This is essentially an archaeology of soaking and trampling both fulling and dyeing require vats and tubs. Because minor finds such as spindlewhorls, loomweights and needles from North African sites are rarely and poorly published, I shall focus on the evidence for physical plant and infrastructure, which is necessarily related primarily to the stages of fulling and dyeing. It must be stressed that such a picture will necessarily remain very sketchy until more sites have been excavated with a view to answering these sorts of questions. The purpose of this paper is to review the evidence for the production and dyeing of textiles, to assess how we may distinguish between the remains of fulling establishments and dyeworks, and between different kinds of dyeing and to see what can be deduced about the scale and organisation of production. Relatively little attention has been paid to the archaeology of textile productionin North Africa. It is likely that the manufacture of purple dye at Euesperides was linked also to wool production and that wool or textiles were among the goods exported in return for the large amount of imported trade goods found at the site. Studies on the shell species and breakage patterns by Estíbaliz Tébar Megías provide insights into the methods used for collecting and preparing the Murex shells, and forms the basis for a preliminary quantification of production. It is likely that the dyestuff was heated in portable vessels (probably metal) mounted on stands or tripods over the hearths the crushed shell was dumped among the embers of the fires afterwards. There was little trace of permanent infrastructure apart from the hearth surfaces, and the archaeologically diagnostic features of this production are large deposits of crushed Murex shell and ash. Dye preparation had taken place over large mud brick hearth surfaces in the courtyard of a former house. Two phases of dye production activity were revealed, both dating to the first half of the third century B.C. Numerous spreads of crushed shell waste have been recorded, and one of these has been excavated. Excavations conducted by the Society for Libyan Studies since 1999 at the Greek city of Euesperides (Benghazi, Libya), directed by Paul Bennett, Ahmed Buzaian and Andrew Wilson, have been investigating evidence for purple dye production from Murex trunculus shellfish.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |