STUDY OF HISTORY

There are as many ways of studying history as there are traces left to interpret. Even applying the hypothetico-deductive approach to it, there is still only so much that can be deduced directly from an object before context needs to be evaluated for additional information. For textile fragments especially, the context of the find site, whether it is a burial, or a settlement, is particularly important for the identification and interpretation. Within archaeological contexts with no organic remains, traces left from pro cessing raw materials into textiles can suggest that textile production took place at a particular location.

Often the best way to test a textile artefact to understand its use and importance in daily life is to use it. Since original artefacts are usually too fragile or fragmentary for people to handle, reconstructions are made and tested. Textiles are a good example of where hard-to-describe qualities such as drape, softness, lustre, stretch, toughness and warmth can form a large part of the interpreted function and status of an object, especially for a costume.

These are all qualities that are subjective to the wearer and their society. Personal preferences and experiences of both the maker and the wearer can have a large impact on the finished object and therefore our interpretation of it. Being able to re-create a textile means that technical properties such as thread count and size, and fibre thickness, suddenly translate into an object that can be evaluated according to its more intangible qualities.

RECONSTRUCTING AND RE-ENACTING HISTORY

There are several different types of textile reconstruction, which are used for different purposes. Experimental archaeologists, textile historians and anthropologists try to collect new information and answer questions, such as what an object is, how it was made, how much time and resources were used in making it, its purpose and what kind of traces are left by production and/or use.

Museums, especially open-air venues such as the Foteviken Viking Museum at Hollviken, Skane, Sweden, the Plimoth Plantation, Massachusetts, USA and the Weald and Downland Living Museum near Chichester, UK, often employ historical re-enactment and reproductions to bring history to life.