical grounds. So far, the term “kayte” applied to needlework bundles, pompons or tufts attached to the beginning of the primary cord. In this work, the …

Evidencias De Tecnología Textil En Un Basural Del Santuario De Pachacamac, Rommel Angeles Falcón, Susana Abad, Janet Oshiro

IX Jornadas Internacionales de Textiles Precolombinos y Amerindianos / 9th International Conference on PreColumbian and Amerindian Textiles, Museo delle Culture, Milan, 2022

Recientes excavaciones arqueológicas en el santuario arqueológico de Pachacamac, valle de Lurín, Costa Central del Perú, permitieron identificar un denso basural del período Inca (Siglos XV-XVI) que contenía una importante cantidad de elementos relacionados a la actividad textil: husos, piruros, ovillos, espadas, estacas y peines, entre otros que permiten visualizar la cadena operativa que se realizaba en el santuario de Pachacamac.

Recent archaeological investigations in the archeological site of Pachacamac (Lurin Valley, Central Coast of Peru) allowed us to identify a dense Inca garbage dump (XV-XVI centuries) that contained an important amount of textile artifacts: spindles, piruros, balls, swords, stakes …

Equivalencias Entre La Indumentaria De Mesoamérica Y De La Zona Andina, Victòria Solanilla Demestre

IX Jornadas Internacionales de Textiles Precolombinos y Amerindianos / 9th International Conference on PreColumbian and Amerindian Textiles, Museo delle Culture, Milan, 2022

Al igual que en Jornadas anteriores presenté signos comunes en los textiles, mi interés sigue siendo buscar paralelismos y/o significados parecidos o iguales entre las dos principales zonas culturales de América precolombina: Mesoamérica y la Zona Andina, ya que creo firmemente que hubo contactos entre ellas. En esta ocasión trataré el tema de las equivalencias en las indumentarias, que creo necesitará igualmente diferenciarlas fuentes de información, como hice en anteriores ocasiones. En Mesoamérica, es preceptiva la consulta de las fuentes escritas; y en este caso las dibujadas, pues serán las principales. Además, recurriremos al estudio de las figurillas de arcilla …

Entre Lo Simbólico Y Lo Material. Textiles Moche Para La Eternidad, Arabel Fernández López

IX Jornadas Internacionales de Textiles Precolombinos y Amerindianos / 9th International Conference on PreColumbian and Amerindian Textiles, Museo delle Culture, Milan, 2022

Una revisión de distintas evidencias materiales provenientes principalmente de contextos funerarios de personajes de la élite gobernante mochica, así como de las imágenes plasmadas en la cerámica, metales y arte mural policromo, dejan entrever aspectos poco conocidos sobre el rol que cumplió la textilería en esta sociedad (100 – 850 d. C.), revelando una serie de temas simbólicos vinculados a los mitos y ritos que formaron parte de la cosmovisión andina mochica que, además, se fundieron con la propuesta ideológica impuesta por la clase gobernante. Las evidencias y contextos registrados durante las excavaciones arqueológicas permiten sostener que, en los distintos …

Behind The Scenes In Museum Collecting: The Destinies Of Henry Wellcome’S Pre-Hispanic Textiles, Penelope Dransart

IX Jornadas Internacionales de Textiles Precolombinos y Amerindianos / 9th International Conference on PreColumbian and Amerindian Textiles, Museo delle Culture, Milan, 2022

In this article, I explore the sale of pre-Hispanic textiles from Andean countries, especially Peru, demonstrating networks between collectors, auction houses and researchers. Sir Henry S. Wellcome (1856-1936) was a North American pharmaceutical entrepreneur. After transferring his commercial interests to London in 1880, he bought textiles and other antiquities at auctions. I outline the activities of Wellcome staff in registering the textiles in Wellcome’s store at Willesden, London. Textiles which preserve Wellcome labels now in the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, University of Cambridge, and the National Museums of Liverpool are described. I examine the case of a distinctive Wari …

Las Warakas (Hondas) De Arena Blanca, Cerro Colorado Y Wari Kayan En La Península De Paracas: Nuevos Datos E Interpretaciones, Jessica Lévy Contreras, Ann H. Peters

IX Jornadas Internacionales de Textiles Precolombinos y Amerindianos / 9th International Conference on PreColumbian and Amerindian Textiles, Museo delle Culture, Milan, 2022

Las hondas o warakas halladas en la Península de Paracas, contextos mortuorios que datan del final del Formativo Tardío a inicios del Periodo Intermedio Temprano, 400 a.C. – 250 d.C., ofrecen datos inéditos para entender mejor su confección, uso y función simbólica. A partir del estudio de los registros gráficos y fotográficos de las excavaciones de la tumba T.27 en Arena Blanca, realizadas por Engel y Bischof en 1959, hemos desarrollado un nuevo estudio de sus materiales, tanto para la recuperación de los datos como para su puesta en valor, teniendo en cuenta las problemáticas arqueológicas actuales. Hemos comparado los …

Un Rompecabezas Textil En Las Colecciones Del Mudec: Conservación Y Exposición De Una Prenda Chuquibamba, Carolina Orsini, Cinzia Oliva

IX Jornadas Internacionales de Textiles Precolombinos y Amerindianos / 9th International Conference on PreColumbian and Amerindian Textiles, Museo delle Culture, Milan, 2022

En este artículo presentamos las estrategias adoptadas para conservar un textil de estilo Chuquibamba procedente del mercado anticuario. La pieza había sido reconstruida al azar para darle un aspecto “integro” y facilitar su venta. Las intervenciones permitieron reconstruir su aspecto original y proponer una hipótesis sobre su función.

