Clothing Bodies - Weaving and Textiles in the Aegean Bronze Age

This Element explores the textile crafts and cloth cultures of the Aegean Bronze Age, focusing on two categories of archaeological evidence: excavated textiles (or their imprints) and tools used for yarn production and weaving. Together, these types of material testimonies offer complementary perspectives on a textile history that spans two thousand years. A growing body of evidence suggests that the Aegean was home to communities of skilled textile craftspeople who produced cloth that varied from plain and coarse to fine and elaborate. As regional connectivity increased throughout the Bronze Age, interactions in textile craft flourished. In time, textile production became central to the political economies that emerged in the Aegean region. The expertise of Bronze Age Aegean spinners and weavers is vividly illustrated through the material record of their tools, while even the smallest excavated cloth fragments stand as fragile, yet enduring testaments to textile craftsmanship.

List of contents

1. Introduction; 2. Background to Aegean textiles research; 3. Weaving the threads of Aegean bronze age textile histories; 4. Overview of Aegean bronze age textile craft; 5. Conclusion; References.

Product details

• Authors: Sophia Vakirtzi
• Publisher: Cambridge Academic
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Release: 31.01.2026
• EAN: 9781009679091
• ISBN: 978-1-009-67909-1
• Weight: 500 g
• Illustrations: Worked examples or Exercises
• Series: Elements in The Aegean Bronze Age
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > History > General, dictionaries; Non-fiction book > History > Pre and early history, antiquity; prehistory, SOCIAL SCIENCE / Archaeology, bronze age, Spinning and weaving, Textile & fibre technology, Spinning & weaving, Apparel and fashion: technology and techniques, Industrial archaeology