Discernable Traces in Textil Archaeology
Channel: Recording Archaeology
Date: 2017-03-22

The uniqueness of the late Hallstatt-period textile assemblage from the princely grave at Eberdingen-Hochdorf (SW-Germany) is not limited to its highlighting textile manufacturing as an economic focus in this region, providing differentiated insights into burial customs, the sequences of mortuary ceremonies or insights into concepts about the afterlife.It is relevant that this finds assemblage demonstrates that textiles can only function as indicators of socio-economic structures when they are considered within their archaeological context. This means that conclusions, based on isolated observations of details of manufacturing technique but disregarding the context, remain of limited value with regard to contents and may even be questionable. Deriving from the function of the textiles in the grave the question is not only for what and with which intention this function was associated, but also whether it is at all sensible to distinguish between burial textiles and the textiles of the living.

Author - Dr. Banck-Burgess, Johanna, Landesamt für Denkmalpflege, Esslingen, Germany (Presenting author)