Threads across Time and Space

These papers take a comparative approach to the study of woven cloth viewed from the perspective of textile materials, tools and texts available in archaeological contexts. Spatially and chronologically, the papers comprise evidence for cloth production from the New and Old Worlds in both the prehistoric and proto-historic periods. Our approach draws on an anthropological tradition in which cloth has been viewed throughout history for its value as a medium of exchange and gift giving, as a signifier of interaction among societies and cultures, as a means of reinforcing kinship and religious relations and enhancing the authority and power of political elites, or distinguishing between urban vs. rural producers. The papers demonstrate the ways in which these social aspects of cloth are embodied in the making and crafting of textiles, through spinning, weaving, and cross-craft collaboration among allied technologies, such as agriculture and fiber processing and the social and environmental contexts in which their technical aspects of production have developed.