Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-v9fdk Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-02T21:25:02.551Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Archaeological Evidence for Textiles in Pre‐Islamic Iran

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2022

Trudy S. Kawami
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

The production of textiles began very early in the Near East, even before the development of settled villages and the domestication of plants and animals in the Neolithic Period (New Stone Age, the 7th and 6th millennia B.C.). Flax was one of the first fibers to be woven; it appears in an elegantly knotted net with a woven border found in the Nahal Hemar Cave on the southwest banks of the Dead Sea. “Flax also appears about the same time in Anatolia at Çatal Hüyük, a partially excavated site once covering some 32 (?) acres. The Çatal Hüyük textiles, which also included wool ormohair worked in S- and Z-spun two-ply yarns, came from intramural burials where they bound up the bones of the dead and in one case filled a skull. Unfortunately, the fires that destroyed the site on several occasions charred the fabrics so that no trace of color now remains. However, the dye plants woad, madder and weld are native to the region, and the excavator believed that they were used at Çatal Hüyük.

Type
Pre-lslamic Textiles
Information
Iranian Studies , Volume 25 , Issue 1-2: The Carpets and Textiles of Iran: New Perspectives in Research , 1992 , pp. 7 - 18
Copyright
Copyright © Association For Iranian Studies, Inc 1992

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1 Noy, T., “Neolithic Period”, in Treasures of the Holy Land: Ancient Art from the Israel Museum (New York, 1986), p. 44Google Scholar and fig.19.

2 Mellaart, J., Ç atal Hüyük (London, 1967), pp. 150, 219-220 and pls. 116-118Google Scholar; Burnham, H. B., “Çatal Hüyük--The Textiles and “Twined Fabrics”, Anatolian Studies 15 (1965), pp. 169-174CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Ryder, M. L., “Report of Textiles from Çatal Hüyük”, Archaeology 16 (1966), pp. 39-46Google Scholar.

3 Braidwood, L. et al. eds., Prehistoric Archaeology Along the Zagros Flanks (Oriental Institute Publication 105; Chicago, 1983), p. 398Google Scholar and fig. 169: 7-10. For a summary description of the site see Lloyd, S., The Archaeology of Mesopotamia (rev. ed; New York, 1984), pp. 33-35.Google Scholar

4 Wulff, H. E. The Traditional Crafts of Persia (Cambridge, Mass., 1966), pp. 189; 193.Google Scholar

5 Mound B, Dalma period. See Levine, L., “Seh Gabi”, Iran 10 (1972) pp. 179-180Google Scholar; and Matheson, S., Persia: An Archaeological Guide (2nd ed; London, 1976), p.I 292.Google Scholar The samples currently in the West Asian Department, Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto, will be published by the excavator

6 R. Pfister, “Traces de tissu sur un miroir de cuivre provenant d'une tombe proto-elamite de Sialk”, in R. Ghirshman, Fouilles de Sialk, prés de Kashan, vol. II (Paris, 1939), pp. 201- 202 and pl. XXXII.13; and Ghirshman, op. cit., vol. I, p. 64 and pl. XXIX3.

7 Schmidt, E. F., Excavations at Tepe Hissar, Damghan (Philadelphia, 1937), pp. 201 and 203.Google Scholar

8 Lecaisne, M. Z., “Note sur les tissues recouvrant des hache en cuivre”, MDP13 (Paris, 1912), p. 163Google Scholar and suppl. pl. XLIII.

9 Hansen, D. P., “A Proto-Elamite Silver Figurine in the Metropolitan Museum of Art”, Metropolitan Museum Journal 3 (1970), pp. 5-14.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

10 Greenewalt, C. H. and Majewski, L. J., “Lydian Textiles”, in De Vries, K., ed., From Athens to Gordion (University Museum Papers 1; Philadelphia, 1980), p. 139Google Scholar; and Hansen, op. cit., p. 24 (with photograph).

