Did anyone watch 'Britains Pompeii' with Alice Roberts, last night repeated tonight. The whole programme was fascinating, but especially the textile section. Must Farm in the Fens is a late Bronze age site of a stilted village which was burnt down, but remarkably well preserved as everything fell into the water below and was rapidly covered and preserved by silt.
They found some woven textiles which were made of spun lime bast (the layer under the bark). The amazing piece was a large piece of fabric which had been folded, then charred by the fire. It then fell into the water, which quenched the fire, and it was preserved for 3,000 years. This piece which was linen was woven at 27 threads per cm, 80 epi
. They found what looked like a broken spindle whorl with some singles still wrapped around it, as well as loom weights made of clay (which are not unusual on archaeological sites).
80 threads per inch - I've always been annoyed at film makers and re-enactors who dress their Bronze Age people in sackcloth with out even hemming along the edges. Must Farm shows just how skilled these people were at textile work.
There is also a bronze sword, which is still shiny.
I looked for the programme on iPlayer, but maybe it's too soon.
If you google Must Farm textiles you will get several articles which mention the textiles although I didn't find any other reference to the epi.
What really surprised me is that there were no animal fibres used. I'd been hoping to see sheep shears amongst the tools, but they weren't there.