Textiles, Tools, and Trepidation: Experiments in Creating Bone and Antler Tools Used in the Production of Textiles

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Defining Perishables: The How, What, and Why of Perishables and Their Importance in Understanding the Past" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Tools used in the creation of textiles can be made of numerous materials, including stone, clay, metal, wood, bone, and anther, just to name a few. Numerous experiments in creating tools, such as spindle whorls, loom weights, needles, combs, and weaving battens have been carried out at living history centers, conferences, and other events with several material types being researched. This poster looks at the process of collecting, cleaning, and prepping the material for tool creation. The collection of bone and antler, degreasing and cleaning of the bone, and the reducing of bone and antler to workable size and proportion are part of the process that has not been examined to the extent that other parts of the process(es) have. When working through this process a number of questions came to mind, including would the textile producer have gone through this process herself or would she have had someone prepare and/or create these particular material types for her? If she was creating the tools from beginning to end, what process(es) was used in the cleaning and prepping of the bone and antler? Inquisitive minds want to know, including myself, with this poster being a preliminary venture into answering these questions.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Defining Perishables: The How, What, and Why of Perishables and Their Importance in Understanding the Past   •
• Society for American Archaeology 88th Annual Meeting, Portland, OR (2023)

Keywords

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 36772.0