“Textiles Discovered in the Ananauri Kurgan #3”

{Ananauri – place in Central Georgia. Kurgan – Chariot Burial}

“Textiles Discovered in the Ananauri Kurgan #3”

Kalandadze Nino, Sakhvadze Eleonora

Adapted to English Speakers by Holly Tappen

Introduction

In this article we will present the results of primary studies of the textiles discovered in the Ananauri kurgan. Archeological textiles can be considered as one of the confirmations of a dominant activity in an ancient society. By studies of the textiles, we can build our perceptions, not only about the rooted tendencies in this specific time period, but also about the development of branches of the domestic industries such as the textile industry. Textiles, as any other example of ancient arts, are an expression of the ideas of times in which they were created.

The burial site of Ananauri #3 was looted. The looting took place after the fall of the kurgan’s cover, in a chamber through the sitch which leads to the chamber. In the sitch, a human skull and fragments of ceramics were found at the height of 0.5-0.7m. On the floor there was a muddled inventory with human bones: fragments of ceramics, multiple fragments of subjects made of wood, bases and handles of baskets, fragments of textiles, golden and serdolic beeds (Makharadze Z. 2014: 53). There were 12 fragments of textiles found in the Kurgan (view the catalogue).

7

Description of the material

The first thing which attracted our attention to the textiles found in the kurgan was a good state of preservation. It is very hard to define the mechanism of centuries-old influence of environmental conditions on these artifacts, but it is clear that this process was less harmful for the ancient artifacts of organic origin.

It is known that the main reasons for good preservation of organic artifacts may be drought, freezing, and acidic environmental conditions (which may be developed in the vicinity of metal objects), or rich with nitrogen deposits (for example, swamps), where there are very weak or no oxidation processes taking place. Each of these factors play certain role in the degree of preservation of the organic artifacts. In ideal environmental conditions acidity- pH- depends on the type of fiber. Fibers of flax and other cellulose preserve better in an alkali environment, and animal protein fibers, like wool, are best preserved in an acidic environment.

In our case we can consider the structure of this burial chamber as a guarantee of good preservation of organic material. The walls of Ananauri kurgan #3 are doubled; the outer row is made of round logs, and inner row of rectangular logs. In corners, the logs are connected with the wooden hut construction method. The floor was covered by planks with mats on them (Makharadze Z. 2014:50-51). In our opinion, techniques used in building of burial chamber (double walls and heat insulation) more or less ensured stability of the environmental conditions.

8

In the kurgan there were found samples of plant and animal origins. Samples of plant origin are made of flax and animal samples are made of wool (view in this journal Kvavadze 2016). Presence of flax and wool textiles in the Ananuri Kurgan clearly indicates that the people who created them were engaged in agriculture as well as cattle breeding. Ancient textiles which are known from archeological excavations are prepared from wild plant fibers (Barber 1991; Gleba 2012; Good 2001; Jorgensen 1990; Hurcombe 2010). The production of knitted produce starts from plant-origin textiles, which is connected to agriculture. In particular, this ancient society was engaged in cultivation of plants (first of all flax and hemp) (Kvavadze 2009). From the middle of the 3rd millennium B.C., textile preparation had reached a sufficiently developed level already. The first textile which was prepared from flax was discovered in neolithic layer of Gadachrili Gora: (the word for word translation: cut mountain) and it dates back to the 6th millennium B.C. (Jalabadze et al. 2010; Kvavadze et al. 2014). Also, it is a fact that the development of cattle breeding gave a start to the production of textiles of animal origin.

Dyeing is related to the usage of animal origin textiles, because animal origin textiles can be colored much easier than flax textiles. It is difficult to define where the dyeing business was founded, but this technique was well developed in the 3rd millennium in China (Cybulska and Maik 2007:186).

9

Using animal protein fibers was the beginning of the use of dyes, because animal fibers can be dyed much easier than flax. It is argued that from around 3000 BC dyeing techniques were well established in China. However, scientists still cannot determine when exactly the dyeing of textiles began.

We studied samples of the textile #50 discovered in the Ananauri kurgan by means of electro-microscopic scanning. As a result of the study, it was established that the textile was knitted with natural wool threads, where the width of each yarn varies 0.5-1.00 mm. The number of fibers (thin thread which is not spun) in the studied textile varies from 40 to 65 (view table 1.)

In the textiles studied by us, we detected so-called S type yarn spinning technique (table: 5, 6, 7, 8). Three groups can be distinguished according to the general knitting techniques, tight knitting (table 5, 6), loose knitting (table 7, 8) and the so-called patterned knitting (table 6).

Samples of textiles discovered in Ananauri kurgan gave us a possibility to comprehend the level of development of the ancient trade in the textile industry. It seems the 3rd millennium B.C. is a period when great innovations in the textile industry took place. In the 4th and 3rd millenniums B.C. in the Ancient Near East and the areas in its vicinity where the primitive communal system reached the highest level, the significant development of food industry and regular surplus production laid foundation to the second great social segregation; the separation of

10

workmanship from agriculture and industrial parceling (division). [Kavtaradze 1979:83]. Presumably natural conditions and development of cattle breeding promoted herding, which for its part was given a possibility of the secondary - but not less labor-consuming activity- the processing of wool for the creation of different products. Cattle breeding on the lower level of production forces was producing surplus products much more easily compared to agriculture (Piotrovski 1973:2).

Quite interesting wool samples discovered in Ananauri kurgan make us think that society of those times was well aware of advantages of sheep wool production, due to its qualities such as spinning into threads and felting. Presumably ancient weavers were well acquainted with the qualities of wool and were giving preference to it due to the following qualities: low heat conductivity, moisture absorption quality and high wear resistance.

During the study of textiles discovered in the Ananauri kurgan, it became evident that in the 3rd millennium B.C. people had a good command of techniques of textile weaving, dyeing, and creating patterned textiles on weaving loom. Study of more than 10 samples of textiles showed that the clothes of the deceased were woven from mixtures of flax and wool threads. There are blue, yellow, pink, and brown yarn threads and fibers found in this kurgan (in this collection Kvavadze 2016:?).

It is hard to say whether women or men completed the works of the textile industry. The works necessary for creating the textiles found in the kurgan (processed wool,

11

spun yarns of threads, knitting, dyeing etc.) clearly was a basis for work division, which would have been related to economic efficacy. In other words, by distribution of operations performed during the textile production process, different types of labor would have been specialized. This kind of distribution clearly would increase efficacy of the textile industry, which could be a condition for surplus production and trade development.

Textiles discovered in the Ananuri kurgan #3 probably are woven on warp-weighted looms. No fragments of warp weighted loom and ceramic looms are found in the burial chamber. This is not surprising because the textile is a result of a domestic industry and it was created in the household. The interesting fact is that researchers think that there is a connection between the thread diameter and weaving loom weights. In particular, big diameter thread requires heavy loom weight. For example, ≤0.3 mm flax thread needs for stretching 15-20 g loom weight, 0.4-0.6 mm thread 26-28 g requires loom weight and for 0.8-1,0 mm thread 40 g loom weight is necessary (Partensson et al. 2009; Stapleton et al. 2014:222). For the textile #50 discovered in Ananauri kurgan #3 presumably some 40 g loom weights would have been required.

Conclusion

12