Achaeometrical Research in Hungary II., 1988

ANCIENT TECHNOLOGY - Tünde HORVÁTH - Erzsébet MARTON: Prehistoric spinning and weaving objects from the Carpathian basin (Hungary)

Tünde HOR VÁTH - Erzsébet MARTON PREHISTORIC SPINNING AND WEAVING OBJECTS FROM THE CARPATHIAN BASIN (HUNGARY) Abstract: The main topic of this paper is a technological reconstruction and a weaving experiment as well as the weaving loom from our authentic archaeological material. In the first part of this paper authentically excavated loom-types and their iconographie representations, as well as surviving pieces of textile and yarn and their prints are discussed. The earliest appearance of weaving and spinning in Hungary are unknown. On the basis of finds in other areas, however, one may hypothesise that they started during the Palaeolithic: - a bone figurine from Mezin (Western Ukraine), decorated with meandering incisions, chevrons and parallel lines

1 (fig. 1). - Venus figurine from Lespugue caves, wearing a skirt twisted string

2 (fig. 2). - Lascaux caves, a 30 cm long piece of cord, possibly made of bast, was found in a lump of clay.

3 Weaving and spinning were invented probably earlier, but their evidence was dependent on the development of highly representational Upper Palaeolithic art. Warp-weighted looms are known from three neolithic sites in Hungary: the earliest warp-weighted loom was found at Tiszajenő-Szárazérpart (Körös culture, 6-7 ka ВС

4

; fig. 3). Late Neolithic loom finds occurred at two sites: HódmezővásárhelyGorzsa and Szegvár-Tűzköves (both are Tisza culture).

5 Textile remains are known only from one of the sites dated to the same period, Hódmezővásárhely-Gorzsa. This piece of fibre identified in the grave of a girl, made from nettle and flax, was found in a copper bead.

6 Incised and painted decoration on pottery (Bükk, Tisza and Lengyel cultures) imitate textile patterns, and N. Kalicz raised the possibility that a pot fragment with a painted textile pattern found at Aszód had been decorated by a stripe of fabric dipped into paint (fig. 4). A loom-weight and a grinding stone with textile print are also known from the Lengyel culture settlement of Aszód

7 (fig. 5. and 6). Copper Age spinning is documented by a palm-size piece of a trawl (GyőrSzabadrétdomb, Bajc-Retz culture).

8 In the Early and Middle Bronze Ages warp-weighted looms were used: find materials from tell settlements of the Danube region (Pákozdvár, Bölcske, Százhalombatta, Dunaföldvár) contain weights (parts of this type of loom), dated to between the Nagyrév culture and the Koszider period. Loom weights are absent from the materials recovered from tell-settlements in the Tisza region (Tószeg, Túrkeve, Tiszafüred, Tiszaug). Presumably, this points to the use of an other type of loom, in which there is no need for 1 Salmony, 1949 2 Hochbert, 1979 3 Glory, 1959 4 Selmeczy, 1969, Raczky, 1976 3 The Late Neolithic of the Tisza region, Budapest-Szolnok, 1987, catalog 6 Personal communication by F. Horváth, excavator of Gorzsa 7 Kalicz, 1985, T. Bíró, 1992 8 Personal communication by the excavator A. Figler 249