Treasures from the Sea: Sea Silk and Shellfish Purple Dye in Antiquity - Couverture rigide

9781785704352: Treasures from the Sea: Sea Silk and Shellfish Purple Dye in Antiquity

Couverture rigide

ISBN 10 : 1785704354 ISBN 13 : 9781785704352

Editeur : Oxbow Books, 2017

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Pr�sentation de l'�diteur :

Purple dye is extracted from the glands of the molluscs Hexaplex trunculus, Bolinus Brandaris and Stramonita Haemastoma which, through a chemical reaction of photosynthesis, produces hues ranging from dark red to bluish purple colour. The importance of purple dye since ancient times as a status symbol, a sign of royal and religious power is well documented. Less well known is sea silk, a precious fibre derived from the tufts of the pen shell, Pinna nobilis, a UNESCO protected species, with which the mollusc anchors itself to the seabed. These tufts, once cleaned and bleached, take the aspect of golden thread. Only a handful of artisans on Sardinia still have the knowledge of how to work these fibres, the knowledge having been transmitted orally for generations.

In this new review of latest research, 17 papers concentrate on two marine resources used in ancient textile manufacture: shellfish purple dye and sea silk. Papers include the study of epigraphical and historical sources, practical experiments, as well as, highlighting the presence of purple dye in the Mediterranean area in the archaeological data and in new research contexts; linguistic issues pertaining to terminology, archaeological investigation, the study of the physical and chemical properties of sea silk and the step-by-step practical working of sea silk fibres.

The comprehensive multifaceted overview makes this collection a valuable resource for anyone interested in ancient textiles, dyes and textile technology.

Biographie de l'auteur :

Hedvig Landenius Enegren is an independent researcher affiliated with the Danish National Research Foundation s Centre for Textile Research (CTR), University of Copenhagen. She trained as an archaeologist in Stockholm and Uppsala and her research spans from Aegean Late Bronze Age and Eastern Mediterranean epigraphy of the first millennium BCE to ancient textiles and textile tool technology. She is currently conducting research on the textile tool material from Grotta Vanella at Segesta, Sicily.

Francesco Meo is a researcher and Adjunct Professor at the University of Salento, Italy and teaches the Archaeology of Magna Graecia. He is currently the Scientific Director of the Muro Leccese Archaeological Project, a Messapian indigenous settlement in the southern Puglia region in Italy. His research explores textile production in southern Italy between the Iron Age and the Roman Empire and the changes of the Messapian indigenous society between the Iron Age and the arrival of the Romans in the 3rd century BC.

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