ANALYZING AND INTERPRETING TEXTILE ORNAMENTS COVERING THE BRONZE AGEANTHROPOMORPHIC STELE
Channel: European Association of Archaeologists
Date: 2020-11-18

One of the themes proposed in the iconographic study of the stele of Saint Martin-de-Corleans in Aosta, is the diversity of the dress and/ or the presence of arms. The confrontation within the Aosta group and the Sion group of Switzerland, has shed new light on the forms, composition, and the significance of textiles and garments present or not on the figures. To help the study, a non-archeologist, but a historian of costumes, textiles and textile techniques, as well as theoretician of classification procedures of these materials was consulted. Considering the difficulties of fixing chronological differences between the more archaic stele and the more recent ones, and therefor imagine the possible initial moment of evolution and variations of the decorative patterns and maybe the commencement of the decorative concept, it was necessary to organize somehow these complex and iconographic designs. The reading and the interpretation is often very difficult because of later adaptation or coverings with new incisions.The methodology used, has offered the possibility of creating standards and norms, by dividing the surface of the monolithical plates. One becomes aware of a variety of garment types such as shirts which cover the upper torso, parallel panels, some even draped, skirts consisting of horizontal bands, particular cuts that could indicate the presence of sleeves, decorated bands with complex textile techniques. Even if these findings cannot be proven, they offer all the same interesting archeo-ethnographic confrontations to identify maybe the social status of the represented persons and more.


Author(s): Zidda, Gianfranco - Schoenholzer Nichols, Thessy (Regione autonoma Valle d‘Aosta)