Project: "Clothing and Identities" (DressID)

 

Textiles from Hallstatt

The remarkable organic preservation afforded by the Iron Age salt mine at Hallstatt allows us to look back at a world that existed 3000 years ago in a way that is impossible on most other archaeological sites. The surviving textile fragments are of extraordinary value, due to their extreme rarity. The fabrics from the salt mine are predominantly woollens and some of them are extremely fine, high-quality products. Iron Age fabrics were finished on weighted looms, and were not limited to the most basic weave. A variety of more complex weaving techniques are represented by the surviving Hallstatt textiles, producing sophisticated optical effects which are often particoloured. The natural range of sheep's wool colours was extended by the use of blue, green and yellow dyes which were then used to produce striped and checkered fabrics.

Hallstatt has also provided evidence for sewing and cloth-cutting techniques. The hems and seams were foci for virtuosic finishing, as attested by an impressive example of brown-and-white decorative stitching. By contrast there are also repairs which at times use very coarse thread and appear to have been done in a hurry. The only disappointment is that the surviving fragments from Hallstatt are all too small for us to completely reconstruct entire garments with certainty.

Hallstatt; Salt Mines, Iron-Age; multiple structures and patterns; © Museum of Natural History Vienna

© 2008 by Mag. Dr. Karina Grömer and Ing. Peter Grömer-Mrazek