Textile production, consumption and trade in Iron Age Europe

Textile production is one of the main cultural, economic, and social components of any ancient society. The study of textile tools and their uses in the different stages of textile manufacture, as well as of the fabrics themselves, has led to a deeper understanding of the production processes involved and of the social and cultural choices underlying textile production, leading to a growing interest on the subject of ancient textile production, consumption, and trade.

For millennia, most households produced cloth on a small scale for their own consumption. The social changes brought about during the early first millennium BC heralded the development of an increasingly specialized luxury and surplus textile production on a larger scale.

The Iron Age is therefore a key period for the understanding of textile techniques and technologies. As these are often culture-specific, this conference aims at exploring textile production, consumption, and trade in the different European Iron Age societies in order to compare them and develop an integrated panorama of Iron Age textile cultures and their interactions.

Organisers invite case studies on different modes of production, consumption, and trade with considerations on their context and impact on the respective societies. Presentations focusing on the comparison of production organisation in different areas are particularly welcome. The call for papers is open until 06 March 2022. Details on the conference website.

More info about the conference here

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