Textiles and Cult in the Ancient Mediterranean

Most important and edifying to me—as one of the few archaeologists who was trying to study prehistoric textiles in a vacuum 30 and 40 years ago—is the remarkable and ever-increasing mass of data provided by the Centre for Textile Research (CTR) in Copenhagen, directed by Marie-Louise Nosch (an editor of this volume) and Eva Andersson Strand. Because fibers are so fragile, it is useless to say, “I’ll go dig up some cloth,” the way one might plan to locate an ancient building. Instead, the CTR very systematically studies how early textiles must have been created, using the tools their makers left us and the fibers we know they had. […] In short, the CTR has painstakingly constructed an entirely new  tool, not just new data, for enlarging our knowledge of ancient textiles. […] As a whole, the book is of considerable use to anyone dealing with ancient textiles or gender roles. Much discussion that links textiles and cult involves women because women have typically, traditionally, dedicated what they themselves made and used all their lives: cloth, clothing, and textile tools.

~American Journal Of Archaeology

"In the ancient world, as in the modern, the polysemy of clothes was stressed and manipulated accordingly. It is this function of cloth as a polysemic sign that underlines most of the contributions in the book and which most likely explains the connection of textiles with cult. The fact that this association transcends chronological periods and geographical areas further corroborates this notion. The present volume is an interesting and useful contribution to the study of ancient textiles that enriches our knowledge of their use and value through their examination as visual, tactile and material items." ~Bryn Mawr Classical Review

"This volume contains a wide range of information that has certainly set me thinking about the role of textiles in various contexts that I am not familiar with and do not normally work with [...] I hope that it will stimulate archaeologists and historians working in the field of the Ancient Mediterranean who may equally be intrigued and made curious about this essential aspect of spiritual and physical life." ~Bibliotheca Orientalis