Hostname: page-component-76fb5796d-r6qrq Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-26T09:37:00.070Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

TOOLS FOR TEXTILES: TEXTILE PRODUCTION AT THE ETRUSCAN SETTLEMENT OF POGGIO CIVITATE, MURLO, IN THE SEVENTH AND SIXTH CENTURIES BC

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 February 2020

Get access

Abstract

This paper discusses some of the insights that have been gained from the study of the textile tools from the Etruscan settlement of Poggio Civitate di Murlo and coeval textiles recovered from the adjacent cemetery site of Poggio Aguzzo di Murlo. Over 1,600 textile tools (including spindle whorls, loom weights, and spools) are analysed from a functional perspective, and results suggest that the textiles found in burials were likely produced at the site. This new information is discussed in light of other subsistence and craft activities documented at the settlement, all of which indicate an inward-oriented economy that catered to the local elites and the populations they controlled.

Il presente articolo discute alcune delle idee che si sono sviluppate grazie allo studio degli strumenti tessili dall'insediamento etrusco di Poggio Civitate di Murlo e dai tessuti coevi recuperati dall'adiacente necropoli di Poggio Aguzzo di Murlo. Sono stati analizzati più di 1.600 strumenti tessili (compresi fusaiole, pesi del telaio e rocchetti) in una prospettiva funzionale. I risultati della ricerca suggeriscono che i tessuti trovati nelle sepolture sono stati probabilmente prodotti localmente. Queste nuove informazioni, discusse nel presente contributo alla luce di altre attività documentate nell'insediamento, pertinenti alle sfere della sussistenza e artigianale, indicano un'economia orientata verso l'interno, rivolta alle élite locali e alle popolazioni che esse controllavano.

Type
Articles
Copyright
Copyright © British School at Rome 2020

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

1

Due to her untimely death, Joanne Cutler did not see the completion of this article — we hope to have done justice to the work she began and dedicate it to her memory.

