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THE CLOTHED BODY IN THE ANCIENT WORLD
17-19 January 2002

Guiseppe Scala
Italian Centre for Ancient Textiles and Dyes, Morlupo, Italy

Domestic Silk and Fabrics in Pompeii

The Pompeiian textile findings here examined came from the Regio I, insula VIII, N14 and Regio VIII, insula II, N34, all of them were carbonized. Other findings, well preserved, came from the House of Polibio, recently excavated, were wild and cultivated flax, cultivated hemp and exceptionally a fleck of pseudo silk, first time found in the story of Archaeological textiles, trial to imitate the true silk.

Most of such findings are fragments of stuff that underwent a carbonization process owing the eruption. Therefore they appear black coloured and very brittle to touch. In order to identify the nature of the fibers and to know the technology of spinning and weaving of the texture, the author used the Scanning Electron Microscope, the optical microscope and micro-chemical colour tests on not carbonized findings. Before the SEM analysis the samples ware first stiffened and then covered with an Au-Pd alloy, to put in evidence the morphological feature of single fibers.

Among them the most important fibers recognized are: COTTON, ASCLEPIA species, BROOM, CALOTROPIS Species, NETTLE FIBERS, FLAX, HEMP, DUM HYPHENA THEBAICA, PALM LEAF BASE FIBER, OKRA HYBISCUS, LYGEUM SPARTUM, and some fabric fragments made of WOOL. the author identified too some fibers, coming from not carbonized texture, as Mediterranean flax, one hemp fabric green coloured and a flock, very rare PSEUDO SILK, coming from imenoptera and lepidoptera insects secretion, in Italy named TORTRICIDA SILK, probably got to produce a domestic silk. It gives yellow gold colour when put in 25% sulphuric acid, very hot.

Some asbestos fibers not spun were identified too. The cloth texture were identified are the plain cloth, the REPS, the TWILL and derived textures as the irregular reps, the BATAVIA composition and one table cloth feature.

More specifically, from Herculaneum came the remains of a home loom and the item has, been rebuilt by the author.