11 Amiet, P., Elam (Ouvres-sur-Oise, 1966), no. 43, p. 48Google Scholar; Amiet, P., Glyptique Susienne des origines a l'époque des perses achemenides (MDP43; Paris, 1972), no. 673; pp. 18Google Scholar and 105, and pls. 17 and 82. For a concise survey of the archaeological evidence for weaving in the ancient Near East as a whole see Ellis, R. S., “Mesopotamian Carpets in Modern and Ancient Times: Ancient Near Eastern Weaving”, American Journal of Archaeology 80 (1976), pp. 76-77CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

12 Amiet, Elam, op.cit., pp. 179-181, 188-192 and 210; Porada, E., “Iranische Kunst”, in Orthmann, W., ed., Orient, Alte (Propylaean Kunstgeschichte 14, Berlin, 1975), p. 379 and pl. 281b.Google Scholar

13 For illustrations see Frankfort, H., The Art and Architecture of the Ancient Orient (rev. ed.; New York, 1970), pp. 46, 48-50, 55-58 and 69-74.Google Scholar

14 Hinz, W., Altiranische Funde and Forschungen (Berlin, 1969)CrossRefGoogle Scholar, frontispiece and pl. 11-44, esp. 13, 15 and 16.

15 For a concise history of these people see Carter, E. and Stolper, M. W., Elam, Surveys of Political History and Archaeology (University of California Publications: Near Eastern Studies 25; Berkeley and Los Angeles, 1984)Google Scholar; and Hinz, W., The Lost World of Elam (New York, 1973).Google Scholar

16 Amiet, Elam, no. 166, pp. 226-227; Porada, “Iranische Kunst”, op.cit., pl. 50.

17 Fujii, H., “at-Tar Caves”, Archiv für Orientforschung 29/30 (1983-4) (hereafter Fujii, 1983-4), pp. 181-82Google Scholar and fig. 23. For a brief discussion of the textile finds from this site, see Sakamoto, K., Oriental Carpet and Textile Studies I (1985), pp. 9-17.Google Scholar

18 Matheson, op. cit., p. 304; and Hakemi, A. Catalogue de l'exposition: Lut. Shahdad “Xabis” (Tehran, 1972), pp. 15-16.Google Scholar

19 Wulff, op. cit., p. 172; P. Ackerman, ‘Textiles through the Sasanian Period”, A Survey of Persian Art I (Oxford, 1938), p. 682.

20 Porada, , “Iranische Kunst”, p. 384 and pl. 289Google Scholar; Brentijes, B. Das alte Persien. Die iranische Welt vor Mohammed (Vienna and Munich, 1978), p. 50Google Scholar; H. H. von der Osten, Die Welt der Perser (Stuttgart, 1956), pl. 14, an excellent photograph. For the history of this period see Carter and Stolper, op. cit., pp. 37-39 and 166.

21 Amiet, Elam, pp.361, 372 and 414-421; and Porada,“Iranische Kunst”, p. 384 and pl.288.

22 No agreement exists as to the date of this head which has been placed in the mid to late third millennium B. C.: Muscarella, O. W., “Ancient Near Eastern Art”, The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin (Spring, 1984), pp. 7Google Scholar and 55 suggests ca. 2000 B.C.; Porada, “Iranische Kunst”, p. 381 and pl. 284 posits an early second millennium B. C. date; Schlossman, B., “Portraiture in Mesopotamia in the Late third and Early Second Millennium B. C. Part II: The Early Second Millennium”, Archiv für Orientforschung 27 (1981/82), pp. 156-59Google Scholar suggests the late second millennium. This writer favors the latest date for stylistic reasons. For a more comprehensive account of this head see Muscarella, O. W., “Excavated and Unexcavated Achaemenid Art”, in Schmandt-Besserat, D., ed., Ancient Persia: The Art of an Empire (Malibu, 1980), pp. 34-35Google Scholar and pl. XVI.

23 Burney, C., “Excavations at Haftavan Tepe 1969: Second Preliminary Report,” Iran, 10 (1972), pp. 134-35Google Scholar and pl. IVa.

24 Burney, op.cit., p. 129 and pl. Ib.

25 Moorey, P. R. S., “Bronze Rollers and Frames from Babylonia and Eastern Iran: Problems of Date and Function”, Revue Assyriologique 71 (1977) pp. 137-50Google Scholar. 26 Carter and Stolper, Elam, pp. 24-32.

27 Ibid., p. 149.

28 Dalley, Veenhof S. “Old Babylonian Trade in Textiles at Tell al Rimah”, Iraq 39 (1977), pp. 155-59CrossRefGoogle Scholar; , K.R., “Some Social Effects of the Old Assyrian Trade”, Iraq 39 (1977) pp. 109-118.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

29 von der Osten, op. cit., pp. 37-38 and pl. 19 top (lower left figure).

30 Vanden Berguhe, L., Reliefs Rupestres de l'Iran Ancien, (Brussels, 1983), cat no. 2, pp. 2627Google Scholar and 111 and pl. 1.

