Ancient Textile Production from an Interdisciplinary Perspective Humanities and Natural Sciences Interwoven for our Understanding of Textiles

Thediverse developments in textile research of the last decade,along with the increased recognition of the importance of textile studies in adjacent fields,nowmerit a dedicated, full-length publicationentitled“Ancient Textile Production from an Interdisciplinary Perspective: Humanities and Natural Sciences Interwoven for our Understanding of Textiles”.With thisvolume, the authors and the editorswish to illustratetothe current impact of textile archaeology on thescholarlyperception of the past(not limited to archaeologyalone).The volumepresentsnewinsights into the consumption, meaning, use and re-use of textiles and dyes, all of which are topics of growing importance in textile research.As indicated by the title, we demonstrate the continued importance ofinterdisciplinaritybyshowcasingseveral ‘interwoven’ approaches to environmental and archaeological remains, textual and iconographic sources, archaeological experiments and ethnographic data,fromalarge areacoveringEurope and the Mediterranean, Near East, Africa and Asia. The chronological span is deliberately wide, including materialsdatingfromc.6thmillennium BCE to c.mid-14thcenturyCE.The volume is organised in four parts that aim toreflectthe main areas of the textile research in 2020. After the two introductory chapters (Part I:Aboutthis Volume andTextile Researchin 2020), follow twochapters referring to dyesand dyeing technologyin which analytical and material-based studiesare linked to contextualsources(Part II:Interdisciplinarityof Colour: Dye Analyses and Dyeing Technologies).The six chapters ofPart III:Interdisciplinary Approaches to Textile Toolsdiscuss textiles and textile productionstarting from theanalyses oftools,whetherfunctionaloras representative of technological developments or user identity. Archaeological and cultural contexts as well as textile traditions are the main topicsofthesix chapters inPart IV:Traditions and Contexts: Fibres, Fabrics, Techniques, Uses and Meanings. The twofinalchaptersinPart V: Digital Toolsrefer totheuse of digital tools in textile research, presentingtwo different case studies.