Wool Textiles from the Roman Period at the Site of Grudna, Poland

Abstract

In October 2012, the Conservation Laboratory of the Institute of Archaeology at the NCU in Toruń received soil samples excavated from a kurgan in Grudna, Złotów commune, dated to the Roman period. No human remains were reported inside the grave chamber apart from some elements of grave goods: a glass bead, a clay spindle whorl, three iron nails, fragments of a bone pin, bronze and iron chest fittings, and a bronze vessel with a stamp of Pubius Cipius Polybius, who was active around the first half of the 1st century AD. In result of a cleaning treatment removing all soil impurities, tiny textile fragments were obtained, which were, interestingly, made of woollen fibres in sprang technique, while some of them imitated gauze (known in later periods) but were manufactured in a plain 1/1 weave. Technological analysis of the fibres revealed their high quality with average fibre thickness ranging from 8 to 18 μm. Insufficient material base for these textiles in Poland does not give a convincing answer to a basic question of whether it was an import or local production. Studies on the subject performed by European researchers, most notably J. Maik, indicate local or North European production. Hopefully, more light will be shed on this problem by further comparative studies.