31 Vanden Berguhe, op.cit., cat no. 4, pp. 112- 113 and pl. 2.

32 Reade, J., “Elam and Elamites in Assyrian Sculpture”, Archaeologische Mitteilungen aus Iran 9 (1976), pp. 97 -106 and pls. 21-28.Google Scholar

33 de Schaunesee, M. and Dyson, R. H., Jr., “Hasanlu Horse Trappings and Assyrian Reliefs”, Essays on Near Eastern Art and Archaeology in Honor of Charles Kyrle Wilkinson (The Metropolitan Museum of Art; New York, 1983), pp. 60-66 and 72-73Google Scholar; Littauer, M. A. and Crouwel, J. H., “Ancient Iranian Horse Helmets?”, Iranica Antiqua 19 (1984) pp. 41-44Google Scholar and 51.

34 Canby, J. V. “Decorated Garments in Assumasirpal's Sculpture”, Iraq 33 (1971), pp. 42-43CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

35 Negahban, E. O., A Preliminary Report on Marlik Excavation. Gohar Rud Expedition, Rudbar, 1961-62 (Tehran, 1964), fig. 88 and p. 50.Google Scholar

36 Negahban, E.O., Metal VesselsFrom Marlik (Praehistorische Bronzefunde, Abt II, Bd. 3; Munich, 1983), no. 50, p. 77Google Scholar. For the best illustration see Porada, Edith, “Notes on the Gold Bowl and Silver Beaker from Hasanlu”, A Survey of Persian Art, vol. XIV: Proceedings, IVth International Congress of Iranian Art and Archaeology (London, 1960), pl. 1988Google Scholar.

37 Muscarella, O. W. “Fibulae and Chronology, Marlik and Assur”, Journal of Field Archaeology 11 (1984), pp. 416-17Google Scholar.

38 Egami, Namio, Fukai, Shiniji and Siichi, Masuda, Dailaman I. The Excavations at Ghalekuti and Lasulkan (Tokyo University Iraq-Iran Archaeological Expedition Report 6; Tokyo, 1965), p. 31 and pl. LXXV, 88-90.Google Scholar

39 Ghirshman, op. cit., frontispiece, pp.129-36, and pls. X-XI, XII-XV and XX.

40 Hendrickson, R. C. “A Reconstruction of the Painted Chamber Ceiling at Baba Jan”, Iranica Antiqua 18 (1983), pp. 82-96Google Scholar.

41 De Vries, K., “Greeks and Phrygians in the Early Iron Age”, in De Vries, K., ed., From Athens to Gordion (University Museum Papers 1; Philadelphia, 1980), pp. 35 and 44- 46Google Scholar; Bellinger, L., ‘Textiles from Gordion”, The Bulletin of the Needle and Bobbin Club46 nos. 1 and 2 (1962), pp.5-34Google Scholar; Bonfante, L. Etruscan Dress (Baltimore, 1975), pp. 12-13.Google Scholar.

42 Matheson, op. c i t . , p. 75; “at-Tar”, AFO (1983-84) pp. 173-74 and fig. 19.

43 Hansen, op. cit., p. 14, notes 25 and 26; Greenewalt and Majewski, op. cit., p. 139; Bellinger, ‘Textiles from Gordion”, op. cit., p. 13. For an example from the Levant see Macalister, R. A. S., The Excavations at Gezer 1902-1905 and 1907-1909, vol. 1 (London, 1912), pp. 293-94.Google Scholar

44 Granger-Taylor, H., ‘The Textile Fragments from PG16”, Anatolian Studies 33 (1983), pp. 94-95.Google Scholar

45 McGinnis, J., “A Neo-Assyrian text Describing a Royal Funeral”, State Archives of Assyria Bulletin, 1, no. 1 (1987), pp.5-6Google Scholar. I am grateful to Pauline Albenda for this reference

46 Schneider, U., Persepolis and Ancient Iran (Chicago, 1978)Google Scholar (microfiche), B9 and B10. For a summary of the Achaemenid use of textiles see Farkas, A, “Is There Anything Persian in Persian Art?”, in Schmandt- Besserat, D., ed., Ancient Persia: The Art of An Empire (Invited Lectures on the Middle East at the University ofTexas at Austin 4; Malibu, 1980), pp. 20-21.Google Scholar

47 Fragments of wool were found in courtyard 29. See Schneider, U., Persepolis and Ancient Iran (Chicago, 1978)Google Scholar, microfiche B9 and B10, Or. Inst. PS-321a & b.

