Blue dyed textiles in Early Iron Age Europe: accessible or exclusive?

Hopewell, P. and Harris, S. (2019) Blue dyed textiles in Early Iron Age Europe: accessible or exclusive? Archaeological Textiles Review, 61, pp. 24-37.

Abstract

Evidence for blue dyed textiles becomes widespread in Europe during the first millennium BC. The dyestuff was likely dyer’s woad - Isatis tinctoria L. While archaeologists have done much to understand the dye process, archaeobotany and chemical analysis of woad dye, there remains a question as to how accessible blue colour textiles were at this time. Through asking the question “how many woad plants does it take to dye 1kg of wool yarn blue?”, the aim of this research is to investigate the accessibility or exclusivity of woad dyed blue textiles, in this period terms of the resources, knowledge and skills required to produce them.

• Item Type: Articles
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Harris, Dr Susanna
• Authors: Hopewell, P., and Harris, S.
• College/School: College of Arts & Humanities > School of Humanities > Archaeology
• Journal Name: Archaeological Textiles Review
• Publisher: Centre for Textile Research, University of Copenhagen
• ISSN: 2245-7135
• ISSN (Online): 2245-7135

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