
Textile Production in Pre-Roman Italy
Margarita Gleba(Author)
Casemate Publishers
Published on 15. September 2023
Book
Paperback/Softback
296 pages
979-8-88857-059-3 (ISBN)
Description
Older than both ceramics and metallurgy, textile production is a technology which reveals much about prehistoric social and economic development. This book examines the archaeological evidence for textile production in Italy from the transition between the Bronze Age and Early Iron Ages until the Roman expansion (1000-400 BCE), and sheds light on both the process of technological development and the emergence of large urban centres with specialised crafts. Margarita Gleba begins with an overview of the prehistoric Appennine peninsula, which featured cultures such as the Villanovans and the Etruscans, and was connected through colonisation and trade with the other parts of the Mediterranean. She then focuses on the textiles themselves: their appearance in written and iconographic sources, the fibres and dyes employed, how they were produced and what they were used for: we learn, for instance, of the linen used in sails and rigging on Etruscan ships, and of the complex looms needed to produce twill. Featuring a comprehensive analysis of textiles remains and textile tools from the period, the book recovers information about funerary ritual, the sexual differentiation of labour (the spinners and weavers were usually women) and the important role the exchange of luxury textiles played in the emergence of an elite. Textile production played a part in ancient Italian society's change from an egalitarian to an aristocratic social structure, and in the emergence of complex urban communities.
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
United States
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Unsewn / adhesive bound
Illustrations
120 b/w figs, tbs, maps
Dimensions
Height: 13 mm
Width: 13 mm
Thickness: 13 mm
Weight
227 gr
ISBN-13
979-8-88857-059-3 (9798888570593)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions

Gleba Margarita Gleba
Textile Production in Pre-Roman Italy
E-Book
11/2008
1st Edition
Oxbow Books
€27.99
Available for download

Gleba Margarita Gleba
Textile Production in Pre-Roman Italy
E-Book
11/2008
1st Edition
OXBOW BOOKS
€27.99
Available for download
Person
Margarita Gleba is Assistant Professor at Universita degli Studi di Padova, Italy, and an Affiliated Researcher at Ludwig-Maximilians-Universitaet Muenchen, Germany. She has previously held research and teaching positions at University College London, University of Cambridge, the University of Copenhagen and Rutgers University. The author or editor of a number of books, she is also a former Editor of Archaeological Textiles Review.