48 See Bittner, S. Tracht und Bawaffnung des persischen Heeres zur Zeit der Achaimeniden (Munich, 1987), pp. 62-133.Google Scholar for an extensive discussion of Achaemenid dress and ornament.

49 Although no silk datable to the Achaemenid period has been found in the region generally termed ban, Chinese silk has been found in Central Asia, an area of Achaemenid activity if not actual control. See Rubinson, K. S., “Mirrors on the Fringe: Some Notes”, Source Notes on the History of Art IV, nos. 2/3 (winter/Spring, 1985) p. 49.Google Scholar Furthermore, Chinese silk was present in Greece in the late fifth century B. C. and in Hallstatt burials in northern Europe in the sixth century B. C. See Wild, J. P., “Some Early Silk Finds in Northwest Europe”, The Textile Museum Journal 23 (1984), pp. 17-19 and 22.Google Scholar

50 Wulff, p. 222; Shay, A., ‘Traditional Clothing in Iran”, Ornament 6, no. 1 (Sept. 1982), p. 5.Google Scholar Other garments may also have been leather if one accepts Herodotus’ observation (Persian Wars I.71), admittedly literary rather than archaeological evidence for the preceding century. A pieced fur coat with long, thin ornamental sleeves and a decorative yoke from a 5th-4th century B. C. context in Central Asia provides a luxurious version of this coat type: see Museum, Nara Prefectural, The Grand Exhibition of Silk Road Civilization. The Oasis and Steppe Routes (Nara, 1988), no. 137, pp. 130-131Google Scholar (colour photo) and 255 (in Japanese).

51 Bittner, op. cit., pp. 125-126 and pls. 6-8 and 27. These figures are usually called Persians or Amazons when they appear in a classical context. See Boardman, J., Athenian Red Figure Vases. The Archaic Period (New York), 1975), pp. 218Google Scholar, 222 and 233, pl.s 279, 283, 303.1-2 and 360.

52 Akkadian ise naš šipati (“shrubs that bear wool“): Campbell Thompson, R., A Dictionary of Assyrian Botany (London, 1949), pp. 113-114.Google Scholar

53 Bittner, pp. 111-118.

54 Canby, J. V.,” A Note on Some Susa Bricks”, Archaeologische Mitteilungen aus Iran 12 (1979), pp. 315-320Google Scholar and pl. 50,2.

55 Root, M. C., The King and Kinship in Achaemenid Art (Acta Iranica: Textes et Memoirs; Leiden, 1979), p . 130.Google Scholar

56 Anabasis, I, 4 and IV, 7.

57 Root, op. cit., pp. 237 and 287-88; Tilia, A. B., Studies and Restorations at Persepolis and Other Sites in Fars (Instituto Italiano per il Medio ed Estremo Oriente; Reports and Memoirs 16; Rome 1972), pp. 183-190Google Scholar and fig. 3; Schmidt, E.F., Persepolis I. Structures, Reliefs, Inscriptions, pp. 163-64Google Scholar and pl. 123, upper right.

58 Root, p. 237.

59 Henning, W. B., “The Monuments and Inscriptions of Tang-e Sarvak”, Asia Major 2 (1952), p. 165.Google Scholar

60 Wilbur, D. N., Persepolis. The Archaeology of Parsa, Seat of the Persian Kings (New York, 1969), pp. 86 and 102-103.Google Scholar

61 Albenda, P. “Assyrian Carpets in Stone”, Journal of the Ancient Near East Society, Columbia University 10 (1978), pp. 1-2Google Scholar.

62 Albenda, op. cit., pp. 4-10. 63 McGinnis, op. cit., pp. 5-6.

64 For Mesopotamian carpets see Barrelet, M. “Un inventoire de Kar-Tuklti-Ninurta: textiles decores assyriens et autres”, Revue d'Assyriologie 71 (1977), pp. 66-68Google Scholar.

65 Dimand, M. S., Oriental Rugs in the Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York, 1973), p. 6Google Scholar; Rudenko, S.I.. Frozen Tombs of Siberia (Berkeley, 1970), pp. 296Google Scholar, 298-304 and pls. 174-76; Brentjes, op. cit., p. 102 and pl. 70.

66 Wilbur, op. cit., pp. 22 and 26-28; Schmidt, Persepolis, pls. 29B, 35, 37, 42B 43 and 45B; Tilia, op. cit., pls. CLXII-CLXIV.

