Contextualising Textiles: Using the Bolton Museum Collection to Explore Social and
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Liverpool
Department Name: Archaeology Classics and Egyptology
Abstract
This project asks: 'did technological innovation affect the gendered division of labour? Egypt's
textile industry will be used as a case study for discussing technological innovation from the
Middle Bronze Age to the Islamic period. Particular attention will be given to technological
innovation during the Middle to New Kingdoms as well as subsequent periods of increased
foreign contact. During the Middle to New Kingdoms, new technology such as the chariot, new
copper smelting technology, and new weaponry was brought to Egypt via the Hyksos
colonisation. It was also the period in which the vertical loom supersedes the horizontal loom in
artistic representations of textile production. Linen was the primary fabric of choice at that time,
however, greater contact with cultures in the Near East and the Eastern Mediterranean during the
Middle Bronze Age to the Islamic Period led to the introduction of wool and cotton as well as
differing trends and production techniques. The textiles and the associated tools at the Bolton
Museum will be will be examined to see if they reflect the social changes seen in Egypt, the Near
East, and the Eastern Mediterranean during the stated periods. Evidence from art, epigraphy,
literature, and cross-cultural comparisons with other contemporaneous societies will also be used
as an analysis of textiles, gender, and technological innovation profits from both an analysis of
interregional dynamics, and contextualisation at local and regional scales.
textile industry will be used as a case study for discussing technological innovation from the
Middle Bronze Age to the Islamic period. Particular attention will be given to technological
innovation during the Middle to New Kingdoms as well as subsequent periods of increased
foreign contact. During the Middle to New Kingdoms, new technology such as the chariot, new
copper smelting technology, and new weaponry was brought to Egypt via the Hyksos
colonisation. It was also the period in which the vertical loom supersedes the horizontal loom in
artistic representations of textile production. Linen was the primary fabric of choice at that time,
however, greater contact with cultures in the Near East and the Eastern Mediterranean during the
Middle Bronze Age to the Islamic Period led to the introduction of wool and cotton as well as
differing trends and production techniques. The textiles and the associated tools at the Bolton
Museum will be will be examined to see if they reflect the social changes seen in Egypt, the Near
East, and the Eastern Mediterranean during the stated periods. Evidence from art, epigraphy,
literature, and cross-cultural comparisons with other contemporaneous societies will also be used
as an analysis of textiles, gender, and technological innovation profits from both an analysis of
interregional dynamics, and contextualisation at local and regional scales.
People |
ORCID iD |
| Ian Shaw (Primary Supervisor) | |
| Sarah Hitchens (Student) |
| Description | I have discovered the ups and downs of working in collaboration with another institution. I have also discovered that traditional methodologies used in the analysis of archaeological textile implements and textiles for my topic do not work and am in the process of furthering established methodologies and testing new methods. |
| Exploitation Route | Other researchers will be able to apply my methodlogy to similar studies that are looking at both textiles and their processing implements. |
| Sectors | Culture, Heritage, Museums and Collections |