Textile Workers. Skills, Labour and Status of Textile Craftspeople Between the Prehistoric Aegean and the Ancient Near East, pp. 27-44, 2020/04/30
Proceedings of the Workshop held at 10th ICAANE in Vienna, April 2016
Prehistoric textile production continues to attract the interest of scholars studying the remains of textiles as well as textile tools made of various materials, particularly clay, stone and bone. From Early Bronze Age (EBA) Greece (the 3rd millennium BC), almost no actual fabrics have been preserved, thus textile research can only investigate the numerous implements used in their production which were primarily found in the settlements. The aim of this paper is to discuss craftsmanship in EBA Greece. New insights regarding textile tools, yarn manufacture and weaving, and the organisation of production will be presented. The textile implements commonly preserved display various qualities and methods of production, from ‘home-made’ to standardised. Therefore, it seems that in some cases they may have been made by professional craftspeople and widely distributed, while in other cases they were made instead for private use. By analysing the archaeological contexts of such finds (especially clay spindle whorls and loom-weights), it is to a certain extent possible to reconstruct patterns in their use, for example regarding the working areas and the organisation of textile manufacture. There is no reliable evidence for specialised textile workshops in this period and a household-based production or individual/home industry is more probable. On account of the wide range of types and dimensions of spindle whorls and loom-weights, it can be assumed that textile craftspeople developed specialised skills in the manufacturing of yarns of various thicknesses and quality and textiles of diverse quality, patterns and weaves, according to their needs or the requirements of the market, whether it was local or part of wider trade routes.
Keywords: Aegean; Early Bronze Age; textile production; textile workers; textile tools; craftsmanship