Wool textiles and archaeometry: testing reliability of archaeological wool fibre diameter measurements

ABSTRACT

Characterisations of ancient sheep breeds and wool types and theories about wool fibre processing are integral parts of textile archaeology. The studies build on statistical calculations of measurements of wool fibre diameters and reveal characteristics of the yarns that are attributed to the available raw wool and to the production methods of the time. Different microscope types have been used for data collection. Presently digital images from either scanning electron microscopy (SEM) or transmitted light microscopy (TLM) are the preferred methods. The advantage of SEM is the good depth of field at high magnification, while TLM is simpler to use and more readily available. Several classification systems have been developed to facilitate the interpretation of the results. In this article, the comparability of the results from these two methods and from the use of different magnifications in general is examined based on the analyses of a large number of the Danish prehistoric textiles. The results do not indicate superiority of one microscope type in favour of another. Rather, they reveal differences in the calculations that can be ascribed to the diversity of the fibres in the individual yarns as well as to the methodology and the magnification level.

KEYWORDS:

• Fibre fineness analysis of ancient wool
• compare use of SEM and TLM
• fibre type
• processing

Acknowledgments

The research leading to these results was funded by the Danish National Research Foundation’s Centre for Textile Research [DNRF64], the National Museum of Denmark, the European Commission’s Marie Curie Actions under the European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme [FP7-PEOPLE-IEF-2008-236263], and the European Research Council under the European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme [FP/2007-2013-312603].

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the European Research Council [FP/2007-2013-312603]; The National Museum of Denmark; The European Commission’s Marie Curie Actions under the European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme [FP7- PEOPLEIEF-2008-236263]; and The Danish National Research Foundation’s Centre for Textile Research [DNRF64].