14 ARACHNE ARACHNE 15 Textile cultures in Europe 1200-500 BC: a view from Greece Περίληψη Το παρόν άρθρο αποτελεί µια επισκόπηση των ελληνικών αρχαιολογικών υφασµάτων από το 1200 ώς το 500 π.Χ. Η ανάλυση του υλικού από το πρόγραµµα PROCON υποδεικνύει ότι, την εποχή εκείνη, στην παράδοση των υφασµάτων στην Ελλάδα κυριαρχούσε η απλή ύφανση και οι παραλλαγές της, ως επί το πλείστον η ανισοµερής απλή ύφανση όπου υπερτερούν τα υφάδια. Τούτο έρχεται σε αντίθεση µε την υφαντική παράδοση της Ιταλίας, όπου, την ίδια περίοδο, κυριαρχούσαν οι δίµιτες υφάνσεις και η ύφανση µε καρτέλες. Υφάσµατα µε απλή ύφανση µε περισσότερα υφάδια απ’ ό,τι στηµόνια δεν έχουν ανακαλυφθεί παρά µόνο στην κεντρική Αδριατική και την νότιο Ιταλία, όπου και έγιναν πιθανώς δηµοφιλή µε την άφιξη των Ελλήνων οικιστών που έφεραν µαζί τους τη δική τους υφαντική παράδοση. Introduction 1 Despite the unfavourable preservation conditions, Iron Age and Archaic textiles do survive in the northern Mediterranean (see Margariti in this volume), among the best-known examples being the almost completely preserved semi-circular mantles and tunic-like garments from Verucchio on the Adriatic side of northern Italy dated ca. 700 BC, 2 and the so-called ‘Shroud’ of Lefkandi from Euboea, Greece, dated ca. 1000 BC. 3 While such organic preservation is extremely rare, mineralised textile traces on metal objects in burials are relatively more common. Such mineralised remains form when metal (copper or iron) corrosion products form casts around fibres, retaining their external morphology and size almost unaltered. 4 Even when minute, these traces can provide a considerable amount of information about ancient textile structure, including technical parameters such as thread twist and diameter, weave and thread count per cm (which is indicative of textile quality). Analysis of hundreds of such mineralised textile fragments, both directly studied and published, within the scope of the PROCON project, provides for the first time a much more detailed definition of textile cultures in the Mediterranean region during the first half of the 1 st millennium BC. 5 The material reviewed here comes primarily from funerary contexts. This inevitably creates a bias towards high- status textiles, and those likely used for garments or wrapping rather than other, utilitarian purposes. The geographical and chronological distribution of finds is also uneven, with certain areas and certain periods better represented than others due to peculiarities of burial customs and excavation and conservation histories in the region. As a final product of a long and complex manufacturing process, any textile contains in it information about the various stages of its production. Therefore, besides the provenance, context and date the information collected for each textile fragment includes detailed and standardised recording of specific technical parameters. Due to the variable nature of preservation, the quality and quantity of data extracted varies, but the most important parameters concern the structural aspects such as the type of thread and the type of weave, and the raw materials used. Textiles in Greece 1200-500 BCE To date, data from 95 textiles originating from various sites across Greece dating between 1200 and 500 BC are available for analysis. 6 Apart from a small quantity of fabrics of unidentifiable weave and the bands from Lefkandi (not included here), 7 the rest are all tabbies and these can be subdivided into balanced and weſt- faced tabbies (Fig. 1), 8 although there is substantial variation in quality within each group. One group of tabbies made in plant fibre (usually flax) is quite particular because they have been woven using spliced yarn. Until recently, it was considered that all prehistoric plant fibre textiles in Europe were made with draſt-spun and plied yarn, but the latest research suggests that, in fact, the yarns of many plant-fibre textiles in Europe dating into the first millennium BC, Figure 1: Pie chart of different weave percentages in Greece based on data from 95 textiles. Figure 2: Spliced textile from Eretria, ca. 700 BC. Note the ribbon-like appearance of the single threads and the knot-like splice (Image: M. Gleba). Margarita Gleba University of Cambridge