Tablet Woven Bands from the Iron Age © 2022,

Originally written for the summer edition of Twist 2022

Right now, we know of approximately 70 tablet woven fragments from the Iron Age. Some are too small to get a pattern from; many others are not well enough preserved to decipher a pattern. 

From some, I wasn’t able to get a picture to work out a reconstruction. There is a good overview in the article Ein abgerissener Ärmel aus dem Salzbergwerk 

Here are 17 bands of the Iron Age I have woven so far. 

 

 

Sasso di Fubara

One of the oldest tablet woven fabrics mentioned so far comes from a grave in the Villanova period necropolis of Sasso di Fubara in Italy, dating from the 8th century BC. It is described as being woven with triangular tablets. My version is with 2 threads per tablet. [the pattern can be found in TWIST 28-3, An Iron Age Tablet Woven Band from Sasso di Fubara, by Silvia Aisling Ungerechts]

The tablet woven bands from the salt mine in Hallstatt.

Dated from the 8th to the 4th century BC. From left to right:

1. Inv. No 89.832, 21 tablets, broken twill

2. Inv. No 90.186, 13 tablets, broken twill

3. Inv. No 89.870, 12 tablets, two threads per tablet

4. Inv. No 126520, 13 tablets, kind of Sulawesi

5. Textil 136/1, 8 tablets, threaded in

6. Textil 43, 7 tablets, threaded in

Tablet woven bands from Hochdorf, dated approx. 530BC.

For clarification: some of the motifs were originally woven with swastika motifs. Since it is a very controversial symbol in Germany, and I am tired of the discussions about it (instead of the discussions about the technique), I no longer publish the motif.

From left to right:

1. The band from the cauldron, TK7C, 65 tablets, broken twill with 4 threads per tablet and 3 colors.

2. The band from the wall hanging, only fragments remain, approx. 40 tablets, 2 threads per tablet

3. The band from the wall hanging (Wandhaken 385), approx. 30 tablets, 2 threads per tablet

4. Inspired by object 1.44, not really a reconstruction, the original was woven with approximately 60

   tablets, 2 threads per tablet

5. A band from the carriage. Described as broken twill woven with triangular tablets, I did it as missed

   hole with square tablets. The tablet woven fragment is 1.4 x 1.4 cm (0.55” x 0.55”) wide.

6. TC106, a fragment of 1.5 x 1.4 cm (0.59” x 0.55”) wide. Broken twill, approximately 17 pattern

   tablets

7. Band from the fragment 1.42 and 1.45. It was part of a cloak. Woven with a minimum of 115 tablets,

   broken twill with 3 threads per tablet. 

   

    
    

   The tablet woven band from Altrier dated approx. 430 BC

   Broken twill with 3 threads per tablets. Approximately 60 tablets

   It is the smaller one of the two bands, the other one was woven with 2 threads per tablet and min. 74 tablets. Additionally, the other one was decorated with the Soumak technique (surface weft decoration by wrapping a different color extra weft thread around the warp threads during the weaving, ed.) As the remain is ‘brown’ it’s not really possible to reconstruct the pattern. 

   But here it worked. 
   

   

   
    

   The tablet woven band from Dürrnberg:

   Dated in the 3rd century BC

   Peter Collingwood calls the technique ‘double cloth’

   3 threads per tablet, 3 colors per tablet and 2 wefts. Approximately 30 tablets 

    

   

   
   

    

   The band from the cloak of the “Lady from Baza”, Spain.

   It is a painted statue.

   I have woven it as one-sided double face with 58 tablets.

    

   
   
   

The tablet woven band from grave 200 El Cigarralejo, Spain

It is one of the few bands made in linen. Approximately 30 tablets and 1,4 cm (0,55”) wide. 

References:

• -  Margarita Gleba: Tracing textile cultures of Italy and Greece in the early first millennium BC, 2016

• -  Margarita Gleba, Ettore Pizzuti, Ina Vanden Berghe, Mathieu Boudin, Alessandra Serges, Alessandra Montedoro, Iron Age textiles from

  Sasso di Furbara, Italy: Preliminary results of new scientific investigation, in PURPUREAE VESTES VII Textiles and Dyes in Antiquity 2020

• -  Mamez and H. Masurel, Étude complémentaire des vestiges textile trouvés dans l’embarcation de la nécropole du Caolino à Sasso di

  Furbara, 1992

• -  GRÖMER, K., Brettchenwebereien aus dem Salzbergwerk in Hallstatt, Archäologie Österreichs, vol. 12, Wien, Österreichische Gesellschaft

  für Ur- und Frühgeschichte, pp. 49-58, 2001.

