Clothing the Elite? Patterns of Textile Production and Consumption in Ancient Sudan and Nubia

The Kingdom of Meroe (300 BCE-350 CE) developed a truly unique textile tradition, represented by hundreds of preserved fabrics, tools and iconographic representations. Together, this vast body of historical data provides a great opportunity to study patterns of textile production and consumption in...

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Main Author: Elsa Yvanez
Format: Article
Language:deu
Published: Institute of Archaeology and Ethnology Polish Academy of Sciences 2018-12-01
Series:Fasciculi Archaeologiae Historicae
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Online Access:https://journals.iaepan.pl/fah/article/view/2145
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author Elsa Yvanez
author_facet Elsa Yvanez
author_sort Elsa Yvanez
collection DOAJ
description The Kingdom of Meroe (300 BCE-350 CE) developed a truly unique textile tradition, represented by hundreds of preserved fabrics, tools and iconographic representations. Together, this vast body of historical data provides a great opportunity to study patterns of textile production and consumption in the Meroitic society. This paper will first focus on restoring textile implements to their archaeological locations in order to identify the different contexts and scales of textile manufacturing, primarily spinning and weaving. Far from homogenous, the Meroitic textile industry reflected the social complexity and the ethnic diversity of the kingdom. The paper’s second part will thus relate the settlement data on textile production to the finished products – fabrics and clothing – discovered in graves and depicted on reliefs and statues, thereby linking the textiles to the individuals using them. The role of the administrative and religious elite will particularly be discussed, both as commissioners and consumers of specific textile goods, as well as official relays in a state-controlled industry.
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spelling doaj-art-150fbfcddd29407cb86560f84192abf12025-08-20T02:37:29ZdeuInstitute of Archaeology and Ethnology Polish Academy of SciencesFasciculi Archaeologiae Historicae0860-00072719-70692018-12-013110.23858/FAH31.2018.006Clothing the Elite? Patterns of Textile Production and Consumption in Ancient Sudan and Nubia Elsa Yvanez0Marie Skłodowska-Curie postdoctoral fellow, Centre for Textile Research, Saxo Institute, University of Copenhagen The Kingdom of Meroe (300 BCE-350 CE) developed a truly unique textile tradition, represented by hundreds of preserved fabrics, tools and iconographic representations. Together, this vast body of historical data provides a great opportunity to study patterns of textile production and consumption in the Meroitic society. This paper will first focus on restoring textile implements to their archaeological locations in order to identify the different contexts and scales of textile manufacturing, primarily spinning and weaving. Far from homogenous, the Meroitic textile industry reflected the social complexity and the ethnic diversity of the kingdom. The paper’s second part will thus relate the settlement data on textile production to the finished products – fabrics and clothing – discovered in graves and depicted on reliefs and statues, thereby linking the textiles to the individuals using them. The role of the administrative and religious elite will particularly be discussed, both as commissioners and consumers of specific textile goods, as well as official relays in a state-controlled industry. https://journals.iaepan.pl/fah/article/view/2145archaeologyancient Sudan and NubiaMeroetextilescostumessocial display
spellingShingle Elsa Yvanez
Clothing the Elite? Patterns of Textile Production and Consumption in Ancient Sudan and Nubia
Fasciculi Archaeologiae Historicae
archaeology
ancient Sudan and Nubia
Meroe
textiles
costumes
social display
title Clothing the Elite? Patterns of Textile Production and Consumption in Ancient Sudan and Nubia
title_full Clothing the Elite? Patterns of Textile Production and Consumption in Ancient Sudan and Nubia
title_fullStr Clothing the Elite? Patterns of Textile Production and Consumption in Ancient Sudan and Nubia
title_full_unstemmed Clothing the Elite? Patterns of Textile Production and Consumption in Ancient Sudan and Nubia
title_short Clothing the Elite? Patterns of Textile Production and Consumption in Ancient Sudan and Nubia
title_sort clothing the elite patterns of textile production and consumption in ancient sudan and nubia
topic archaeology
ancient Sudan and Nubia
Meroe
textiles
costumes
social display
url https://journals.iaepan.pl/fah/article/view/2145
work_keys_str_mv AT elsayvanez clothingtheelitepatternsoftextileproductionandconsumptioninancientsudanandnubia