In this paper we present the strategies adopted to conserve a Chuquibamba textile circulating in the antique market. The piece had been reconstructed randomly to give it an “intact” appearance and facilitate its sale. The interventions made it possible to reconstruct its original appearance and to do some conjectures about its function.

Metamorfosis Del Huipil De Chicahuaxtla A Través Del Tiempo, Yatahli Otilia Rosas Sandoval, Hector Manuel Meneses Lozano

IX Jornadas Internacionales de Textiles Precolombinos y Amerindianos / 9th International Conference on PreColumbian and Amerindian Textiles, Museo delle Culture, Milan, 2022

El estudio sistemático de los tejidos que resguardan los museos suelen realizarse por personas ajenas a las comunidades de origen de dichas piezas. Este trabajo presenta un acercamiento entre el Colectivo Llana Huaricnn conformado por tejedoras de la localidad de San Andrés Chicahuaxtla en Oaxaca, México, y el Museo Textil de Oaxaca, con la intención de mirar en conjunto las características técnicas de un grupo de huipiles resguardados tanto por el Colectivo, como por el Museo. El trabajo en conjunto permitió desarrollar una ficha técnica que incluyera información relevante para ambas partes involucradas. El resultado final permite cuestionar las prácticas …

Estudio, Análisis E Intervención De Las Sandalias Procedentes De La Colección Frissell, Oaxaca, Gloria Martha Sánchez Valenzuela, Amaranta González Hurtado

IX Jornadas Internacionales de Textiles Precolombinos y Amerindianos / 9th International Conference on PreColumbian and Amerindian Textiles, Museo delle Culture, Milan, 2022

La colección Frissell es considerada como uno de los acervos más importantes del estado de Oaxaca y la más rica en arte zapoteco; aun cuando la mayor parte del conjunto está constituido por piezas de cerámica precolombina, esta también cuenta con algunos objetos de origen orgánico como fragmentos textiles y sandalias, de los que lamentablemente se desconoce su procedencia exacta; sin embargo, gracias al análisis realizado a su técnica de factura se presupone que son de origen prehispánico y que pudieron ser extraídos de alguna cueva de los alrededores del Valle de Oaxaca. En total, la colección cuenta con cinco …

Tradición E Innovación En Los Textiles Aymaras Del Departamento De La Paz: La Aykata, Agustín Daniel Leonardo Miranda Cossío

IX Jornadas Internacionales de Textiles Precolombinos y Amerindianos / 9th International Conference on PreColumbian and Amerindian Textiles, Museo delle Culture, Milan, 2022

La presente propuesta muestra la vigencia del tejido tradicional de textiles en zonas cercanas y en las ciudades de La Paz y El Alto. La información fue obtenida de tejedores que habitan en la ciudad – área rural y frecuentan la ciudad por motivos de cargos comunales o comercio de tejidos como medio de subsistencia. El paulatino desplazamiento de las piezas textiles tejidas a mano en los centros urbanos de Bolivia ha llevado a creer que este arte está menguando; si bien es cierto que su uso se ha restringido a las fiestas o ceremonias particulares, la presencia del textil …

Tejidos Kallawaya – Folclor Regional O Reflejos De Procesos De Etnicización, Eva Fischer

IX Jornadas Internacionales de Textiles Precolombinos y Amerindianos / 9th International Conference on PreColumbian and Amerindian Textiles, Museo delle Culture, Milan, 2022

En mi aporte analizaré dos tipos de figuras y sus contextos, las que muestran entre sí una estrecha relación y simultáneamente diferencias profundas: el diseño llamado corte grande o kurti, y las figuras denominadas curandero, Kallawaya. El primer diseño va bajo la rúbrica de los diseños “abstractos” y el segundo bajo aquella de los diseños figurativos. Antes de aparecer en los tejidos, ambos debían transformarse en figuras de memoria en el sentido de Assmann (2000). Los dos diseños y sus contextos, percibidos como reflejos de etapas específicas de procesos más largos y complejos, permiten explorar, por lo menos en parte, …

Diseño Textil Y Vestimentario Tradicional De Los Pueblos De Canchis (Cuzco), Nathalie Santisteban-D.