67 K. S. Rubinson, “The Date of Pazyryk”, American Oriental Society meeting, Chicago, March 20-23, 1988. A more detailed consideration of the problem by Juliano et al. Occurs in a special issue of Source, Notes on the History of Art vol. X, no. 4 (1991).

68 Whiting, M.C., “A Report on the Dyes of the Pazyryk Carpet”, Oriental Carpet and Textile Studies I (1985), pp. 18-22.Google Scholar I am indebted to Paul Ramsey for this citation.

69 Colledge, M. A. R. The Art of Palmyra (Boulder, Colo., 1976), pp. 101-102.Google Scholar.

70 Granger-Taylor, H. and Wild, J. P., “Some Ancient Silk From the Crimea in the British Museum”, Antiquaries Journal 61 (1981), p. 305.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

71 Matheson, p. 75.

72 Hansman, J. and Stronach, D., “Excavations at Shahr-i Qumis, 1967”, Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society (1970, no.1), p.51Google Scholar; Nunoma, J. The Origins of Sericulture and Ancient Silks (Tokyo, 1979), pp. 341-343.Google Scholar (in Japanese).

73 Egami, N., Fukai, S. and Masuda, S., Dailaman II. The Excavations at Noruzmahale and Khoramabad 1960 (Tokyo University Iraq-Iran Archaeological Expedition Report 7; Tokyo, 1966), p. 14Google Scholar, fig. 2:1; p. 17, fig. 3 (Japanese text). 74 Fujii, 19834 op. cit., p. 177; Fujii, H., “At-Tar Caves, Hill-A Excavations in 1971”, Sumer 29 (1973), p. 64.Google Scholar

75 T. S. Kawami, Monumental Art of the Parthian Period in Iran (Acta Iranica 26; Leiden, 1987), pls. 29, 31 and 33. For slightly later examples of this type of ornamental woven band see Trilling, J. “The Roman heritage. Textiles From Egypt and the Eastern Mediterranean 300 to 600 A.D.”, Textile Museum Journal 21 (1982), pp. 70-72Google Scholar. See also Kawami, T.S., “Clothing in the Arsa-'cid Period”, Encyclopaedia Iranica,Google Scholar in press.

76 Kawami, op. cit., pls. 30-31 and 33.

77 Fujii, 1983-84, pp. 178 and 181; anon., “Excavations in Iraq 1983-84,” Iraq 47 (1985), p. 225.

78 Ackerman, op. cit., pp. 690-71

79 Bier, C. M., ‘Textiles”, in Harper, P. O., The Royal Hunter. Art of the Sasanian Empire (New York, 1978), pp. 119-140.Google Scholar

80 Herrmann, G., The Iranian Revival (The Making of the Past; Oxford, 1977), pp. 131-135Google Scholar; For a detailed description of the Taq-i Bustan textiles, see S. Fukai et al., Taq-i Bustan IV. Text (Tokyo University Iraq-Iran Archaeological Expedition, Report 20; Tokyo, 1984). The textiles of Taq-i Bustan may in fact reflect Central Asian, not Iranian production. See Bier, op. cit., p. 125. For Central Asian examples of a slightly later date see Azarpay, G., Sogdian Painting. The Pictorial Epic in Oriental Art (Berkeley, 1981), pp .97CrossRefGoogle Scholar, 106, 111, 119, and 121.

81 Bier noted this in a paper read at the symposium held in New York in conjunction with the exhibition The Royal Hunter at Asia House in 1978.

82 Kawami, T.S, “Kuh-e Khwaja, Iran, and Its Wall Paintings: The Records of Ernst Herzfeld”, Metropolitan Museum Journal 22 (1987), pp. 40-41CrossRefGoogle Scholar and 50.

83 Kawami, “Kuh-e Khwaja”, op. cit., p. 39, fig. 18.

84 Peck, E. H. “The Representation of Costumes in the Reliefs of Taq-i Bustan”, Artibus Asiae 31 (1969), pp. 122-23CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

85 Riboud, K., “A Newly Discovered Caftan from the Northern Caucasus”, Textile Museum Journal 4, no. 3 (1976), pp. 21-42Google Scholar also includes an extended discussion of related technical and historical questions

86 Hansman, J. and Stronach, D., “A Sasanian Repository at Qumis,” Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, (1970), no. 2, p. 155.Google Scholar Kawami, Trudy S., “Ancient Textiles from Shahr-i Qumis”, Hali 59 (Oct. 1991), p. 99.Google Scholar See also Appendix II.