The Search to Resurrect Muslin Cotton in Bangladesh

Summary

Bengal cotton muslin, a particularly fine type of woven cotton fabric, had legendary status where it was traditionally produced in East Bengal—now Bangladesh—for at least 2000 years. During the colonial influence of the British Empire, muslin was widely traded outside of South Asia, and became a valuable global commodity with major impacts on both local producers and foreign markets. Political turmoil and market forces, especially pressure from the East Indian Company, completely halted muslin manufacture in the early 20th century. As a result, "Phuti Karpas"—the variety of cotton required for its production owing to particular fiber characteristics, botanically Gossypium arboreum var. neglecta—was entirely lost. An extensive search was undertaken to locate any living example of neglecta in crop fields or in the wild, and a candidate wild population was identified. With only 100-250 year old herbarium specimens available for comparative materials, we use whole genome sequencing of modern and herbarium specimens to suggest that a wild-type Phuti Karpas has indeed been rediscovered. We describe molecular and morphometric results, as well as ongoing efforts to cultivate neglecta and revive of traditional practices for muslin weaving.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 83rd Annual Meeting, Washington, DC (2018)

Keywords

Spatial Coverage

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 22449