IX Jornadas Internacionales de Textiles Precolombinos y Amerindianos / 9th International Conference on PreColumbian and Amerindian Textiles, Museo delle Culture, Milan, 2022

Este estudio trata sobre el diseño decorativo e iconográfico textil y vestimentario tradicional de los pueblos de San Pablo, de Tinta y de Marangani de la provincia de Canchis (Cuzco, Perú). El sistema vestimentario indígena tradicional de estos pueblos está conformado por piezas vestimentarias tejidas, unkuña y poncho, que permiten identificar el grupo étnico y el lugar de procedencia de los portadores. Las otras piezas vestimentarias están adornadas suntuosamente por el bordado con máquina de coser. El vestido indígena tradicional de estos pueblos es famoso por el bordado con máquina. Este estudio busca dar a conocer que en los pueblos …

Watu, Chumbe Y Cobija. Patrones Textiles En La Alta Amazonía Peruana. Movilidad, Persistencias Y Transformaciones En El Largo Tiempo, María Elena Del Solar

IX Jornadas Internacionales de Textiles Precolombinos y Amerindianos / 9th International Conference on PreColumbian and Amerindian Textiles, Museo delle Culture, Milan, 2022

La convivencia de dos formas de producción textil, organizadas a partir de técnicas y necesidades histórica y culturalmente modeladas, constituyen lo cotidiano en la mayoría de comunidades tejedoras del territorio andino. Ambas modalidades, el telar de cintura de origen prehispánico y el telar de pedal de tipo español, producen tejidos desde lógicas diversas que testimonian sobre aspectos centrales de la vida de las sociedades andinas, en una suerte de diagnóstico socio cultural e histórico. En este artículo se presentan algunas características constantes, así como peculiares, en los patrones textiles del grupo kichwa lamista del piedemonte amazónico, zona montañosa del nororiente …

Inka Interaction At Caleta Vitor, Northern Chile: Evidence From Archaeological Textiles, Tracy Martens

IX Jornadas Internacionales de Textiles Precolombinos y Amerindianos / 9th International Conference on PreColumbian and Amerindian Textiles, Museo delle Culture, Milan, 2022

Our understanding of Inka expansion continues to develop with new research further cementing the idea that the Inka’s expansionary tactics were targeted and agile, specifically enacted to achieve coercive control over populations, resources, and specialist craft expertise. The nature of Inka influence at Caleta Vitor has not yet been established, however, the data now strongly suggest that the population was entangled in a complex negotiated process commonly undertaken by the Inka in new territories. This paper contributes to our understanding of Inka interaction at Caleta Vitor with new data from archaeological textiles that demonstrate Caleta Vitor’s Imperial connections.

Nuestra comprensión …

Understanding Gold Textiles: Case Studies Of Gold Threads From The Bronze Age And Antiquity In Europe, Karina Grömer, Francesca Coletti, Francisco B. Gomes, Kayleigh Saunderson

Textile Crossroads: Exploring European Clothing, Identity, and Culture across Millennia

The production of textiles, in terms of weaving techniques, has a long history in Europe, and dates back to the Stone Age, the time during which the first farming communities arrived in the Mediterranean and Central Europe, in the 7th/6th millennium BC. The first evidence of textile tools, like spindle whorls and loom weights, demonstrate that people made an important step forward in mechanizing this craft, not only twisting fibers and interlacing strands purely by hand, but also inventing tools to increase efficiency. Through the development of textile techniques, we see the unleashing of enormous creative power that stimulated even …

“What’S In A Name?” Toponyms And Loanwords In European Textile Cultures, Dimitra Andrianou, Klara Dankova, Nade Genevska Brachikj, Angela Huang, Meghan Korten, Elena Miramontes, Jasemin Nazim, Marie-Alice Rebours, Joana Sequeira

Textile Crossroads: Exploring European Clothing, Identity, and Culture across Millennia

Textiles as man-made products have been exchanged over distances for millennia. They can and have been produced almost anywhere; they are also, as a product, highly differentiated and quickly adjustable to changing demands. This brings with it naming practices to communicate about the goods in question. Textiles are labeled so that people can form expectations about them and rely on the reputation tied to the product’s identity. The terminology of textiles and textile items arises and develops in unison with technical innovations, discoveries, fashions, and trade patterns. Although the occurrence of toponyms e.g., in preindustrial trade (10th to 18th century …

The Terminology Of Soft Furnishings In Ancient Babylonia, Greece, And Rome: A Comparative Approach, Dimitra Andrianou, Elena Miramontes, Louise Quillien

Textile Crossroads: Exploring European Clothing, Identity, and Culture across Millennia

Various kinds of textiles were used to furnish domestic spaces in Antiquity, such as curtains, covers, hangings, pillows, cushions, mattresses, rugs, tapestries, tablecloths, and towels. These objects have practical and everyday functions, they embellish and add to daily comfort in the house and speak to the owner’s prosperity. Being made of perishable materials, furnishings have, on the whole, not survived in ancient Mesopotamia, Greece, and Rome. Apart from a few excavated pieces of textiles found in tombs, our information comes primarily from written testimonia and iconography.

It is thus essential to consider soft furnishings in their own right, in order …