From economy to identity: towards an integrated approach to textile production and consumption in the Iron Age of Southern Portugal

Abstract

Despite the absence of preserved textile remains, there is substantial indirect evidence which can be explored in order to gauge the nature and organization of the different stages of textile production and consumption in the Southern Portuguese Iron Age. Fibre procurement can be discussed on the basis of palaeobotanical and zooarchaeological data. The former is scarce for the period under study, but the latter could indicate the comparative importance of wool production in regional economies of the 1st millennium BCE. For spinning and weaving, the data afforded by textile tools is somewhat more consistent but remains underexplored. The wide distribution of spindle whorls and, to a less extent, of loom weights suggests in fact a generalized panorama of household production, with just a few exceptions associated with sanctuaries in which production seems to have been more intensive. Data regarding the use and discard of textiles, on the other hand, is rarer, but certain evidence can still be noted, such as possible textile patterns reproduced in pottery, and especially the presence in the record of metallic dress complements. Iconographic data, while not abundant, offers further glimpses into the attire in use regionally during the Iron Age.