Textile Activity and Cultural Identity in Sicily Between the Late Bronze Age and Archaic Period

By Gabriella Longhitano

Clothing was an essential part of material culture in ancient societies both as a form of body protection and as house equipment. Besides a practical function, textiles played a crucial role in communicating various aspects of social and personal identity.

Based largely on the analysis of textile tools, this book is intended to be the first systematic attempt at reconstructing textile culture in ancient Sicily. Textile implements represent the most abundant category of evidence for textile activity in Sicily and in this book they are used as a means to explore the social dynamics within cultural interactions in the final Bronze–Iron Age and Archaic Sicily.

The book begins with an overview of the cultural complexity of communities in Sicily and the Aeolian islands, focusing on two crucial periods of Sicilian history, which are characterised by intense movements of peoples from the Italian peninsula and the establishment of Greek and Phoenician settlements. Through the investigation of textile tools, the book discusses several key aspects, including technological features of textile technology and production, knowledge transfer, networks of weavers, as well as the social significance of textile activity.

By employing an interdisciplinary perspective, this book is important not only for textile specialists but also for scholars and students dealing with culturally hybrid frameworks of ancient Sicily and

provides a springboard for future studies on textile culture and cultural interactions in the ancient world.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Oxbow Books
• Release date: Jun 9, 2021
• ISBN: 9781789256000

Gabriella Longhitano

Gabriella Longhitano is an archaeologist working in Italy and Crete. She specialises in ancient textile production and related social practices. She holds a PhD in Archaeology (2019) from the University of Liverpool (UK). She is currently undertaking a PhD in Cultural Heritage at the University of Catania (Italy).

Book preview

Textile Activity and Cultural Identity in Sicily Between the Late Bronze Age and Archaic period

Textile Activity and Cultural Identity in Sicily Between the Late Bronze Age and Archaic period

Gabriella Longhitano

Published in the United Kingdom in 2021 by

OXBOW BOOKS

The Old Music Hall, 106–108 Cowley Road, Oxford OX4 1JE

and in the United States by

OXBOW BOOKS

1950 Lawrence Road, Havertown, PA 19083

© Oxbow Books and the author 2021

Paperback Edition: ISBN 978-1-78925-599-7

Digital Edition: ISBN 978-1-78925-600-0 (ePub)

Digital Edition: ISBN 978-1-78925-601-7 (kindle)

A CIP record for this book is available from the British Library

Library of Congress Control Number: 2021934335

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission from the publisher in writing.

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Oxbow Books is part of the Casemate Group

Front cover: Lekythos from Akrai (Palazzo Cappellani, Palazzolo Acreide, Collezione Iudica, no. 3104). Photo by author (with the permission of Parco Archaeologico di Siracusa, Eloro, Villa del Tellaro e Akrai, no. 4556, 17-12-2020).

Back cover: Drawing by the author.

Contents

Acknowledgements

List of illustrations

List of maps

List of tables

Abbreviations

Introductory framework

1. Geographical, chronological and cultural framework

2. Textile activity in Sicily: sources and evidence

3. Textile tools in domestic and workshop contexts

4. Textile tools in votive and sacred contexts

5. Technology and production

6. Tracing textile culture in Sicily

Annex A: Analysis of textile tools in Sicily: the case studies

Annex B: Analysis of textile tools from the Late-Final Bronze Age settlements at Lipari

Annex C: Analysis of loom weights from the so-called Bothros of Aeolus at Lipari

Annex D: Analysis of textile tools from Metapiccola (Lentini)

Annex E: Analysis of textile tools from the FBA-IA Cittadella hill (Morgantina)

Annex F: Analysis of textile tools from the Archaic Cittadella hill (Morgantina)

Annex G: Analysis of textile tools from the FBA-IA settlement of Sabucina

Annex H: Analysis of textile tools from the Archaic settlement of Sabucina

Annex I: Analysis of textile tools from Himera

Annex J: Analysis of textile tools from Monte Maranfusa

Annex K: Analysis of textile tools from Monte Polizo

Afterword

Bibliography

Acknowledgements

This work is largely based on my PhD project carried out at the Department of Archaeology, Classics and Egyptology of the University of Liverpool and completed in October 2019.

I sincerely thank my supervisors Prof. Lin Foxhall and Dr Matthew Fitzjohn for their guidance and support with my project, and my examiners Dr Bruce Routledge and Dr Margarita Gleba for their stimulating comments on my PhD thesis.

My special gratitude goes to Prof. Pietro Militello, who introduced me to the study of archaeological textiles with his project TE.SI. (Textiles in Sicily), encouraged my research, helped me in obtaining the permits from Soprintendenze and continues to provide his unwavering support.

This work has greatly benefited from my experience at the Centre for Textile Research in Copenhagen in 2014 and 2017 and I would like to thank Prof. Eva Andersson Strand and Prof. Marie-Louise Nosch for the invaluable opportunity to stay at the Centre and learn from people with great expertise and knowledge.

The visits to the museum were supported by the Pasold Fund, Andrew Sherratt Grant and Peet Travel Award, which allowed me to conduct my data collection across Sicily. I am thankful to all the generous people working at the museums of Lipari, Aidone, Caltanisetta, Lentini, Himera, Roccamena and Salemi, where I carried out my analyses. I am grateful to more people than I can possibly name here, but some deserve special mention. I warmly thank, for giving the permissions to study and publish the material and for their supportive help: Dr Maria Amalia Mastelloni, Dr Maria Clara Martinelli, Arch. Rosario Vilardo (Lipari); Prof. Massimo Frasca, Dr Maria Musumeci (Lentini); Dr Laura Maniscalco, Arch. Biagio Greco, Dr Rosario Patanè, Arch. Liborio Calascibetta (Aidone); Arch. Giovanni Crisostomo Lucera (Caltanissetta); Dr Francesca Spatafora, Dr Rosa Panzica (Palermo); Dr Rossella Giglio, Dr Riccardo Guazzelli and Dr Giuseppina Mammina (Trapani). I kindly thank Prof. Carla Antonaccio and Prof. Nunzio Allegro for generously entrusting me with the study of the material from the Archaic Cittadella hill and Himera, respectively. For illustrations and permissions for their use, I thank the Parco Archeologico di Siracusa, Parco Archeologico di Morgantina and the American excavations at Morgantina. Also, I would take this opportunity to thank people met during my PhD whose experience have provided invaluable help: Dr Hedvig Landenius Enegren and Dr Francesco Meo for our productive discussions on textile tools in Italy; Nadia Barbi for her help with the study of textile tool manufacture and Antonello Rizzo for his help with the material from Monte Polizo.

During the preparation of the manuscript many people provided me with their support, no matter how many kilometres away they lived. I am deeply indebted to my colleagues and friends Alistair Dickey, Sarah Hitchens, Katarzyna Żebrowska and Mia Montesanto who have patiently read the manuscript at its various stages, provided insightful comments and shared important references and unpublished information. Thanks to Prof. Pietro Militello for his thoughts on Sicilian chronology and commenting on an earlier version of this work. I am solely responsible for any errors or misunderstandings.

Friends all over the world who offered their support during the years of this project are too numerous to name – I thank them with all my heart.

Finally, I thank my family who have supported and encouraged me through every step of my academic studies and my husband Salvo for his unfailing support and love – I could have not done this without you all.

I dedicate this work to my parents Pina and Salvatore and my brother Giuseppe.

Gabriella Longhitano

Catania, December 2020

List of illustrations