References

REFERENCES

Andersson Strand, E.B. and Nosch, M.-L. (2015) (eds) Tools, Textiles and Contexts: Investigating Textile Production in the Aegean and Eastern Mediterranean Bronze Age. Oxford, Oxbow.Google Scholar
Barber, E.J.W. (1991) Prehistoric Textiles. The Development of Cloth in the Neolithic and Bronze Ages. Princeton, Princeton University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bauer, J., Tuck, A., Duncan, B. and Moore, D. (2017) PXRF and ceramic analysis at Poggio Civitate (Murlo). Rasenna: Journal of the Center for Etruscan Studies 5(1): Article 4.Google Scholar
Bonfante, L. (2003) Etruscan Dress (second edition). Baltimore, Johns Hopkins University Press.Google Scholar
Camporeale, G. (ed.) (1997) L'abitato etrusco dell'Accesa: il quartiere B (Volume 122). Rome, Giorgio Bretschneider.Google Scholar
Chmielewski, T. and Gardyński, L. (2009) New frames of archaeometrical description of spindle whorls: a case study of the Late Eneolithic spindle whorls from the 1C site in Gródek, district of Hrubieszów, Poland. Archaeometry 52: 869–81.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Collingwood, P. (1996) The Techniques of Tablet Weaving. McMinnville (OR), Robin and Russ Handweavers.Google Scholar
Costin, C.L. (1991) Craft specialization: issues in defining, documenting, and explaining the organization of production, Archaeological Method and Theory 3, 156.Google Scholar
Costin, C.L. (2005) Craft production. In Maschner, H. (ed.), Handbook of Archaeological Methods. Walnut Creek (CA): AltaMira, 10321105.Google Scholar
Crewe, L. (1998) Spindle Whorls: A Study of Form, Function and Decoration in Prehistoric Bronze Age Cyprus (Studies in Mediterranean Archaeology and Literature, Pocket-book 149). Jonsered, Paul Åströms Förlag.Google Scholar
de Grummond, N.T. (1997) Poggio Civitate: a turning point. Etruscan Studies 4: 2340.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Edlund-Berry, I.E.M. (1994) Ritual destruction of cities and sanctuaries: the ‘un-founding’ of the Archaic monumental building at Poggio Civitate (Murlo). In De Puma, R.D. and Small, J.P. (eds), Murlo and the Etruscans. Art and Society in Ancient Etruria: 1626. Madison, The University of Wisconsin Press.Google Scholar
Gleba, M. (2000) Textile production at Poggio Civitate (Murlo) in the 7th c. BC. In Cardon, D. and Feugère, M. (eds), Archéologie des textiles des origines au Ve siècle, Actes du colloque de Lattes, Oct. 1999 (Monographies Instrumentum 14): 7781. Montagnac, Éditions Monique Mergoil.Google Scholar
Gleba, M. (2008) Textile Production in Pre-Roman Italy. Oxford, Oxbow Books.Google Scholar
Gleba, M. (2009) Textile tools and specialisation in the Early Iron Age female burials. In Herring, E. and Lomas, K. (eds), Gender Identities in Italy in the First Millennium BC: 6978. Oxford, Archaeopress.Google Scholar
Gleba, M. (2012) From textiles to sheep: investigating wool fibre development in pre-Roman Italy using scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Journal of Archaeological Science 39: 3643–61.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gleba, M. (2013) The world of Etruscan textiles. In Turfa, J. Macintosh (ed.), The Etruscan World: 798811. Oxford/New York, Routledge.Google Scholar
Gleba, M. (2015a) Production and consumption: textile economies in Mediterranean Europe 1000–500 BCE. In Grömer, K. and Pritchard, F. (eds), Aspects of the Design, Production and Use of Textiles and Clothing from the Bronze Age to the Early Modern Era. NESAT XII: 261–70. Budapest, Archaeolingua.Google Scholar
Gleba, M. (2015b) Etruscan textiles in context. In Carpino, A. and Bell, S. (eds), A Companion to the Etruscans: 237–46. Chichester/Malden (MA), Wiley-Blackwell.Google Scholar
Gleba, M. (2017a) Tracing textile cultures of Italy and Greece in the early first millennium BC. Antiquity 144: 1205–22.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gleba, M. (2017b) Textiles in pre-Roman Italy: from a qualitative to a quantitative approach. Origini 40: 928.Google Scholar
Gleba, M. (2017c) Textiles and dress. In Naso, A. (ed.), Etruscology 1: 485503. New York, Walter de Gruyter Inc.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gleba, M. and Harris, S. (2018) The first plant fibre technology: identifying splicing in archaeological textiles. Archaeological and Anthropological Science 11: 2326–46.Google Scholar
Gleba, M., Harris, S., Cutler, J., Marín-Aguilera, B. and Dimova, B. (forthcoming) Dressing Cities: Textile Economies in Mediterranean Europe 1000–500 BCE. Cambridge, McDonald Institute Monographs.Google Scholar
Grömer, K. (2005) Efficiency and technique — experiments with original spindle whorls. In Bichler, P., Grömer, K., Hofmann de Keijzer, R., Kernand, A. and Reschreiter, H. (eds), Hallstatt Textiles: Technical Analysis, Scientific Investigation and Experiment on Iron Age Textiles: 107–16. Oxford, Archaeopress.Google Scholar
Harris, S. (2018) From value to desirability: the allure of wordly things. World Archaeology 49: 681–99.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Haynes, A.E. (1975) Twill weaving on the warp weighted loom: some technical considerations. Textile History 6: 156–64.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hoffman, M. (1964) The Warp-Weighted Loom. Studies in the History and Technology of an Ancient Implement (Studia Norvegica 14). Oslo, Scandinavian University Press.Google Scholar
Kansa, S.W. and MacKinnon, M. (2014) Etruscan economics: forty-five years of faunal remains from Poggio Civitate. Etruscan Studies 17: 6387.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Laurito, R. (2015) TexSEt: textile technology in central Tyrrhenian Italy from late prehistory to the Etruscan period. Archaeological Textile Review 57: 111–13.Google Scholar
Lipkin, S. (2012) Textile-Making in Central Tyrrhenian Italy from the Final Bronze Age to the Republican Period, BAR S2369. University of Oulu, Ph.D. thesis.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Liu, R.K. (1978) Spindle whorls part 1: some comments and speculations. The Bead Journal 3: 87103.Google Scholar
