Creature Comforts at Vindolanda: Two Unique Wool Mats with Knotted Pile. (5th November 2018)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Wild, John Peter; Walton Rogers, Penelope
• Is Part Of: Britannia. Volume 49(2018)
• Page Start: 323
• Page End: 333
• Publication Date: 2018-11-05
• Subjects: Roman textile, -- Vindolanda, -- sleeping mat, -- Ghiordes knot, -- fleece-type, -- wool, -- woad; Great Britain -- History -- Roman period, 55 B.C.-449 A.D -- Periodicals; Great Britain -- Antiquities, Roman -- Periodicals; Romans -- Great Britain -- Periodicals; 936.10305
• DOI: 10.1017/S0068113X18000259
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0068-113X

Abstract

ABSTRACT: Fragments of two robust wool textiles with an unusual knotted blue pile were recovered from a Period I (late Flavian) fort ditch at Vindolanda. Their knotted structure — unknown hitherto in the western Roman provinces and only partially paralleled in the eastern — is discussed, together with questions about their possible production centre and actual function. The Supplementary Material available online (https://doi.org/10.1017/S0068113X18000259 ) contains technical details of the textiles, an investigation of the raw materials and a comparison of the wools used.