• -  Hallstatt Textiles - Technical Analysis, Scientific Investigation and Experiment on Iron Age Textiles, 2005

• -  Karina Grömer, Hans Reschreiter, Silvia Ungerechts: 'Knowledgesharing: a newly found 2,700-year-old tablet-woven band from Hallstatt,

  Austria, 2021 Keltenmuseum Heuneburg 'Bunte Tuche gleißendes Metall - Frühe Kelten der Hallstattzeit https://www.academia.edu/67716125/Knowledge_sharing_a_newly_found_2_700_year_old_tablet_woven_band_from_Hallstatt_Austri a_Archaeological_Textiles_Review_No_63

• -  Hans-Jürgen Hundt, Vorgeschichtliche Gewebe aus dem Hallstätter Salzbergwerk, Jahrbuch des Römisch-Germanischen Zentralmuseums Mainz, 7, 1960

• -  Johanna Banck-Burgess, Hochdorf IV, 1999

• -  Kathrina von Kurzynsky ... und ihre Hosen nennen sie bracas, 1996

• -  Johanna Banck-Burgess, Mittel der Macht. Textilien bei den Kelten, 2012

• -  Hartwig Zürn, "Hallstattzeitliche Grabfunde in Württemberg und Hohenzollern, 1987

• -  Discovery of a New Tablet Weaving Technique from the Iron Age' In: Archaeological Textiles Review No.54

  http://tabletweaving.dk/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/ATR-54-R%C3%A6der-Knudsen-Gr%C3%B6mer.pdf

• -  Ein abgerissener Ärmel aus dem Salzbergwerk Dürrnberg - Neue Erkenntnisse zur Brettchenwebtchnik in der Eisenzeit JAHRBUCH DES RÖMISCH-GERMANISCHEN ZENTRALMUSEUMS MAINZ 56. Jahrgang 2009 http://tabletweaving.dk/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/Jb2009_Sonderdruck_Groemer_Stoellner1.pdf

• -  Altrier (LUX): A fresh look at the textiles. In: K. Grömer and F. Pritchard (eds.) 2015: Aspects of the Design, Production and Use of Textiles and Clothing from the Bronze Age to the Early Modern Era. NESAT XII, Budapest 2015, 117–124.’ https://www.academia.edu/15438760/Altrier_LUX_A_fresh_look_at_the_textiles._In_K._Gr%C3%B6mer_and_F._Pritchard_eds._2015_ Aspects_of_the_Design_Production_and_Use_of_Textiles_and_Clothing_from_the_Bronze_Age_to_the_Early_Modern_Era._NESA T_XII_B udapest_2015_117_124

• -  Stefanie Seifert, Eisenzeitliche Textilfunde um den Ringwall von Otzenhausen und ihre Relevanz für die Rekonstruktion https://www.academia.edu/32163589/Eisenzeitliche_Textilfunde_um_den_Ringwall_von_Otzenhausen_und_ihre_Relevanz_f%C3%BCr _die_Rekonstruktion

• -  Ida Demant, From stone to textile: constructing the costume of the Dama de Baza

• -  Teresa Chapa Brunet, María Belén Deamos, Alicia Rodero Riaza, Pedro Saura Ramos, Raquel Asiain Román, La Dama de Baza. Nuevas

  aportaciones a su estudio iconográfico a través del color y la fotografía, in Boletín del Museo Arqueológico Nacional, 40/2021 http://www.man.es/man/dam/jcr:6bca6bf3-901b-4a0e-9dd5-654359b84307/2021-bolman-40-03-chapa.pdf

• -  Hundt, Hans-Jürgen, Die verkohlten Reste von Geweben, Geflechten, Seilen, Schnüren und Holzgeräten aus Grab 200 von El Cigarralejo

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