Macellari, R. (1983) Pesi da telaio. In Vitali, D. (ed.), Monterenzio e la Valle dell'Idice: Archeologia e storia di un territorio. Catalogo della mostra, Monterenzio, Casa della cultura, 8 gennaio 1983: 119–27. Bologna, University Press.Google Scholar
Mårtensson, L., Nosch, M. and Andersson Strand, E. (2009) Shape of things: understanding a loom weight. Oxford Journal of Archaeology 28: 373–98.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Meo, F. (2018) Textile production in Magna Graecia: preliminary considerations. In Gleba, M., Busana, M.S., Meo, F. and Tricomi, A.R. (eds), Purpureae Vestes VI, 117–30. València, Porticos.Google Scholar
Meyers, G. (2015a) Tanaquil: the conception and construction of an Etruscan matron. In Carpino, A. and Bell, S. (eds), A Companion to the Etruscans: 305–20. Chichester/Malden (MA), Wiley-Blackwell.Google Scholar
Meyers, G. (2015b) Reconstructing ritual: the functional parameters of loom weights and spindle whorls as evidence for cult practice in ancient Etruria. In Banck-Burgess, J. (ed.), NESAT XI: Proceedings of the Northern European Symposium on Archaeological Textiles, 251–6. Rahden/Westfalen, Verlag Marie Leidorf GmbH.Google Scholar
Möller-Wiering, S. (2015) Examination of spinning and weaving samples. In Andersson Strand, E.B. and Nosch, M.-L. (eds), Tools, Textiles and Contexts: Investigating Textile Production in the Aegean and Eastern Mediterranean Bronze Age: 101–18. Oxford, Oxbow.Google Scholar
Nielsen, E. (1998) Bronze production at Poggio Civitate (Murlo). Etruscan Studies 5: 95107.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Olofsson, L., Andersson Strand, E.B. and Nosh, M.-L. (2015) Experimental testing of Bronze Age textile tools. In Andersson Strand, E.B. and Nosch, M.-L. (eds), Tools, Textiles and Contexts: Investigating Textile Production in the Aegean and Eastern Mediterranean Bronze Age: 75100. Oxford, Oxbow.Google Scholar
Östenberg, C.E. (1975) Case etrusche di Acquarossa. Roma, Multigrafica.Google Scholar
Paolucci, G. (1997) Museo Civico Archeologico delle Acque di Chianciano Terme. Siena, Protagon Editori Toscani.Google Scholar
Pitzalis, F. (2011) La volontà meno apparente: donne e società nell'Italia centrale tirrenica tra VIII e VII secolo a.C. Rome, L'Erma di Bretschneider.Google Scholar
Quercia, A. (2017) Textile production and technological changes in the Archaic societies of Magna Grecia: the case of Torre di Satriano (Lucania, Italy). Origini 40: 243–58.Google Scholar
Ræder Knudsen, L. (2012) The tablet-woven borders of Verucchio. In Gleba, M. and Mannering, U. (eds), Textiles and Textile Production in Europe from Prehistory to AD 400: 254–65. Oxford/ Oakville (CT), Oxbow Books.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rast-Eicher, A. (2008) Textilien, Wolle, Schaffe der Eisenzeit in der Schweiz (Antiqua 44). Basel, Archaeologie Schweiz.Google Scholar
Rast-Eicher, A. and Bender Jørgensen, L. (2013) Sheep wool in Bronze Age and Iron Age Europe. Journal of Archaeological Science 40: 1224–41.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Riva, C. (2010) The Urbanisation of Etruria: Funerary Practices and Social Change, 700–600 BC. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Ryder, M.L. (1968) The origin of spinning. Textile History 1: 7382.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Small, J. P. (1971) The banquet frieze from Poggio Civitate. Studi Etruschi 39: 2561.Google Scholar
Spantidaki, S. (2016) Textile Production in Classical Athens. Oxford, Oxbow Books.Google Scholar
Stauffer, A. (2012) Case study: the textiles from Verucchio, Italy. In Gleba, M. and Mannering, U. (eds), Textiles and Textile Production in Europe from Prehistory to AD 400: 242–53. Oxford/ Oakville (CT), Oxbow Books.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Trentacoste, A., Lightfoot, E., Le Roux, P., Buckley, M., Esposito, C. and Gleba, M. (2019) Heading for the hills? A multi-isotope study of sheep management in first millennium BC Italy. Journal of Archaeological Science Reports 29. doi: 10.1016/j.jasrep.2019.102036.Google Scholar
Tuck, A. (2009) The Necropolis of Poggio Civitate (Murlo): Burials from Poggio Aguzzo (Archeologica 153). Poggio Civitate Archaeological Excavations 3. Rome, Bretschneider.Google Scholar
Tuck, A. (2014) Manufacturing at Poggio Civitate: elite consumption and social organization in the Etruscan seventh century. Etruscan Studies 17: 1339.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tuck, A. (2016) Poggio Civitate: community form in inland Etruria. In Carpino, A. and Bell, S. (eds), A Companion to the Etruscans: 105–16. Chichester/Malden (MA), Wiley-Blackwell.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tuck, A. (forthcoming) Resource and ritual: manufacturing and production at Poggio Civitate. In Gleba, M., Marín-Aguilera, B. and Dimova, B. (eds), Making Cities: Economies of Production and Urbanisation in Mediterranean Europe 1000–500 BCE. Cambridge, McDonald Institute Monographs.Google Scholar
Tuck, A., Kansa, S., Kreindler, K. and O'Donoghue, E. (2017) 2016 excavations at Poggio Civitate and Vescovado di Murlo. Etruscan Studies 20: 3557.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
van der Meer, B. (2007) The Liber linteus Zagrabiensis. The Linen Book of Zagreb. A Comment on the Longest Etruscan Text. Leiden, Peeters Publishers.Google Scholar
Vay, I. (1988) I pesi da telaio della casa R18. In de Marinis, R. (ed.), Gli Etruschi al nord del Po I: 170–4. Mantova, Campanotto Editore.Google Scholar
Verhecken, A. (2010) The moment of inertia: a parameter for the functional classification of worldwide spindle-whorls from all periods. In Andersson Strand, E., Gleba, M., Mannering, U., Munkholt, C. and Ringgaard, M. (eds), North European Symposium for Archaeological Textiles X: 257–70. Oxford, Oxbow Books.Google Scholar
Whitehead, J.K. (1996) New researches at La Piana 1992–5. Etruscan and Italian Studies 3: 105–47.Google Scholar
Wikander, C. (1986) La vita quotidiana nell'ambiente domestico. In Architettura Etrusca nel Viterbese. Ricerche svedesi a San Giovenale e Acquarossa 1956–1986: 109–28. Rome, De Luca Editore.Google Scholar